Three Tahitian Women 1896

"Three Tahitian Women" was made by Paul Gauguin using oil paints to depict a scene from French Polynesia. The materiality of oil paint, with its capacity for layering and blending, is central to the work's appearance. Gauguin builds up surfaces through visible brushstrokes, seen most evidently in the women's red pareos, which add a tactile quality to the image. The colors are applied in blocks with stark outlines that seem to flatten the figures and amplify the vibrant hues. Gauguin left France to find an authentic way of life in Tahiti, but he brought the Western tradition of oil painting with him. "Three Tahitian Women" thus reveals the complex interaction between artistic tradition and new, exotic environments. In its making, the painting asks us to consider the impact of colonialism on indigenous cultures and to reflect on the role of art in bridging divides.