Landscape and Head of Man; Head of Monkey Inside a Square [recto]

Landscape and Head of Man; Head of Monkey Inside a Square [recto], created by Paul Gauguin between 1884 and 1888, is a significant example of the artist's preparatory studies during the transformative period of 1876 to 1900. Executed meticulously in graphite on wove paper, this French drawing provides essential insight into the artist’s private working methods just prior to his departure for Martinique and his subsequent establishment as a leader of the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. It currently resides in the esteemed collection of the National Gallery of Art.

The piece is characteristic of a working sheet or a sketchbook, where Gauguin combined several disparate elements onto a single plane. The primary elements include a sensitive portrait study of a man’s head rendered with careful shading and contouring, juxtaposed with a more abstract element: the head of a monkey deliberately framed within a crisp, inscribed square. Although the connection between these motifs and the underlying, lightly sketched landscape remains ambiguous, the arrangement highlights Gauguin’s continuous exploration of both portraiture and his growing interest in non-Western and animal forms.

This drawing is valuable for understanding Gauguin’s transition within the late nineteenth-century cultural landscape. The 1884-1888 period was critical for the artist, marking his move away from Impressionism towards the more stylized and subjective aesthetics that defined the core of modern French art. The medium of graphite allowed Gauguin to focus intently on structure and outline, skills foundational to his later, celebrated works. As a drawing from the 1876 to 1900 timeframe, this artifact contributes substantially to the study of the era. High-quality prints and digital reproductions of this work are frequently available for research and educational purposes, often accessible as public domain content from the National Gallery of Art.