|
Title |
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? |
|
Alternative Title |
Where come we? What are we? Whither go we? |
|
Translated Title |
D'où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous? |
|
Creator |
Gauguin, Paul (French painter and printmaker, 1848-1903) |
|
Date |
1897 |
|
Cultural Context |
French
European
Western European
Tahitian
Oceanic
Polynesian |
|
Style/Period |
Symbolist
Post-Impressionist
Modern (styles and periods)
Modernist |
|
Subject |
Allegorical paintings
Allegories
Human life cycle
Indigenous peoples
Men
Women
Older people
Children
Girls
Infants
Nudes
Backs (Anatomy)
Eating & drinking
Leisure
Social life
Statues
Idols
Animals
Birds
Ducks
Dogs
Cats
Goats
Livestock
Landscapes (Representations)
Tropical forests
Islands
Seas
Trees
Plants
Fruit
Inscriptions |
|
Description |
"Where Do We Come From? offers a flowing composition divided into three main figure groupings set in a jungle clearing with the sea in the background. In the center a Polynesian Eve, reminiscent of Botticelli's Giuliano de' Medici in the Allegory of Spring, reaches up to pick a fruit from a tree branch; at either side are groups of native women and children, apparently representing the various ages of man. In the background an idol glows with an eerie bluish light, and two rosy phantom-like figures glide by. Before them, in the words of the artist, 'an enormous crouching figure, out of all proportion, and intentionally so, raises its arms and stares in astonishment upon these two, who dare to think of their destiny.' Setting off the darkish golden yellow of the main figures is the blue-green of the picture's pervasive tonality, its unifying effect further enhanced by the all-embracing pattern of Gauguin's distinctively free, curvilinear drawing. […] Gauguin denied that the allegory had any explicit meaning and, in a letter to André Fontainas, stressed the vague and uncertain nature of his creation and its abstract, musical quality. 'My dream is intangible,' he wrote, 'it implies no allegory; as Mallarmé said, "It is a musical poem and needs no libretto."' Be that as it may, the imagery suggests certain general meanings: life and a supernatural Beyond confront each other and merge imperceptibly in a primeval setting. Lascivious, curving forms of jungle growth and the languorous, rhythmic undulation of the sea gently envelop living forms. The painting is both a cyclical allegory of life, from birth to death, and a philosophical meditation played out on a darkening stage. Related allegories, showing a similar preoccupation with the life cycle and with the mystery of what might lie beyond death, preoccupied many artists of the Symbolist movement." (Excerpt, p.[44]) |
|
Location Depicted |
Hiva Oa (French Polynesia)
Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia)
French Polynesia
Polynesia
Oceania
Tahiti (French Polynesia : Island) |
|
Material |
Oil on canvas
Oil paint (pigmented coating)
Paint
Canvas |
|
Measurements |
4' 6 13/16" x 12' 3 1/2" |
|
Technique |
Painting (image-making)
Oil painting (technique) |
|
Inscription |
Top left corner: D'où Venons Nous/ Que Sommes Nous / Où Allons Nous; Top right corner: Artist's signature |
|
Work Type |
Paintings
Oil paintings |
|
Repository |
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, Massachusetts) |
|
Source |
Hunter, Sam, John Jacobus, and Daniel Wheeler. Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. 3rd rev ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2000. (p.[44]-45, fig.50). |
|
Rights |
Reproduced in Hunter courtesy: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Tompkins Collection); © All Rights Reserved. Hunter, Modern Art: Copyright © 2000 The Vendome Press, New York. Further, it should be noted that many of the art works reproduced in this volume are subject to claims of copyright in the United States and throughout the world, particularly for those artists represented by ADAGP and SPADEM, both located in Paris and exclusively represented in the United States by Artists Rights Society, New York. For other artists, mainly American, the copyright agent is VAGA, New York. |
|
Digital Publisher |
University of Louisville Department of Fine Arts/Allen R. Hite Art Institute Visual Resources Center |
|
Format |
image/jpeg |
|
Digital File Name |
VRC 292-38.jpg |
|
Rating |
|
Visual Resources Center Digital Image Collection
