Cleveland Museum of Art
In the Waves (Dans les Vagues)
Paul GauguinLinkedCulture matchlcp-94636c6a62fb
- Date
- 1889
- Medium
- oil on fabric
- Culture
- France, 19th century
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 149410
Painted at Pont-Aven in northwest France, this depiction of a nude figure throwing herself into the sea suggests a metaphor for a modern European woman forsaking civilization and abandoning herself to her natural, primitive instincts. The simplified lines and exaggerated colors, especially the contrasting green and orange, seem invented rather than observed from life. Exhibiting the painting at the Café Volpini in Paris in 1889, Gauguin established himself as a leader of the Symbolist movement in art. Gauguin likely painted this work of art during his time in a small coastal village called Pont-Aven where he sought to immerse himself in nature and escape modern civilization.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Powell Jones
- Provenance
- 1890: On consignment with Boussod & Valadon, Paris, FR. | 1891: (Gauguin sale, Paris, FR, February 23, 1891, lot 14, to M. Jeanson) | 1906: (Joseph Hessel, Paris, FR, March 1906, sold to Gustave Fayet) | 1906–1907: (Gustave Fayet [1865–1925], Paris, FR, February 1907, sold to Ambroise Vollard) | probably 1923: (Paul Éluard, Paris, FR, who probably bought it at Galerie Dru in 1923) | 1927: (Drouot, Paris, FR, December 12, 1927, lot 103, sold to Hessel) | 1928: Leicester Galleries, London, UK. | 1929: Purchased by Frank H. Ginn, Cleveland, OH | 1978: Mr. and Mrs. Powell Jones, Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art. | 1978–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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