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 pivotal print by Paul Gauguin, French, 1848-1903, executed between 1893 and 1894. Gauguin profoundly transformed the wood-block print medium, moving beyond standard reproductive techniques to create highly individualized, monotype-like impressions. The artist achieved this complex effect by printing the block twice, utilizing both black and brown inks, and employing selective wiping to modulate the tonal structure and texture of the resulting image.

What distinguishes this impression is the extensive hand-applied color. Gauguin meticulously added a broad palette of watercolor-including orange, yellow, red, two greens, two blues, silver-gray, and black-to the print's surface, which was executed on a laminated Japanese paper support. This demanding process required the merging of traditional printmaking with painting, transforming the work into a unique mixed-media object.

This ambitious print was developed upon Gauguin’s return to France from his first sojourn in Tahiti and is integral to the Noa Noa Suite. The suite was meant to accompany an illustrated manuscript detailing his Polynesian experiences, blending indigenous Tahitian myths with the Symbolist aesthetic prevalent in 19th-century French art. Gauguin uses L’univers est créé to explore profound themes of genesis and primordial existence. This highly personalized impression, reflecting the artist's innovative approach to prints during this critical period, resides in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.