Paul Gauguin - Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? 1897
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Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? 1897
139x374cm oil/canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
The image is only being used for informational and educational purposes
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From Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:
In 1891, Gauguin left France for Tahiti, seeking in the South Seas a society that was simpler and more elemental than that of his homeland. In Tahiti, he created paintings that express a highly personal mythology. He considered this work—created in 1897, at a time of great personal crisis—to be his masterpiece and the summation of his ideas. Gauguin’s letters suggest that the fresco-like painting should be read from right to left, beginning with the sleeping infant. He describes the various figures as pondering the questions of human existence given in the title; the blue idol represents “the Beyond.” The old woman at the far left, “close to death,” accepts her fate with resignation.