The Island of Moorea Looking across the Strait from Tahiti, January 1891

Art Historical Context

In the sun-drenched expanse of the South Pacific, John La F captured the ethereal beauty of *The Island of Moorea across the Strait from Tah, January 1891*. This intimate landscape watercolor, gouache, and graphite work on heavy tan wove (7 x 12 3/8 in.) depicts the volcanic silhouette of Moorea rising dramatically from the turquoise strait, evoking the exotic allure that drew 19th-century artists to Polynesia. Created during La Farge's 1890–91 voyage to Tahiti—a journey inspired by his fascination with non-Western cultures and nature's luminosity—this piece reflects his role as a pioneering American artist bridging Impressionism and Symbolism. La Farge, a versatile innovator known for stained-glass windows and murals, elevated watercolor through experimental techniques. Here, he layered translucent watercolors with opaque gouache for vibrant depth and subtle graphite lines for precise contours, mimicking the opalescent glow of tropical light on water and land. The tan paper grounds the composition in earthy warmth, enhancing its atmospheric haze. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing (Bequest of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1966), it exemplifies La Farge's influence on American landscape traditions, blending scientific observation with poetic reverie. This modest-scale gem invites visitors to ponder the artist's wanderlust and the fleeting paradise he immortalized, a window into an era of artistic exploration.

About the Artist

John La Farge · 1835–1910

John La Farge (1835–1910) was born into a wealthy French émigré family in New York City, the son of John Frederick La Farge and Louisa Binsse de Saint-Victor. Educated at Jesuit institutions including Mount St. Mary's College in Maryland and St. John's College (now Fordham University), he initially pursued law but turned to art after receiving early drawing lessons from his maternal grandfather, a...