Ia Orana Maria (We Greet Thee, Mary)

Ia Orana Maria (We Greet Thee, Mary) is a pivotal print created by Paul Gauguin in 1894. This work is classified as a lithograph, executed using a zinc plate and printed entirely in a saturated blue hue, a distinctive choice that imbues the scene with an ethereal, dreamlike quality. Gauguin, the influential French artist, transforms the traditional Christian motif of the Annunciation or Visitation, setting the scene not in the Holy Land but within the lush, exotic environment of Tahiti.

The composition features two central Tahitian women, one representing Mary who greets the other, flanked by a subtly rendered winged attendant or angel figure whose presence formalizes the biblical reference. The women are surrounded by tropical flora, which Gauguin simplifies into decorative, heavily outlined forms, reflecting his rejection of European naturalism in favor of local visual traditions.

Created late in the 1876 to 1900 period, this piece reflects Gauguin's Post-Impressionist shift toward Symbolism, utilizing flattened forms and strong outlines to convey spiritual rather than observational truth. By employing the demanding process of zinc lithography, Gauguin was able to adapt his characteristic aesthetic-marked by primitivism and bold composition-to the graphic arts, emphasizing line and shadow through the dense application of the blue ink. Gauguin often used his print series to disseminate images and themes first explored in his major oil paintings.

The prints created during this period, such as this impression of Ia Orana Maria, allowed for broader dissemination of the artist's unique, spiritually charged narratives blending European faith with Polynesian culture. This significant example of late 19th-century French graphic art, offering invaluable insight into Gauguin's profound influence on modern visual culture, is preserved in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.