Landscape in Le Pouldu, 1894. Paul Gauguin. Oil on canvas. Purchase: acquired through the generosity of an anonymous donor.
In this vibrantly colored landscape of a French peasant out with his dog, Paul Gauguin employed the tropical palette he developed while living in Tahiti from 1891 to 1893. Typical of his later production, Gauguin painted on a burlap-like fabric whose coarse and uneven texture was a deliberate component of the picture’s overall appearance. Gauguin intended the surface to convey the character of ancient wall murals. Commercially unsuccessful in Paris, Gauguin returned to Polynesia in 1895 and remained there the rest of his life.
