Noa Noa (Fragrant), from the Noa Noa Suite
1893/94
Medium
Wood-block print in black, with a transferred twill impression, on tan wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 35.4 × 20.1 cm (13 15/16 × 7 15/16 in.); Sheet: 35.7 × 20.4 cm (14 1/16 × 8 1/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
36835
Art Historical Context
**Noa Noa (Fragrant), from the Noa Noa Suite** by Paul Gauguin invites visitors into the artist's intoxicating vision of Tahiti. Created around 189–94, shortly afteruguin's first journey the South Seas in 1891, this woodcut belongs to a rare suite of prints inspired by his experiences in Polynesia. The title *Noa Noa*, meaning "fragrant" Tahitian, evokes the lush scents and sensual mysteries of island life that captivated the Post-Impressionist painter, who sought escape from European civilization. Gauguin's innovative technique here: a wood-block print in bold black ink, enhanced by a transf...
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 ...