Auti Te Pape (The Women at the River)

Paul Gauguin 1848 - 1903

Summary

This print demonstrates an unusual treatment of the common subject of women by a river. What is interesting is the way it shifts from quite realistic representations to abstract forms. This is particularly evident in the different treatment of the women. One of the women is depicted seated by the waters edge just to the left of centre. She is seen in profile as she is looking to the left, and her legs are crossed with her right leg bent and her weight resting on her left arm. She is nude and precise hatching has been used to model the curves of her body and her exposed flesh. The second woman however is depicted in a very stylised manner. She is depicted from behind as she is seen in the distance up to her waist in water and with her arms raised. The way she is represented is very simplified and the subtlety in tone has been lost. Even the land and the river are represented in quite a free, abstract way. The land stretches out from the left hand side into a point in the bottom right hand corner, it is irregularly patterned and it has occasional lines suggesting grass. The river, which is largely black, is also interspersed with solid white abstract shapes and with lines to suggest patches of land or the flow of the river. Along the bottom of the composition are the initials ‘PGO’ and title ‘Auti Te Pape’.