In the Waves (Dans les Vagues) (1889): Art, History and Details

In the Waves (Dans les Vagues) (1889) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Painted at Pont-Aven in northwest France, this depiction of a nude figure throwing herself into the sea suggests a metaphor for a modern European woman forsaking civilization and abandoning herself to her natural, primitive instincts. The simplified lines and exaggerated colors, especially the contrasting green and orange, seem invented rather than observed from life. Exhibiting the painting at the Café Volpini in Paris in 1889, Gauguin established himself as a leader of the Symbolist movement in art.

Object facts

• Title: In the Waves (Dans les Vagues)
• Date: 1889
• Creator attribution: Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 123.8 x 106 x 7 cm (48 3/4 x 41 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 92.5 x 72.4 cm (36 7/16 x 28 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1978.63

A detail from the museum

Gauguin likely painted this work of art during his time in a small coastal village called Pont-Aven where he sought to immerse himself in nature and escape modern civilization.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Powell Jones

Further reading listed by the museum

• Washington/Chicago/Paris. The Art of Paul Gauguin (1988-89), 74, 199, no. 80 (repr.) (English ed.); no. 80 (repr.) (French ed.).
• Hartford, CT: Wadsworth Atheneum. Gauguin's Nirvana. Painters at Le Pouldu 1889-90. color repr. p. 132, cat. no. 3, fig. no. 178, p. 149.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. Paul Gauguin: Paris, 1889, ex. cat. no. 43

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.