Artwork Details
32 x 39-3/16 in. (canvas) 38-1/2 x 45 x 2-1/2 in. (framed, glazed)
Mark DescriptionSigned and dated, lower left: Gauguin '75
Accession NumberBequest of Kurt F. Pantzer, Sr.
CopyrightEuropean Painting and Sculpture 1800-1945
Color PaletteClara Gauguin, wife of the artist's son, Copenhagen, Denmark. Bekgaard, Copenhagen. {1} Sold at (Winkel and Magnussen, Copenhagen) in 1936; {2} Axel Bruun, Copenhagen. {3} L. (Louis) F. Foght, Copenhagen; Sold at (Sotheby's, London, England) in 1960; {4} (John Mitchell, London); {5} Mr. and Mrs. Kurt F. Pantzer [1892-1979], Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1960; {6} Bequest of Kurt F. Pantzer to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, in 1982 (82.54). ------- {1} This early provenance is found in Daniel Wildenstein, Gauguin: A Savage in the Making Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings (1873-1888), volume 1, Paris, Milan, 2002, catalogue no. 13. {2} Merete Bodelsen notes that this painting was lot 51 at auction at Winkel and Magnussen, Copenhagen, 01 April 1936 (auction no. 196), and that it sold to Axel Bruun, Copenhagen. See Meret Bodelsen, The Dating of Gauguin's Early Paintings, Burlington Magazine, volume 107 (June 1965), p. 310. {3} See footnote above. {4} Sotheby's, London, Catalogue of Important Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture, Part II, including The Property of the late Louis Foght, 06 July 1960, lot 167 (illustration). Although the first Wildenstein catalogue raisonné, Gauguin: Catalogue I, Paris, 1964, lists the name Johan Rohde as a former owner, this was not the case. (Paintings owned by the late Mrs. Asa Johan Rohde were present in the 06 July 1960 sale at Sotheby's which may account for this confusion.) {5} The list of "Prices and Buyers' Names" identifies John Mitchell as the buyer of lot 167. {6} For biographical material on Pantzer, see A Passionate Eye and a Public Spirit: Kurt F. Pantzer and the J.M.W. Turner Collection, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1992.
- Set against a stormy sky, a thin row of poplars is dwarfed by the looming presence of enormous trees to the right. A lone laundress, barely visible at lower center, works within this ominous landscape. These dramatic differences in scale are typically Romantic references to the power of nature.
- The color scheme is dominated by green and gray earth tones, revealing Gauguin’s awareness of Barbizon School painters such as Charles François Daubigny, whose works also hang in this gallery.
- Yet the scene’s dark mood and unusual composition make it a work of considerable originality. This large early canvas, painted while Gauguin was still working in a bank agency, suggests his ambition and dramatic temperament.
Exhibition Name
Venue
Dates
Rembrandt to Monet: 500 Years of European Painting from the Clowes Collection and the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Chengdu Museum
September 28, 2020 - January 4, 2021
Rembrandt to Monet: 500 Years of European Painting from the Clowes Collection and the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Chengdu Museum
September 29, 2020 - January 4, 2021
Rembrandt to Monet: 500 Years of European Painting from the Clowes Collection and the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Hunan Provincial Museum
May 29, 2020 - September 13, 2020
Rembrandt to Monet: 500 Years of European Painting from the Clowes Collection and the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Hunan Provincial Museum
May 29, 2020 - September 13, 2020
Rembrandt to Monet: 500 Years of European Painting from the Clowes Collection and the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Guandong Museum
January 10, 2020 - May 17, 2020
Rembrandt to Monet: 500 Years of European Painting from the Clowes Collection and the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Guandong Museum
January 10, 2020 - May 17, 2020
Paul Gauguin | Elsewhere
Taipei Fine Arts Museum
November 27, 2010 - February 13, 2011
Gauguin and Impressionism: Paintings, Sculpture and Ceramics
Kimball Art Museum
December 18, 2005 - March 26, 2006
Gauguin and Impressionism: Paintings, Sculpture and Ceramics
Ordrupgaard Museum for Fransk Impressionisme
August 25, 2005 - November 20, 2005
A Shared Heritage: Art by Four African Americans
Indianapolis Museum of Art
February 24, 1996 - April 2, 1996
The Early Work of Paul Gauguin, Genesis of an Artist
Cincinnati Art Museum
March 18, 1971 - April 26, 1971
Gauguin
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
1948 - 1948
Paul Gauguin and the Development of a New Pictorial Language
Kunstforum Wien
September 23, 2024 - Date Unknown
Content Disclaimer and Usage Rights
Metadata about the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection comes from Newfields’ records and research. In some cases, information may be incomplete and research is ongoing. Newfields’ goal is to have as up-to-date metadata as possible, therefore, this information is subject to change. Newfields collections’ metadata is available under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) waiver, which allows for re-use without legal restrictions.
Artworks that appear in the image file(s) above may be in copyright or have other legal and/or cultural restrictions to their use. For clarity, Newfields does not claim copyright to the image files created by Newfields of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Newfields makes every effort to ascertain the copyright status of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Please refer to the RightsStatements.org statement above for information about the current copyright status of the artwork. Additionally, some artworks may include Local Context’s Notices or Labels that attribute cultural authority of the artwork’s heritage and data.
Additional information about Newfields’ reproduction guidelines can be found in the Licensing Resources.