Seated Tahitian Women (related to the painting Nafea faa ipoipo [When Will You Marry?]) and Other Sketches

Seated Tahitian Women (related to the painting Nafea faa ipoipo [When Will You Marry?]) and Other Sketches by Paul Gauguin French, 1848-1903, is a critical drawing dating from the artist’s first major journey to Tahiti between 1891 and 1893. Executed on cream wove paper removed from a sketchbook, the medium consists of black fabricated chalk and pen and brown ink, traces of graphite, documenting a rapid yet decisive method of study. Chemical analysis reveals that the brown ink originally registered a deep purple color, demonstrating the subtle material degradation that occurs over time in works on paper.

The primary focus of the drawing is the two Tahitian women, whose poses and arrangement serve as preparatory studies for the monumental oil painting Nafea faa ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), a key work defining the Symbolist and Primitivist movements. This piece provides essential insight into Gauguin's compositional process, revealing how he developed the figures' contours and relationships before committing them to the final canvas. The swift handling of the chalk outlines, combined with the definition provided by the ink, reflects the Post-Impressionist artist's intense focus on figure drawing and his effort to idealize and codify the culture he found in the South Pacific.

Gauguin’s deliberate departure from metropolitan life in France informed the subject matter of these crucial sketches. The resulting art, now frequently studied and reproduced, often enters the public domain, allowing institutions and individuals worldwide to access high-quality prints and digital records. This significant sheet of preparatory work is preserved in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, offering an essential reference for understanding the evolution of one of the artist's most iconic and celebrated paintings.