Nave Nave Mahana

Nave Nave Mahana (Delicious day)
Artist	Paul Gauguin
Year	1896
Type	Oil painting
Dimensions	95 cm × 130 cm (37 in × 51 in)
Location	Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, Lyon

Nave Nave Mahana (Tahitian: Delicious day) was made in 1896 by Paul Gauguin in Tahiti. It is kept in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. The painting became part of the collections of the Lyon Museum in 1913.

History

In 1891, Gauguin sailed to Polynesia to escape European civilization and "everything that is artificial and conventional". His works of that period are full of quasi-religious symbolism and an exoticized view of the inhabitants of Polynesia. In 1896, he painted Nave Nave Mahana in Tahiti after he came back from a short stay in France.

Subject

A group of mysterious young women seem to be gathering fruit from the branches of plants. Their feet are solidly anchored on the red ground. Behind them, we can see a yellow sky. Frozen, distant, silent, with eyes cast down and solemn faces, the figures are perhaps a revealing indication of the artist's isolation and ill health at the time of painting.^[1]

Notes and references