Vase in the Form of a Tropical Plant with Bird and Deity
1887/88
Medium
Stoneware painted with slip and gold
Dimensions
21.5 × 17 × 12 cm (8 1/2 × 6 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)
Classification
vase
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
212301
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In I886 Paul Gauguin was invited to design artistic pottery with the well-known ceramist Ernest Chaplet. Rather than simply decorating premade vessels, Gauguin chose to model his own unconventional forms by hand, jokingly calling them his “monstrosities.” Here the wide lip and distinctive shoulder of the vase echo the shape of the tall plant on its surface, while the protruding leaves on its sides suggest handles yet have no utilitarian function. Gauguin decorated this vase with a mix of motifs,...
About the Artist
Paul Gauguin · 1848–1903
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose bold experiments with color, form, and subject matter made him one of the most influential figures in the transition from 19th-century art to modernism. His rejection of European civilization for the perceived authenticity of 'primitive' cultures established an archetype of artistic exile that continues to resonate. Gauguin's ...