{
"data": {
"id": 148297,
"accession_number": "1975.263",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "The Large Tree, 1891. Paul Gauguin (French, 1848\u20131903). Oil on canvas; framed: 92.4 x 112.7 x 6.4 cm (36 3/8 x 44 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.); unframed: 74 x 92.8 cm (29 1/8 x 36 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Barbara Ginn Griesinger, 1975.263",
"current_location": null,
"title": "The Large Tree",
"creation_date": "1891",
"creation_date_earliest": 1891,
"creation_date_latest": 1891,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"France, 19th century"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Modern European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 92.4 x 112.7 x 6.4 cm (36 3/8 x 44 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 74 x 92.8 cm (29 1/8 x 36 9/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 0.924,
"height_inch": 36,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.375,
"width": 1.127,
"width_inch": 44,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.375,
"depth": 0.064,
"depth_inch": 2,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.5
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.74,
"height_inch": 29,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.125,
"width": 0.928,
"width_inch": 36,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.5625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Signed lower right: P Gauguin 91 \r\nInscribed lower left: Te raau rahi\r\n",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 221052,
"title": "Masters of Impressionism",
"description": "Masters of Impressionism. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico (November 17, 1998-February 28, 1999).",
"opening_date": "1998-11-17T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 212256,
"title": "Degas to Picasso: The Painter, the Sculptor and the Camera\r\n",
"description": "Degas to Picasso: The Painter, the Sculptor and the Camera\r\n. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (October 1, 1999-January 4, 2000); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (February 1-May 7, 2000); Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 48001 Bilbao, Spain (June 12-September 10, 2000).",
"opening_date": "1999-10-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 222616,
"title": "Verso l'Arte Moderna, da Puvis de Chavannes a Matisse e Picasso",
"description": "Verso l'Arte Moderna, da Puvis de Chavannes a Matisse e Picasso. Palazzo Grassi spa, 30124 Venice, Italy (organizer) (February 10-June 16, 2002).",
"opening_date": "2002-02-10T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 182153,
"title": "Monet to Dal\u00ed: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Monet to Dal\u00ed: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008).",
"opening_date": "2006-05-27T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 231243,
"title": "Gauguin and Polynesia: South Pacific Encounters",
"description": "Gauguin and Polynesia: South Pacific Encounters. Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (February 14-April 29, 2012).",
"opening_date": "2011-09-24T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 228199,
"title": "Van Gogh Repetitions lend-back",
"description": "Van Gogh Repetitions lend-back. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy (October 12, 2013-June 1, 2014).",
"opening_date": "2013-10-12T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 224367,
"title": "Paul Gauguin: Painting Like God",
"description": "Paul Gauguin: Painting Like God. Fondation Beyeler, CH-4125 Riehen/Basel, Switzerland (organizer) (February 7-June 28, 2015).",
"opening_date": "2015-02-07T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 539508,
"title": "Gauguin\u2019s World: T\u014dna Iho, T\u014dna Ao",
"description": "Gauguin\u2019s World: T\u014dna Iho, T\u014dna Ao. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia (June 29-October 7, 2024) https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/gauguins-world/; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (November 3, 2024-February 16, 2025).",
"opening_date": "2024-06-29T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Paintings from El Greco and Rembrandt to C\u00e9zanne and Matisse. Reinhardt Galleries, New York, NY (1927).",
"opening_date": "1927-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "French Art since 1800. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1929).",
"opening_date": "1929-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "A Loan Exhibition of Paul Gauguin. Wildenstein Gallery, New York, NY (1946).",
"opening_date": "1946-01-01T00:00:00"
}
]
},
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{
"description": "(Reinhardt Gallery, New York, NY, 1927)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1927-1929",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "(Leicester Galleries, London, United Kingdom, 1929, sold to Mr. Frank H. Ginn)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1929",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Mr. Frank H. Ginn [1868-1938], Gates Mills, OH, by descent to this daughter, Barbara Ginn",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1929-",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "Mr. and Mrs. Frank Griesinger (Barabara Ginn), Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1976",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1976-",
"sortorder": 5
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"2550.29"
],
"did_you_know": "Gauguin positions four women in a friezelike sequence seeking shelter under the dark green leaves of a large tree while the leaves of the second tree add a decorative pattern to the pink thatched roof. With his brush, he captures contrasting elements of the tropical climate, sending the viewer into the cool shade to escape the hot sun.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Disgusted with the materialism of European society, Gauguin abandoned his family and career as a stockbroker and departed for Tahiti in 1891. This canvas is among the first paintings he completed on the island. Its rich colors and stylized figures were intended to be both symbolic and mysterious, evoking private thoughts and emotions. \u201cI obtain symphonies,\u201d he wrote, \u201charmonies that represent nothing real in the absolute sense of the word.\u201d",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60472839"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1975.263-the-large-tree"
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},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Bulliet, C. J. Apples & Madonnas; Emotional Expression in Modern Art. Chicago, IL: P. Covici, Inc, 1927.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 98",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "\"Notes on the Color Plates.\" ARTnews 25 (May 14, 1927): 50-64.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 50; reproduced: 61",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Pemberton, Murdock. Picture Book. New York, NY: A.A. Knopf, 1930.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: pl. 14",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Malingue, Maurice. Lettres de Gauguin a\u0300 Sa Femme et a\u0300 Ses Amis, Recueillies et Pre\u0301face\u0301es par Maurice Malingue. Paris: B. Grasset, 1946.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 236",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Scherman, Harry, ed. Book-of-the-Month Club News (May 1948): cover.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: Cover",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Catalogue of Colour Reproductions of Painting from 1860 to 1949. Paris: Unesco, 1949.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 77, no. 102",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Coe, Nancy. The History of the Collecting of European Paintings and Drawings in the City of Cleveland. Thesis M.A. Oberlin College, 1955.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: vol.2, p. 58",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Rewald, John. Post-Impressionism: From Van Gogh to Gauguin. New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1956.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p, 505",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Wildenstein, Georges. Gauguin. Paris: Les Beaux-Arts, E\u0301ditions d'E\u0301tudes et de Documents, 1964.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: vol. 1, p. 172-173",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Mandel, Gabriele Mandel. L'opera completa di Gauguin. Milano, Iitaly: Rizzoli, 1972.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 255",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Field, Richard S. Paul Gauguin: The Paintings of the First Voyage to Tahiti. New York, NY: Garland Pub, 1977.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 71, no. 16; Mentioned: p. 58",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Henning, Edward B. \"Woman in the Waves.\" ARTnews 83 (March 1984): 104-106.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 106",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Griffin, Jonathan. Noa Noa: Gauguin's Tahiti. Oxford, UK: Phaidon, 1985.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 19, fig. 8",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Hoog, Michel. Paul Gauguin, Life and Work. New York, NY: Rizzoli, 1987.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 192, pl. 133",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Prather, Marla, and Charles F. Stuckey. Gauguin: A Retrospective. New York, NY: H.L. Levin Associates, 1987.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: pl. 60",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Barskai\ufe20a\ufe21, A. G., and M. A. Bessonova. Paul Gauguin in Soviet Museums. Leningrad, USSR: Aurora Art Publishers, 1988.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 99",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Robinson, William H. \u201cPuvis de Chavannes\u2019s \u2018Summer\u2019 and the Symbolist Avant-Garde.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 1 (January 1991): 2\u201327.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 21-22, fig. 24",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25161310"
},
{
"citation": "Schneeberger, Pierre-Francis. Gauguin, Tahiti. Paris, FR: Bibliothe\u0300que des Arts, 1991.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 16-17",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Robinson, William H. \"Puvis De Chavannes's \"Summer\" and the Symbolist Avant-Garde.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 1 (1991): 2-27.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 21-22",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161310"
},
{
"citation": "Hinson, Tom E. \"Notable Acquisitions.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 87",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161319"
},
{
"citation": "Turner, Evan H., Alan Chong, Henry Hawley, et al. \u201cNotable Acquisitions.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (June 1991): 63\u2013147.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 67",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25161319"
},
{
"citation": "Metken, Gu\u0308nter. Gauguin in Tahiti: The First Journey : Paintings 1891-1893. New York, NY: Norton, 1992.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 5",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Smith, Nigel J. H. Tropical Forests and Their Crops. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Pr, 1992.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 299, fig. 6.7",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Coven, Jeffrey, and Dore Ashton. Baudelaire's Voyages: The Poet and His Painters. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co, 1993.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 134",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 82",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Zingg, Jean-Pierre. Les e\u0301ventails de Paul Gauguin. Paris, FR: Editions Avant & Apre\u0300s, 1996.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: o. 57; Mentioned: p. 56",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico). Maestros del Impresionismo. Me\u0301xico, D.F.: Istituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1998.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 90-93",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Kosinski, Dorothy M. The Artist and the Camera: Degas to Picasso. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1999.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 134, no. 122",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "d' Argencourt, Louise, and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: v. 1, p. 280-282, no. 101",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Salvesen, Britt. Gauguin. Chicago, IL: Art Institute of Chicago, 2001.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 63, fig. 24",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Lemoine, Serge. From Puvis De Chavannes to Matisse and Picasso: Toward Modern Art. Milano, IT: Bompiani, 2002.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 332, fig. 37",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Greub, Suzanne. Gauguin, Polynesia. Munich, Germany: Hirmer, 2011.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 195, fig. 169",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Childs, Elizabeth C. Vanishing Paradise: Art and Exoticism in Colonial Tahiti. Berkeley, CA : University of California Press,2013.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: pl. 7",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "National Gallery of Australia, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Gauguin\u2019s World: To\u0304Na Iho, To\u0304Na Ao. Edited by Henri Loyrette. Parkes, ACT, The Rocks, NSW: National Gallery of Australia; Art Exhibitions Australia Limited, 2024.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 199",
"url": ""
}
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"creditline": "Gift of Barbara Ginn Griesinger",
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{
"id": 1776,
"description": "Paul Gauguin (French, 1848\u20131903)",
"extent": null,
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"role": "artist",
"biography": "Gauguin spent the first seven years of his life with his mother and great uncle in Peru. In 1855 his mother took him back to France where he attended boarding school. He joined the merchant marine when he was seventeen and began traveling around South America. When Gauguin's mother died in 1868, Gustave Arosa, an art collector and photographer, became his legal guardian. Arosa's collection included works by Corot (q.v.), Courbet (q.v.), Delacroix (q.v.), and the Barbizon painters, and it was he who would encourage Gauguin to start painting. In 1872 Arosa found a job for Gauguin at a brokerage firm, giving him financial security. The following year he married a Danish woman, Mette Gad. Gauguin had already started painting and sculpting in his spare time and first exhibited at the Salon in 1876 with a landscape.1 He was asked by Pissarro (q.v.) and Degas (q.v.) to participate in the fourth impressionist exhibition in 1879, where from then on he would exhibit regularly. Durand-Ruel began purchasing his paintings, and in turn Gauguin started to collect the works of his colleagues, such as Manet (q.v.) and Renoir (q.v.) and, in particular, C\u00e9zanne (q.v.) and Pissarro. He went to Pontoise in 1882, where he painted with C\u00e9zanne and Pissarro, who along with Degas continued to influence him at this period. In 1883 Gauguin decided to become a full-time artist. In 1884 he moved with his wife and children to Rouen and then to Copenhagen, but he failed to earn a comfortable living. He returned to Paris in 1886 and met ceramicist Ernest Chaplet (1835-1909), who introduced him to his m\u00e9tier. Gauguin distanced himself from impressionism and in 1888 worked in Pont-Aven with \u00c9mile Bernard (1868-1941), who had been experimenting with creating compositions using flat areas of color and dark outlines (cloissonism). Gauguin also studied Japanese prints and Indonesian art. The impact of these influences is evident in Gauguin's Vision after the Sermon: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (1888, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh), so far removed from his earlier impressionist style. Succumbing to van Gogh's (q.v.) many requests, Gauguin agreed to travel to Arles and paint with the artist; their characters, however, proved incompatible. Theo van Gogh, who worked for Boussod Valadon & Cie, would in the meantime sell Gauguin's work. For the next two years, Gauguin traveled often around Brittany. In search of a more pure and unspoiled culture, he auctioned off his paintings in 1891 in order to finance a journey to Tahiti. Upon his arrival, he was disappointed to find many expatriates and developed areas, yet he was still able to capture in his works an uncultivated spirit. He not only made paintings but also created bold woodcuts and sculptures and was an avid writer. Gauguin returned to France in 1893, where he was given a solo exhibition by Durand-Ruel that was not particularly successful. He decided to leave Europe again in 1895, moving to Tahiti and later to Hivaoa, a more remote island in the Marquesas. Because he abandoned naturalistic colors and used formal distortions in order to achieve expressive compositions, Gauguin's work became an inspiration for many subsequent artists. 1. Possibly Wildenstein 1964, no. 12.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1848",
"death_year": "1903",
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],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1976-01-08T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1891,
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"date_text": "1891",
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"updated_at": "2026-09-12 11:31:23.978000"
}
}