Object Image

Three Tahitians

Gauguin lived on the Polynesian island of Tahiti, then a French colony, between 1891-1893 and again in 1895-1901. Working in his radical new style, he viewed the local people and their culture through a decidedly western, male lens. When his paintings were exhibited in Britain, artist John Singer Sargent questioned whether they could be considered art, such was the degree of simplification. Others, however, believed that the bold colours and flattened forms lent greater authenticity to his vision of Tahiti.

Credit: Presented by Sir Alexander Maitland in memory of his wife Rosalind 1960...

1899
Oil on canvas
73.0 x 94.0cm
NG 2221
Image and text © National Galleries of Scotland, 2024