The Call

Paul Gauguin · 1902

Painted on a remote island in Polynesia a year before the artist's death, The Call belongs to a series of late works that explore the mysteries of life and death. Two women stand with bare feet, as if on sacred ground. One woman gestures to someone outside the picture, perhaps responding to a "call" from fate or destiny. Gauguin realized his ambition of painting from memory and the imagination through such mysterious, dreamlike images.

Artist

Paul Gauguin

Date

1902

Medium

oil on canvas

Culture

France, late 19th–early 20th century

Dimensions

Framed: 160.5 x 119 x 9.5 cm (63 3/16 x 46 7/8 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 131.3 x 89.5 cm (51 11/16 x 35 1/4 in.)

Credit

Gift of the Hanna Fund

Open-access artwork courtesy of Cleveland Museum of Art. Mooseium is not affiliated with or endorsed by this institution.