Fatata te Miti (By the Sea)

Gauguin associated Tahiti with a search for life beyond French materialism and secular culture. His island scenes express that idealized vision. Color and poses in this seaside painting follow his pictorial choices. The image records a visiting painter's outlook and cannot by itself establish the actual lives of Tahitians.

A seated figure faces the sea. The broad silhouette occupies the near shore and stands apart from the water.

A second figure reaches into the water. The movement connects the shore with the farther sea.

Orange flowers stand against dark ground. Saturated color organizes the surface without recording every natural variation.

A dark trunk curves across the scene. Its contour divides broad colored areas.

Pink and violet planes cover the foreground. Their combination belongs to Gauguin's deliberately constructed palette.

Gauguin first arrived in Tahiti in 1891. Earlier he had worked with Pissarro and developed Synthetism in Brittany, organizing objects through broad color forms. On the island he continued that artistic program in new surroundings.