Te raau rahi (The Big Tree)

Paul Gauguin · 1891

Medium

Oil on jute canvas

Original size

72.5 × 91.5 cm (28 9/16 × 36 in.); Framed: 96.6 × 115.6 × 11.5 cm (38 × 45 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Post-Impressionism

Te raau rahi (The Big Tree) is one of Gauguin's earliest and most quietly commanding works from his first stay in Tahiti, built around a single massive tree that anchors the composition with an almost spiritual weight. Gauguin arrived in Tahiti in 1891, seeking what he called a primitive paradise far from what he saw as the corruption of European civilisation. He worked on jute canvas rather than linen during this period — a practical choice given his limited resources, but one that lent his surfaces a rougher, more earthen texture that suited his bold, flat passages of colour. The painting's palette of deep ochres, rich greens, and warm umber shadows reflects his break from Impressionism toward a more symbolic, emotionally direct use of colour. The work is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, which acquired a significant body of Gauguin's Tahitian paintings and has been central to their study and preservation. Each hand-painted oil reproduction of Te raau rahi is produced on canvas using the same oil medium as the original, allowing the characteristic weight and warmth of Gauguin's colour to come through in a way that no print can replicate.