Fatata te Miti (By the Sea)
1892
Painter, French, 1848 - 1903
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Across the winding trunk of a flowering tropical tree, we see two Tahitian women. They undress for a swim in the sea. Gauguin uses lush colors and a striking composition to convey the uninhibited joy of plunging naked into the waves.
The materialism and secularism of modern French culture disgusted Gauguin. Inspired by literature, the artist searched for a fantastical place where spiritually healthy people lived in harmony with nature. Believing that he had found that in Tahiti, he set about painting his idealized experience. Works like this one are more about the artist’s own thoughts and feelings than the real people surrounding him.
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 83
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 67.9 x 91.5 cm (26 3/4 x 36 in.)
framed: 92.4 x 114.9 x 10.1 cm (36 3/8 x 45 1/4 x 4 in.) -
Accession
1963.10.149
More About this Artwork
Video: Gauguin: Maker of Myth: Part 3
Narrated by Willem Dafoe and with Alfred Molina as the voice of Paul Gauguin, this film was made in conjunction with the exhibition Gauguin: Maker of Myth, on view from February 27 to June 5, 2011.
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
(Gauguin sale, Paris, 18 February 1895, no. 27, bought in); Paul Gauguin; possibly sold 1895 to (Ambroise Vollard [1866-1939], Paris). William Molard, 1897. George Daniel de Monfreid [1856-1929]; sold 7 June 1898 to Ernest Rouart [1874-1942], Paris.[1] (Galerie L. Dru, Paris); sold 1928 to Louis L. Horch [d. 1979], New York;[2] sold 11 June 1928 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] Assuming this is the painting referred to in the chronology published in Gauguin: Tahiti, Exh. cat., Galerie nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2004: 347.
The painting was lent by Ernest Rouart to the 1906 Salon d'Automne. Ernest was the son of collector Henri Rouart and inherited with his siblings his father's collection. The collection was dispersed at auctions in Paris in 1912 and 1913, none of which included this Gauguin. Neither was it included in an anonymous sale of some of Ernest Rouart's collection held 22-23 March 1918 in Paris.
[2] Horch was the financial backer of the first Roerich Museum on Riverside Drive, New York City, that existed between 1924-1938. Chester Dale's papers, copy in NGA curatorial files, record the Roerich Museum as his source for the Gauguin, but this is crossed out and Horch written in.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1893
Exposition d'Oeuvres récentes de Paul Gauguin, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1893, no. 24
1897
La Libre Esthétique, Brussels, 1987, no.277.
1906
Salon d'Automne, Grand Palais, Paris, 1906, no. 203
1928
Loan Exhibition of Modern French Art from the Chester Dale Collection for the Benefit of the French Hospital of New York, Wildenstein Galleries, 1928, no. 14
1932
Exhibition of Paintings by Cezanne, Gauguin and Redon, Durand-Ruel Galleries, Paris, 1932, no. 9
1965
The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.
1988
The Art of Paul Gauguin, National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Art Institute of Chicago; Grand Palais, Paris, 1988-1989, no. 152, repro. [shown in Washington only]
2010
Gauguin: Maker of Myth, Tate, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2010-2011, no. 113, repro. (shown only in Washington).
From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro. (through February 2011 only).
Bibliography
1925
Rotonchamp, Jean. Paul Gauguin 1848-1903. Paris, 1925: 137.
1928
"New York Collector Buys Gauguin Canvas." Chicago New Post (20 July 1928).
"Selections from the Chester Dale Collection." Art News 27, no. 3 (20 October 1928): 1+, repro.
1929
Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929: no. 64, repro.
1936
Bulliet, C. J. The Significant Moderns and Their Pictures. New York, 1936: repro. no. 75.
1939
Slocombe, George. Rebels of Art, Manet to Matisse. New York, 1939: pl. 22.
1942
French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 75, repro.
1944
French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 75, repro.
1950
Lewandowski, Herbert. Paul Gauguin, oder Die Flucht vor der Zivilisation. Bern, 1950: 349.
1952
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 168, color repro.
1953
French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 83, repro.
1956
Wildenstein, Georges, et. al. "Oeuvres appartenant au cycle 'D'ou venons-nou? Qui sommes-nous? Ou allons-nous?'," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th series, vol. 47 (January-April 1956): 141, fig. 7.
Wildenstein, Georges, et. al. "Traduction et interprétation des titres en langue Tahitienne inscrits sur les oeuvres Océaniennes de Paul Gauguin," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th series, vol. 47 (January-April 1956): 141, fig. 7.
Wildenstein, Georges. "L'Idéologie et l'Esthétique dans deux tableaux-clés de Gauguin." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6e périod, 47 (January-April 1956): 141.
1957
Goldwater, Robert. Paul Gauguin. New York, 1957: 116, repro.
1959
Evans, Grose. French Painting of the 19th Century in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Two in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 38, color repro.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 19.
Newton, Eric. The Arts of Man. Greenwich, Connecticut, 1960: 232-234, repro.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 276, repro., as Fatata te Miti.
1964
Wildenstein, Georges. Gauguin. 2 vols. Paris, 1964: no. 463.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 55.
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 124, repro.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:472, color repro.
1967
Danielsson, Bengt. "Gauguin's Tahitian Titles." The Burlington Magazine 109, no. 769 (April 1967): 230.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 48, repro.
Cachin, Françoise. Gauguin. Paris, 1968: 245, repro.
Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 93-94, color repro.
1971
Clay, Jean, ed. L'impressionnisme. Paris, 1971: 170, repro.
1972
Sugana, Gabriele Mandel. Tout l'ouevre peint de Gauguin. Milan, 1972: no. 291, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 146, repro.
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 526, repro. 527.
1977
Field, Richard S. Paul Gauguin: The Paintings of the First Voyage to Tahiti. New York and London, 1977: 154-157.
1980
Liere, Eldon N. van, "Solutions and Dissolutions: The Bather in Nineteenth-Century French Painting," Arts Magazine 54, no 9 (May 1980): 112, repro.
1981
Sugana, Gabriele Mandel. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Gauguin. Paris, 1981: no. 291, repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 522, no. 784, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 168, repro.
1988
Bretell, Richard R. The Art of Paul Gauguin. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago; Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. Washington, D.C., 1988: 276-277, no. 152, repro.
1992
Vance, Peggy. Gauguin. London, 1992: 114, repro.
Parsons, Thomas, and Iain Gale. Post-Impressionism: The Rise of Modern Art. London, 1992: 188, repro.
1993
Thomson, Belinda, ed. Gauguin by Himself. New York, 1993: no. 187, repro.
Kapos, Martha, ed. The Post-Impressionists: A Retrospective. New York, 1993: pl. 65.
1995
Halpine, Susana M. "An Investigation of Artists' Materials Using Amino Acid Analysis: Introduction of the One-Hour Extraction Method." Studies in the History of Art 51 (1995): 53-55, repro. no. 15.
1998
Zuffi, Stefano and Francesca Castira, La peinture moderne des impressionnistes aux avant-gardes. Paris, 1998: 167-168, repro.
2004
Shackelford, George T.M., and Claire Frèches-Thory. Gauguin: Tahiti. Exh. cat. Galerie nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 2004: 347.
2013
Gamboni, Dario. Paul Gauguin au “centre mystérieux de la pensée". Dijon, 2013: 316, repro. 318.
2014
Figura, Starr. “Gauguin’s Metamorphoses: Repetition, Transformation, and the Catalyst of Printmaking.” In Gauguin: Metamorphoses. Exh. cat. Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2014: 24, repro.
2015
Jakobi, Marianne. Gauguin, Signac: la genèse du titre contemporain. Paris, 2015: repro. 151, color repro. pl. 22.
Inscriptions
lower left: Fatata te Miti; lower right: P Gauguin 92
Wikidata ID
Q4354644