L’univers est créé (The Universe Is Being Created), from the Noa Noa Suite

L’univers est créé (The Universe Is Being Created), from the Noa Noa Suite, is a powerful wood-block print executed by the French Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) between 1893 and 1894. This highly textural work, created in black ink on delicate grayish-ivory China paper, is a key component of the experimental print cycle Gauguin developed upon his return from his first major trip to Tahiti.

Unlike his celebrated canvases, Gauguin utilized the woodcut medium to harness a raw, primitive aesthetic, deliberately leaving tool marks and rough edges to enhance the mystical subject matter. This style reflects his quest to integrate non-Western mythological motifs into modern French art. The composition captures the moment of creation, employing simplified, monumental forms and dramatic tonal contrasts, elements that would become hallmarks of his later output. The entire Noa Noa Suite served as illustrations and visual analogues for the written manuscript of the same name, chronicling his experiences in the South Pacific and his search for an unfiltered, exotic paradise.

While Gauguin carved the original woodblock matrices, many impressions were printed posthumously by his son, Pola Gauguin (1883-1961), and published by Christian Cato in Copenhagen, ensuring the wide dissemination of these seminal prints. This specific impression is part of the esteemed collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The powerful, simplified forms and stark contrasts evident in L’univers est créé reveal Gauguin’s enduring influence on early Expressionism and the modernization of European graphic arts.