The Devil Speaks (Mahna No Varua Ino) (recto); Women Washing Clothes (verso)

The double-sided woodcut, The Devil Speaks (Mahna No Varua Ino) (recto); Women Washing Clothes (verso), by Paul Gauguin, dates from 1893-1894. This highly textured print is a critical example of Gauguin's sophisticated exploration of printmaking and non-Western subject matter following his first journey to Tahiti. The recto, The Devil Speaks, showcases the artist's immersion in Symbolism, featuring dense, simplified figures that directly reference local spiritual unease and Polynesian myth. Gauguin used the Tahitian title, Mahna No Varua Ino, meaning "The Spirit of Evil," reflecting his fascination with indigenous religion and the complex cultural dynamics arising from colonial contact.

In stark contrast to the spiritual intensity of the recto, the verso, Women Washing Clothes, depicts a relatively simple scene of daily Tahitian life. This juxtaposition of the mythological and the mundane is characteristic of Gauguin’s French Symbolist sensibility, filtered through his experiences in the Pacific. As a master of the woodcut medium, Gauguin utilized crude, expressive carving, intentionally leaving the wood grain and chisel marks visible. This aesthetic choice emphasized the elemental, primitive quality he sought to evoke, transforming the medium of printmaking in early modern France.

Created shortly after Gauguin’s return to France from the South Pacific, this piece exemplifies the period when the artist translated his exotic motifs into graphic media, ensuring the dissemination of his iconography to a wider European audience. This important, double-sided impression is classified as a significant print within the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, preserving a crucial record of Gauguin's later career. Like many influential works of graphic art, impressions of this piece serve as valuable reference material and are increasingly recognized as public domain resources.