The Universe Is Created

Paul Gauguin

1893–94

The Universe Is Created by Paul Gauguin

Medium

Woodcut printed in color on wove paper

Dimensions

Block: 8 1/16 × 13 7/8 in. (20.4 × 35.3 cm) Sheet: 10 1/4 × 19 1/16 in. (26 × 48.4 cm)

Classification

Prints

Department

Drawings and Prints

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Credit

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1936

Accession Number

36.6.6

Tags

Human FiguresLeaves

Art Historical Context

**The Universe Is Created**, a striking color woodcut by Paul Gauguin from1893–94, captures the artist's fascination with Polynesian mythology during his transformative stay in Tahiti. Created shortly after his arrival in 1891, this print draws from his travel journal *Noa No*, blending biblical creation narratives with Tahitian lore. Gauguin, a Post-Impressionist pioneer, rejected European conventions for a "primitive" aesthetic inspired by non-Western art, evident here in the intertwined human figures amid lush leaves symbolizing cosmic birth. Printed on wove paper from a modest block (8 1/...

About the Artist

Paul Gauguin · 18481903

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 ...

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