Gauguin, Paul (1848-1903)
Rue de Tahiti (Street in Tahiti)
1891
Oil on canvas, 115.5 x 88.5 cm
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo
The vibrant colors of Paul Gauguin’s painting express his intense reaction to the mysteries of the “new Eden” that he found in Tahiti. Dissatisfied with the values of modern European culture, Gauguin left France in search of a more primitive way of life lived in intimate association with nature. His main goal was to renew his art through contact with a non-European, pre-industrial culture. In 1891 he traveled to Tahiti in the South Pacific and found what he was seeking. (TMA)