The Woman with Figs (1894, printed 1899): Art, History and Details

The Woman with Figs (1894, printed 1899) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903); Eugène Delâtre (French, 1864–1938); Julius Meier-Graefe (German, 1867–1935).

The work and its context

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

The Woman with Figs is one of only two etchings created by Gauguin and was made in collaboration with his friend Armand Séguin, whose address is inscribed in the upper left of the print. Inexperienced with the medium of etching, Gauguin likely drew the composition himself but relied on his friend to help him with the more technically complex aspects of the process such as laying the ground and biting the plate.

Object facts

• Title: The Woman with Figs
• Date: 1894, printed 1899
• Creator attribution: Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903); Eugène Delâtre (French, 1864–1938); Julius Meier-Graefe (German, 1867–1935)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: Etching and soft-ground with open bite and selective wiping, printed in green-black ink
• Dimensions: Image and Plate: 26.7 x 44 cm (10 1/2 x 17 5/16 in.); Sheet: 44.4 x 59.4 cm (17 1/2 x 23 3/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2025.144

A detail from the museum

The woman depicted in this print is likely Madeleine Bernard, the sister of Gauguin’s close friend Emile Bernard.

Collection credit

Anne Elizabeth Wilson Memorial Fund

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.