Angel, Peacock, and Three Tahitians
c. 1902
Medium
Transfer drawing in brown and black ink on cream Japanese paper
Dimensions
24.6 × 39.6 cm (9 11/16 × 15 5/8 in.)
Classification
monotype
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
31753
Art Historical Context
In the final years of his life, Paul Gauguin created *Angel, Peacock, and Tahitians* around 1902, during his immersive stay in the South Pacific. This intimate monotype— a unique print made by drawing ink onto a surface and transferring it under pressure to paper—captures the artist's enduring fascination with Tahitian culture. Gauguin, a Post-Impressionist pioneer, fled Europe's industrialization for Polynesia, where he blended exotic island life with symbolic, dreamlike imagery. Here, ethereal Tahitian figures coexist with a majestic peacock and a celestial angel, evoking a mystical fusion o...
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 ...