Woman Picking Fruit and Oviri

Woman Picking Fruit and Oviri is a significant wood-block print created by Paul Gauguin French, 1848-1903 between 1895 and 1896. This profound work, classified as a print, showcases the artist’s mastery of the demanding relief process. Gauguin rendered the image using black ink on thin ivory Japanese paper, a material choice reflecting the period's profound fascination with East Asian aesthetics, particularly ukiyo-e. The delicate primary support was subsequently laid down onto a modern, secondary sheet for long-term preservation.

The imagery deliberately fuses scenes of daily labor—the woman gathering fruit—with the esoteric figure of Oviri, the Tahitian goddess associated with the wilderness, death, and savagery. This juxtaposition exemplifies Gauguin’s Symbolist aesthetic, developed during his time in the South Pacific, where he sought to infuse his art with non-Western spiritual and mythic meaning. In this piece, Gauguin utilized bold, simplified forms and the unique texture inherent to the wood-block print medium to underscore the primal themes explored. The resulting rough lines and stark contrasts heighten the emotional depth and tension between the pastoral and the mythical.

The piece highlights the critical role Gauguin played in modern prints and his lasting influence on subsequent generations of artists in France. Dating from 1895-1896, the work captures the intense emotional and formal experimentation Gauguin pursued late in his career. This iconic impression is held within the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. As many works by 1848-1903 transition into the public domain, this striking print continues to be studied as a primary example of late nineteenth-century Symbolism and Primitivism.