gauguin12 Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

Description of Paul Gauguin’s painting "Day of the Deity"

The painting "Day of the Deity" was painted by Paul Gauguin in 1894 between the so-called "Tahitian" periods of his work. It is in the Art Institute of Chicago.

This painting was part of Gauguin’s many years of research and his creative interpretation of Polynesian mythology. The main figure, called Taaroa, is the central figure of the Maori pantheon, the creator of the world, about whom the artist writes in his work Ancien Culte Mahorie. In honor of him the two girls on the left bring and the two girls on the right perform a ritual dance.

Here the ingenuity of the artist and his sources of inspiration are evident. The repetitive white robes of the Tahitian women, very reminiscent of Egyptian, the dancing figures, as if hanging in the air, and the deity depicted exactly corresponding to the myths that so fascinated Gauguin. The three nude figures in the foreground seem to represent creation, their languid poses (the figure on the right is even in a fetal-like pose) suggesting the overwhelming energy of the god behind them.

The curves of their figures and the headdress of the god’s feathers are reflected in the foreground. The water is filled with curious amoeba-like shapes that are perhaps rocks, or perhaps shadows that have come from some unknown place. One might assume that these are simply decorative forms designed to give the composition its own mood and rhythm. However, many art historians find here synthetic simplifications of the Brittany photographs taken in 1888 and 1889. Gauguin stylizes them to the point of almost complete abstraction.