Te faruru (Here We Make Love), from the Noa Noa Suite
1893/94
Medium
Wood-block print, printed twice in golden-brown and black inks, with selective wiping of the black ink, over a selectively inked yellow tone block, and transferred deep-yellow, red, and orange oil-based media, some containing beeswax and conifer resin (probably pine resin), with hand-applied dark yellow and brown gouache, on cream Japanese paper (previously mounted on mottled blue wove paper laid down on cream wove card [a presentation mount])
Dimensions
Image/sheet: 35.7 × 20.5 cm (14 1/16 × 8 1/8 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
68508
Art Historical Context
Paul Gauguin's *Te faruru (Here Make Love)*, created around 1893–94, is a striking woodcut from his *Noa Noa* suite, inspired by his transformative journey to Tahiti in 1891. Seeking escape from modern European society, Gauguin immersed himself in Polynesian culture documenting his experiences in a journal titled *Noa Noa* ("Fragrant"). This print captures an intimate, erotic moment between lovers amid lush tropical motifs, embodying his fascination with exoticism and primal sensuality. As a Post-Impressionist pioneer, Gauguin rejected realism for bold colors, flattened forms, and symbolic nar...
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 ...