Noa Noa: The Devil Speaks (Mahna No Varua Ino) (recto) (1893–1894): Art, History and Details

Noa Noa: The Devil Speaks (Mahna No Varua Ino) (recto) (1893–1894) 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:

In 1893, Paul Gauguin returned to Paris from time spent in Tahiti. He began to conceive of a book that would describe his life outside Europe and provide context for the avant-garde works he created while away. This print is one of a series of ten intended to illustrate this book, which Gauguin titled Noa Noa. He carved each image roughly into a woodblock and printed them himself, giving the prints a rough quality that he hoped would enhance their subject matter. Because of this process, combined with the artist's practice of varying his inks and papers while working, prints such as this one are virtually unique.

Object facts

• Title: Noa Noa: The Devil Speaks (Mahna No Varua Ino) (recto)
• Date: 1893–1894
• Creator attribution: Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)
• Culture: France, late 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: woodcut
• Dimensions: Sheet: 20.5 x 32.1 cm (8 1/16 x 12 5/8 in.); Image: 20.3 x 31.9 cm (8 x 12 9/16 in.)
• Collection: Prints
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2008.149.a

A detail from the museum

In 1921, Paul Gauguin's son Pola printed a new edition of his father's Noa Noa prints, wiping the woodblocks cleanly so the images were more legible.

Collection credit

The Jane B. Tripp Charitable Lead Annuity Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lemonedes, Heather, Paul Gauguin, Belinda Thomson, Agnieszka Juszczak, Chris Stolwijk, and Moyna Stanton. Paul Gauguin: Paris, 1889. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2009.

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.