Earthly Paradise
1888
Medium
Wood with paint, glass and metal
Dimensions
101 × 120 × 60.5 cm (39 3/4 × 47 1/4 × 23 13/16 in.)
Classification
sculpture
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
188629
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Combining painting, sculpture, and carpentry, this unique object was created collaboratively by Paul Gauguin and his younger contemporary Émile Bernard. Their artistic experiments, often undertaken in the spirit of friendly competition, challenged hierarchical distinctions between fine art, grounded in aesthetics, and decorative art, associated with functionality. Bernard carved the left panel and possibly the bottom panel. Both artists incorporated animals, trees, and people from village life i...
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 ...