Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Paul Gauguin · Public domain · source
Title	Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Artist	Paul Gauguin
Year	1897–1898
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	139.1 cm × 374.6 cm
Location	Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? is a monumental oil painting by Paul Gauguin created during his first extended stay in Tahiti from 1897 to 1898. Conceived as a summative philosophical statement, the work synthesizes images drawn from Brittany, Paris, Apostle Paul-era Christianity as filtered through European visual culture, and Polynesian iconography while reflecting Gauguin's relationships with figures such as Émile Bernard and Vincent van Gogh. The painting's scale, iconography, and autograph inscription position it as a late-19th-century crossroads of Symbolism, Post-Impressionism, and primitivist discourse amid encounters between France and its colonial possessions.

Background and Composition of the Work

Gauguin executed the painting in Papeete on the island of Tahiti after voyages that included ports like Marseille and episodes in Pont-Aven and Copenhagen. The composition reads from right to left in a frieze-like procession populated by figures reminiscent of scenes in works by Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, and Henri Rousseau, alongside motifs echoing Jacques-Louis David and Eugène Delacroix. Iconic elements—the crouching baby, contemplative mothers, and reclining figures—invoke narratives comparable to tableaux in Gustave Moreau and Odilon Redon while referencing artifacts collected by voyages such as the James Cook expeditions. The palette and flattened spatial treatment align the canvas with developments by Georges Seurat and the synthetist approach championed by Gauguin's circle including Paul Sérusier.

Themes and Interpretation

The tripartite structure stages life, existential inquiry, and decline, engaging themes similar to philosophical currents debated by Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, and contemporary readers of Emile Zola. Religious allusions nod to Roman Catholic Church iconography and New Testament tropes, yet Gauguin juxtaposes these with indigenous references linked to chiefs and deities encountered in Tahiti and the broader Polynesian archipelago. Critics and scholars have linked the work to narratives in Homer and existential meditations comparable to interpretations of Dante Alighieri and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, while art historians invoke connections to the writings of Charles Baudelaire and Gustave Flaubert for cultural framing. Symbolist resonances align the painting with exhibitions at venues such as the Salon des Indépendants and readings associated with journals like La Revue Blanche.

Composition History and Context

Gauguin painted the canvas in the months preceding his departure from Tahiti, during a period marked by the deaths of acquaintances and personal crises that he recorded in letters to Daniel de Monfreid and Mette Gad. He described the work as a "message" in correspondence with George-Daniel de Monfreid and discussed its program with André Fontainas and members of the Symbolist milieu. The painting synthesizes studies made in Bretagne and sketches produced in the Musée du Louvre and private collections in Paris, with compositional models traced to prints and ethnographic drawings amassed by collectors such as Georges Kundert. Financial strain and the politics of colonial administration under Third French Republic structures shaped Gauguin's choice to remain in Tahiti while developing a manifesto-like canvas.

Publication and Reception

Upon completion, Gauguin attempted to exhibit and sell the painting in Paris and arrange showings in Copenhagen and with dealers like Ambroise Vollard, but early reception was mixed among collectors and critics at institutions including the Musée d'Orsay antecedents and provincial salons. Reviews in periodicals such as Le Figaro and La Revue Blanche varied from admiration by proponents like Joris-Karl Huysmans to derision by conservative commentators aligned with academies and juried salons. The canvas later entered collections culminating in acquisition by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where it became a focal point for debates about primitivism, authenticity, and the ethics of representation addressed in exhibitions convened with scholarship from curators linked to Smithsonian Institution and universities like Harvard University.

Critical Analysis and Legacy

Scholars have treated the painting as a touchstone in studies by theorists such as T. J. Clark and Linda Nochlin, provoking reassessments of Gauguin's role in modernism and colonial discourse alongside analyses by Griselda Pollock and John Berger. Debates center on appropriation and the artist's construction of "Tahiti" versus indigenous realities documented by ethnographers associated with institutions like the British Museum and Musée de l'Homme. The work influenced artists and movements including Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Expressionism advocates, and it has been cited in scholarship on decolonization dialogues involving scholars from University of the South Pacific and postcolonial critics such as Edward Said.

Translations, Adaptations, and Influences

The painting's title and program have been invoked across media: literary allusions appear in texts by Jean Cocteau and Andre Gide, while musical works by composers linked to Maurice Ravel and scenography by designers associated with Ballets Russes drew on Gauguinian imagery. Film directors in the tradition of Jean-Luc Godard and Rainer Werner Fassbinder have referenced Gauguin's tableaux, and adaptations appear in catalogues raisonnés produced by publishers collaborating with museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and curators from Tate Modern. The canvas continues to stimulate interdisciplinary inquiry spanning exhibitions, conferences at Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, and scholarship across departments at institutions such as Yale University and Sorbonne University.

Category:Paintings by Paul Gauguin