Woman Holding a Fruit (Where Are You Going or Eu haere ia oe)

Woman Holding a Fruit (Where Are You Going or Eu haere ia oe): Paul Gauguin

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Paul Gauguin Oil Painting - Woman Holding a Fruit (Where Are You Going or Eu haere ia oe)

Keywords: Woman, Holding, Fruit, Going, haere

Work Overview: Woman Holding a Fruit; Where Are You Going? (Eu haere ia oe)
Paul Gauguin
Original Title: Ea haere ia oe
Date: 1893; French Polynesia *
Style: Post-Impressionism
Period: 1st Tahiti period
Genre: genre painting
Media: oil, canvas
Dimensions: 73.5 x 92.5 cm
Location: Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Tahiti was for Gauguin the embodiment of that primitive and unspoiled life of which he dreamed, of natural harmony and simplicity. He intially spent two years in Tahiti (1891-1893) before returning to Paris for a short time. This work dates from that first period in Oceania, when the artist was still more concerned with the external attributes of the exotic world full of mystery, so unlike Europe. The impressions of the colours and vegetation, the appearance and rituals of the Tahitians, gave the artistic much material to work with. An everyday episode in the islanders' life is here turned into the embodiment of the eternal rhythm of life, of harmony between man and nature. Standing in the foreground is a Tahitian girl with a fruit in her hand - the Eve of that eastern Paradise. Rejecting the rules of traditional painting, and then of Impressionism, Gauguin went on to create his own individual style. The flat space, the rhythmic repetition of lines, forms and areas of colour, and the pure colours applied in broad masses combine to create a highly decorative effect.

The Maori title of the picture is translated as “Where are you going?”. By this question the Tahitians usually greet the person they meet. The fruit, in fact, is a pumpkin in which water was brought. The art researchers consider that the prototype of the depicted woman was Pahura, the tahitian wife of the artist. Her calm and dignified figure is perceived as the figure of an oceanic paradise Eva. The vessel for water, in this case, is symbolic, because water is the symbol of life. The tahitian woman with a baby in her hands in the background is the hint that during the work on the canvas Pahura was pregnant. The Tahitian holding a greenish-lemon colour fruit is painted in beautiful and sophisticated golden-brown shade. The clear line contouring the body adds density and expressiveness to the figure. The scenery, as well as the figure, is interpreted loosely. There is no sunshine or air vibration in the picture, but the burning heat of the tropic sun is felt in everything – in the colour of the woman’s skin, in the blue of the sky, in the still boughs, in the intensive red spots of the clothes and also in the peculiar slow rhythm penetrating the whole picture.

Despite the prominence and importance of titles in Gauguin's art, their meaning is often far from evident, and there seems to be a degree of capriciousness in their choice. It is far from clear who is posing the question here and indeed why, although the woman's insistent gaze seems to suggest direct communication with the spectator. It is possible that it was posed to the artist himself by the archetypal Tahitian woman, since Gauguin was to leave Polynesia later that year. If that is so, then the ripe exotic fruit she nurses to her breast becomes a symbol of the sensual gratification he will leave behind by going back to French 'civilization'. Quotations from other paintings are included, most notably the crouching maiden from Nafea faa ipoipo, who acts as a further reminder of what he will miss.

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Woman Holding a Fruit (Where Are You Going or Eu haere ia oe)

Paul Gauguin

Work Overview