Nave Nave Fenua (Fragrant Isle), from the series for "Noa Noa"
ナヴェ・ナヴェ・フェヌア（かぐわしき大地）（『ノア・ノア』のための連作）
- Birth Year
- 1848
- Death Year
- 1903
- Date
- 1893-94 (printed by Louis Roy in 1894)
- Technique, Material, Format
- woodcut, stencil
- Dimension
- 35.5 x 20.5 cm
- Category
- Print by Foreign Artist
- Inventory Number
- 92-PRF-025
In this work, Paul Gaugin has reversed the composition of his oil painting Delightful Land (Te Nave Nave Fenua) Fragrant Isle (1892, Ohara Museum of Art) left to right. It was created for his Tahiti travel journal Noa Noa. The theme is the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis. Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit at the temptation of the devil in the form of a serpent. This was the original sin. In this work, Gauguin, who sought to escape from Western civilization, switches the setting to Tahiti, with Eve now a Tahitian woman, the serpent a giant lizard, and the apple a bright flower. But where did Adam go? Perhaps he is over here, the focus of Eve’s gaze: the lone man holding a paint brush who has “escaped” sin.
(MINAMISHIMA Ko)