Arlésiennes (Mistral)
Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)1888
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
During the winter of 1888, Paul Gauguin spent a troubled two months with Vincent van Gogh in the southern French city of Arles. He painted the enigmatic Arlésiennes (Mistral) during this stay. The painters’ time together was intended to be the beginning of an artist’s colony, but their relationship grew increasingly tense, and Van Gogh’s mental health deteriorated.
Set directly across the street from the house they shared, the painting depicts four women somberly processing through a public garden. The space is tilted radically upward, and complex, three-dimensional forms are reduced to simple, flat shapes. For example, twin orange-yellow cones—probably protective hay coverings to shield plants from the frost—tower at the right like abstracted human figures. Wrapped in dark shawls, the two closest women cover their mouths against the frigid air. Their gestures are withdrawn and introspective, and their passage is seemingly blocked by a bright red fence and large green bush. Perhaps the composition’s oddest element is the appearance of a face within the bush. This face—an intentional inclusion by the artist—adds an uncanny, watchful presence to the scene. It exemplifies Gauguin’s exploration of what he believed to be the mysteries that suffuse everyday life.
- Medium
- Oil on jute canvas
- Original size
- 73 × 92 cm (28 3/4 × 36 3/16 in.)
Museum record · 5 owners · 34 exhibitions
Provenance
- Sold by the artist to Théo van Gogh for 300 Francs probably in the first half of 1889; Émile Schuffenecker.
- Thannhauser Galerie, Lucerne, c. 1923, stock.
- James W. Barney, New York, c. 1929.
- De Hauke and Co., New York, 1930.
- Jacques Seligmann and Co., New York by 1931; sold to the Art Institute, October 26, 1934, using funds from the Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Fund.
Exhibitions
- Berlin, Hugo Perls, De Delacroix à Gauguin, 1925.
- Basel, Kunsthalle, Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903, July-August 1928 or 44.
- Berlin, Galerie Thannhauser, Paul Gauguin 1848–1903, October 1928.
- New York, The Museum of Modern Art, First Loan Exhibition: Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Van Gogh, November 1929.
- Providence, RI, Rhode Island School of Design, Modern French Art, March 11-31, 1930.
- St. Louis, The City Art Museum, An Exhibition of Paintings and Prints by the Masters of Post-Impressionism, April 4-26, 1931.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1934.
- New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Cubism and Abstract Art, March 4-April 12, 1936..
- The San Francisco Museum of Art, 1936.
- The San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco supplement to the catalogue of Les Fauves, March 13-April 12, 1953, no cat. no. (shown in San Francisco only).
- Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, De David à Toulouse-Lautrec: Chef-d'oeuvres des collections américaines, March-August 1955.
- Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin, Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture, February 12-March 29, 1959; traveled to New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 21-May 31, 1959.
- Paris, Musée national d'Art Moderne, Les Sources du XXe siècle.
- Les Arts en Europe de 1884 à 1914.
- November 4, 1960-January 23, 1961.
- The Cincinnati Art Museum, The Early Work of Paul Gauguin.
- Genesis of An Artist, March 18-April 26, 1971.
- London, Royal Academy of Arts, Post-Impressionism: Cross-Currents in European Painting, November 17, 1979-March 16, 1980; traveled to Washington, DC, The National Gallery, May 25-September 1, 1980.
- Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec.
- Trésors impressionnistes du Musée de Chicago.
- June 27-August 31, 1980.
- Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism, January 24–March 22, 1981; traveled to Amsterdam, The Van Gogh Museum, April 9–June 14, 1981.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Van Gogh in Arles, October 18-December 30, 1984.
- Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, The Art of Paul Gauguin, May 1-July 31, 1988; Art Institute of Chicago, September 17–December 11,1988; Paris, Grand Palais, January 10–April 20, 1989.
- Moscow, The Pushkin Museum, Gauguin in the Soviet Union, May-June 1989; Leningrad, The Hermitage, July-October 1981.
- Tokyo, ASAHI Shimbun, Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago; traveled to Nagaoka, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, April 20–May 29, 1994; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, June 10–July 24, 1994: Yokohama Museum of Art, August 6–September 25, 1994.
- The Saint Louis Art Museum, Vincent van Gogh and the Painters of the Petit Boulevard, February 17-May 13, 2001, ill..
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, September 22, 2001-January 13, 2002; traveled to Amsterdam, The Van Gogh Museum, February 9-June 2, 2002.
- Brescia, Italy, Museo di Santa Guilia, Gauguin–Van Gogh: L’avventura del colore nuovo, October 22, 2005–March 19, 2006, 381–2.
- Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Anxiety, and Myth, February 14–April 26, 2009.
- Cleveland, OH, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Paul Gauguin: Paris, 1889, October 4, 2009- January 6, 2010, Amsterdamn, Van Gogh Museum, February 19- Jun 6, 2010.
- Museum Folkwang Essen, Manet, Monet, van Gogh – Japanese Inspirations, September 27, 2014-February 1, 2015; Kunsthaus Zürich, February 20-May 25, 2015.
- Charlottenlund, Denmark, Ordrupgaardsamlingen, Friction of Ideas: Gauguin, Van Gogh, Bernard, February 6–June 22, 2014.
