Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART
Preferred Title:
Mata Mua (In Olden Times)
Image View:
Detail, two women dressed in white
Creator:
Paul Gauguin (French painter, 1848-1903)
Location:
repository: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid, Madrid, Spain) Inv. no. (CTB.1984.8)
Location Note:
Paseo del Prado, 8
GPS:
40.416111-3.695
Date:
1892 (creation)
Cultural Context:
Oceanic; Tahitian
Style Period:
Nineteenth century; Post-Impressionist
Work Type 1:
painting (visual work)
Classification:
Paintings
Material:
oil paint on canvas
Technique:
oil painting (technique)
Measurements:
91 cm (height) x 69 cm (width)
Subjects:
deities; landscape; Maori; Tahiti; Primitivism; Colonialism
Description:
In an idyllic landscape enclosed by mountains, a group of women worship Hina, goddess of the moon. In the foreground, a girl plays the flute. To the left, separated by the trunk of a tall tree that splits the composition in two like a hinge, another group dances round the idol. Gauguin left for Tahiti in 1891, hoping to find artistic inspiration among primitive peoples whose development had been untouched by Western civilisation. However, all he encountered were the vestiges of a glorious past, already doomed to extinction. (Source: Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum [website]; https://www.museothy ssen.org/en/)
Collection:
Archivision Adjunct Module D: World Art
Identifier:
7A1-GAUGUIN-TBM-MM-A 02
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Mata Mua (In Olden Times)