Head of a Tahitian Woman

Paul Gauguin · 1891/93, with later additions 1894/95

Medium

Pen and brush and black ink, with green, blue, yellow and white gouache, over pen and brown ink and touches of graphite, on parchment

Original size

31.8 × 24.2 cm (12 9/16 × 9 9/16 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Post-Impressionism

This intimate portrait captures the quiet dignity Gauguin found in the faces of the people he encountered in Tahiti, rendered with a stillness that still draws you in more than a century later. Gauguin arrived in Tahiti in 1891 seeking what he called a primitive, uncorrupted world, and his works from this period reflect both genuine fascination and a deeply personal vision of the island and its people. This piece is unusual in its mixed media approach — pen and ink layered with gouache on parchment — giving it a luminous, almost velvety quality distinct from his better-known oils. The restrained palette of greens, blues, and yellows lends the face a gentle radiance that feels both observed and imagined. The work passed through Gauguin's hands across two separate phases, with additions made during his 1894–95 return to France, suggesting it held a particular significance to him even among his prolific Tahitian output. Our hand-painted oil reproduction translates this delicate work faithfully onto canvas, preserving the tonal subtlety and composed serenity of the original held at the Art Institute of Chicago — a piece that rewards close looking in any room it occupies.