Mahana no atua (Day of the God)
Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)1894
View the original$19
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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
In this tropical paradise of the artist’s invention, a deity presides over figures walking and resting on an embankment. Rhythmically arranged in groups of two and three, the figures appear more as symbolic forms than as portraits of individuals. Pools of water in interlocking, abstract zones of acidic color surround the feet of a bather, who is flanked by two prone figures—or perhaps the same person seen from two angles.
Unlike his other Tahitian-inspired landscapes, this painting was produced in Paris shortly after Paul Gauguin’s first trip to the island. Drawn from fantasy and memory, the psychedelic composition is one of the most abstract and avant-garde works of the artist’s career.
- Medium
- Oil on linen canvas
- Original size
- 68 × 91 cm (26 7/8 × 36 in.)
Museum record · 3 owners · 21 exhibitions
Provenance
- Bought from the artist’s studio exhibition by Edgar Degas (died 1917), Paris in December 1894, for 500 francs.
- Degas Sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, March 26-27, 1918, lot 43, sold for 12,600 francs as Le Repos au bord de la mer (Tahiti) to Jos Hessel, Paris.
- George Bernheim, Paris by 1924; shipped from Bernheim to the Art Institute in July 1924; sold to Frederick Clay Bartlett, Chicago in 1925; given to the Art Institute, Chicago, 1926.
Exhibitions
- Boston, Art Club, 1925.
- New York, Museum of Modern Art, Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Van Gogh, November 1929.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–November 1, 1933.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–November 1, 1934.
- Cambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Paul Gauguin 1848–1903, May 1–21, 1936.
- Baltimore, Museum of Art, Paul Gauguin 1848–1903.
- A Retrospective Exhibition of His Paintings, May 24–June 5, 1936.
- New York, Wildenstein and Co., Inc., Paul Gauguin: A Retrospective Loan Exhibition For the Benefit of Les Amis de Paul Gauguin and The Penn Normal Industrial and Agricultural School, March 20–April 18, 1936.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin, Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture, February 12–March 29, 1959, traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 29–April 21, 1959.
- Washington, D. C., 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 Russia, May–June 1989; Leningrad, The Hermitage, July–October, 1989.
- London, National Gallery, Degas as a Collector, May 22-August 26, 1996.
- New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Private Collection of Edgar Degas, October 1, 1997-January 11, 1998.
- Essen, Museum Folkwang, Paul Gauguin: Das verlorene Paradies, June 17-October 18, 1998, traveled to Nationalgalerie Berlin, October 31, 1998-January 10, 1999.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, September 22, 2001-January 13, 2002, traveled to The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, February 9-June 6, 2002.
- Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Gauguin: Tahiti, September 30, 2003-January 19, 2004, traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, February 29, 2004-June 20, 2004.
- Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008.
- London, Tate Modern, Paul Gauguin: Maker of Myth, September 30, 2010-January 16, 2011; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, February 21-May 30, 2011.
- Milan, Museum of Cultures, Paul Gauguin: Tales from Paradise, October 28,2015-February 21, 2016 no cat., The Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, June 25-Sept. 10.
- 2017; Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Oct. 9, 2017-Jan. 1, 2018.
- Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Paul Gauguin: The Other and I. Apr. 28-Aug. 6, 2023.
