Description

Two Tahitian Women by Paul Gauguin printed on a Sweatshirt

The canvases that Gauguin sent back to France from the South Seas reflect the license he exercised in fashioning images of Indigenous women. Here, he channeled classicizing nudes, while relying on gesture and facial expression to evoke the ideal “Tahitian Eve” conjured in his writings: “very subtle, very knowing in her naïveté” and enviably “capable of walking around naked without shame.” Whispering confidences, offering exotic blossoms or (forbidden) fruit, the women inhabit a tropical Eden of Gauguin’s invention, in which his artistic vision—and male gaze—hold sway. These two figures also appear in his monumental works Faa Iheihe (Tahitian Pastoral), 1898; (Tate, London) and Rupe Rupe (The Fruit Harvest), 1899; (Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow).

About the Sweatshirt

This Unisex Premium Sweatshirt has a classic crew neck, flattering unisex fit, and soft 100% cotton exterior.

• 100% cotton face
• 65% cotton, 35% polyester
• Charcoal Heather is 55% cotton, 45% polyester
• Fabric weight: 8.5 oz./yd.² (288.2 g/m²)
• Tightly knit 3-end fleece 
• Side-seamed construction
• Self-fabric patch on the back
• Double-needle stitched rib collar, cuffs, and hem
• Tear-away label

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of color and Synthetist style that were distinct from Impressionism. Toward the end of his life, he spent ten years in French Polynesia. The paintings from this time depict people or landscapes from that region.

His work was influential on the French avant-garde and many modern artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, and he is well known for his relationship with Vincent and Theo van Gogh. Gauguin’s art became popular after his death, partially from the efforts of dealer Ambroise Vollard, who organized exhibitions of his work late in his career and assisted in organizing two important posthumous exhibitions in Paris.

Gauguin was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer. His expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings, under the influence of the cloisonnist style, paved the way for Primitivism and the return to the pastoral. He was also an influential proponent of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms.