A Tahitian Woman with a Flower in Her Hair
1891–92
Medium
Charcoal, pastel, red chalk, and wash
Dimensions
15 3/8 x 11 7/8 in. (39 x 30.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967
Accession Number
67.187.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1891, Paul Gauguin, a pioneering Post-Impressionist, fled the industrialization of Europe for Tahiti, seeking inspiration in what he saw as a pristine, exotic paradise. *A Tahitian Woman with a Flower in Her Hair*, created during his first stay there (1891–92), exemplifies his fascination with Polynesian women, whom he idealized as symbols of natural beauty and escape from Western constraints. This intimate profile drawing captures the serene elegance of a local woman adorned with a flower, reflecting Gauguin's romanticized vision of Tahitian life and his rejection of academic realism. Exe...
About the Artist
Paul Gauguin · 1848–1903
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose bold experiments with color, form, and subject matter made him one of the most influential figures in the transition from 19th-century art to modernism. His rejection of European civilization for the perceived authenticity of 'primitive' cultures established an archetype of artistic exile that continues to resonate. Gauguin's ...