No te aha oe riri (Why Are You Angry?) (1896): Artwork and History

No te aha oe riri (Why Are You Angry?) (1896) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

In this large-scale canvas, one of several Paul Gauguin sent back to France in 1897, women of varying ages appear to go about daily life within a colorful, stylized outdoor environment. Like much of the artist’s work, this painting combines observed detail with artistic fantasy to create a dreamlike scene whose narrative resists simple interpretation. The work’s deliberately provocative title enhances this effect, leaving us to wonder if the “you” refers to someone in the painting or to the viewer.

Object facts

• Title: No te aha oe riri (Why Are You Angry?)
• Date: 1896
• Artist attribution: Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)
• Place of origin: France
• Medium: Oil on jute canvas
• Dimensions: 95.3 × 130.6 cm (37 1/2 × 51 3/8 in.); Framed: 116.6 × 153.1 × 6.7 cm (45 7/8 × 60 1/4 × 2 5/8 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
• Reference number: 1933.1119

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.