Tahitian Carrying Bananas

Tahitian Carrying Bananas by Paul Gauguin, executed between 1898 and 1899, is a powerful example of the artist's late-career exploration of printmaking. Classified as a woodcut, this impression is printed on delicate, transparent wove tissue paper, a choice that highlights the raw, bold lines and deliberate texture inherent in Gauguin’s primitivist approach. Produced during his second and final period in the South Pacific, the work captures Gauguin’s fascination with Polynesian life and culture, focusing on daily rituals and the relationship between humanity and nature.

The composition centers on a figure, presumably one of the local Tahitian Men, laboriously carrying a heavy stalk of Bananas and other Fruit across the foreground. Gauguin employed stark contrast and simplified forms to convey the solidity of the figures and the intensity of the tropical light. While the main focus is on the human activity, the inclusion of other elements, such as grazing Cows and small domestic Dogs, roots the scene in the specific context of the rural environment.

This specific impression resides in the esteemed collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), where it serves as a key documentation of the Symbolist and post-Impressionist shift in graphic arts. As one of the significant prints created by Gauguin, the work demonstrates his inventive manipulation of the wood block to achieve varied visual effects, influencing generations of subsequent modern artists.