Te Faaturuma (The Brooding Woman)

Artist Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)

Date1891

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 91.1 × 68.7 cm (35 7/8 × 27 1/16 in.)
frame: 114.6 × 92.1 cm (45 1/8 × 36 1/4 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Terms

canvas

Object number1921.186

Label TextWhen the Worcester Art Museum acquired this painting in 1921, it was the first work by Gauguin to enter an American museum. Gauguin began painting as a hobby in 1875; in 1881, he left his family and career in banking to pursue art. He was loosely allied with the Impressionist circle before traveling to Tahiti in 1891, spending most of the remainder of his life in the South Seas in search of symbolism and subjects untouched by Western culture. One of the earliest works completed in Tahiti, Te Faaturuma (also known as The Brooding Woman) depicts a woman and Polynesian interior in highly saturated, unnatural colors. The woman’s pose, resting her chin on one hand, is often associated with the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas, who once owned this painting. ProvenanceThe artist’s studio; (February 18, 1895, Gaugin sale, Hôtel Drouot, No. 30, unsold); (by 1896, Georges Chaudet [1877-1890], Paris); (October 1896, Ambroise Vollard [1866-1939], Paris); November or December 1898, Edgar Degas [1834-1917]; (March 26-27, 1918, his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, No. 41). (By 1921, Galerie Barbazanges, Paris); (1921, John Levy Galleries, New York); 1921, Worcester Art Museum.

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