Paul Gauguin. Tahitiani in una stanza

The cycle of exhibitions celebrating 20 years of Gallerie d’Italia Vicenza draws to a close with an extraordinary new Illustrious Guest: Paul Gauguin and his Tahitians in a Room (Eiaha-Ohipa in the Maori language).

On loan from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, the work was painted by Gauguin in 1896 when, shortly after returning from France to Tahiti, he found himself in financial straits with serious health problems, and depression as a result.

The more commonly used title Tahitians in a Room does not convey the same sense as the Maori title Eiaha Ohipa, which is written on the painting and refers to the idleness or leisure time of the two figures portrayed. The two figures embody the Utopian condition of a harmonious state of nature, a freedom to be and act as they wish. In the background, an observer stands out, essentially outside of the scene; this is presumably the artist himself, with his dog closer to the figures at the doorway, a recurrent figure in many of his paintings of that era.

In 1891, Gauguin set sail for Polynesia for the first time, drawn to the islands partly by the foreignness of the exotic location and partly by the idea of reinvigorating traditional forms of painting thanks to contact with a so-called ‘primitive’ culture, that was virginal and authentic. The practically unanimous rejection in Paris of his work carried out during his first stay, between 1891 and 1893, led him to radically distance himself from his homeland. Tahiti took on a fantastical dimension, a type of paradise free from the constraints of western life and its values of false progress, control and exploitation.

Running alongside the themed exhibition is a programme packed with activities, including free educational courses for schools, multisensorial art itineraries, workshops for kids, floral design workshops and many other events designed to bring the visitor on a journey of colour, fragrance and tastes from Polynesia.