Sketches of Figures, Pandanus Leaf, and Vanilla Plant is an observational and preparatory work created by Paul Gauguin French, 1848-1903, between 1891 and 1893. Classified by the museum as a painting, the piece is rendered using black fabricated chalk and watercolor on cream wove paper, indicating its origin as a page removed from one of the artist’s sketchbooks. This period marks Gauguin’s first arrival in Tahiti, where he embarked on a deliberate project to record and reinterpret the local people and exotic flora, intentionally rejecting the perceived decadence of contemporary art in France.
The intimacy of the medium highlights the artist’s process of documenting his initial impressions, capturing the specific features of tropical elements such as the pandanus leaf and the vanilla plant alongside studies of native figures. These carefully observed botanical and figural studies provided Gauguin with the visual data necessary to develop the synthetic forms and flattened compositions characteristic of his mature Post-Impressionist and Symbolist canvases. Gauguin frequently incorporated these detailed visual records into allegorical or mythical scenes, utilizing the specific imagery of the South Pacific to build a personal mythology. The work offers a direct view into the working method of the artist during a pivotal creative shift. This significant drawing resides in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
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