Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on loan
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/paul-gauguin-1144" aria-label="More by Paul Gauguin" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Paul Gauguin</a>
Faa Iheihe
Presented by Lord Duveen 1919
adults
animals: mammals
beauty
countries and continents
dog - non-specific
emotions, concepts and ideas
ethnicity
female
flower
food and drink
forest
fruit - non-specific
horse
landscape
male
man
mysticism
nudes
objects
people
places
plants and flowers
Polynesian
religion and belief
riding
society
spirituality
Tahiti
transport: land
universal concepts
universal religious imagery
woman
worship
<p>'Faa Iheihe' was painted in Tahiti, where Gauguin spent his last years. It seems to represent an earthly paradise of men and women in harmony with nature. Indeed, it has sometimes been subtitled 'Tahitian Pastoral'. Gauguin found great inspiration in Tahiti, and wrote in 1898, 'Each day - my latest important paintings attest to this - I realise that I have not yet said all there is to say here in Tahiti ... whereas in France, with all the disgust I feel there, my brain would probably be sterile; the cold freezes me both physically and mentally, and everything becomes ugly to my eyes.' 'Faa Iheihe' may mean in Tahitian 'to beautify'.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
5 March 1997
5 March 1997
1997-03-05
National Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
1997-03-05
Long Loan to the National Gallery
Loan-out
11 January 2003 – 28 September 2003
2003-09-28
11 January 2003 – 30 March 2003
2003-03-30
2003-01-11
City Art Gallery (Bristol, UK)
12 April 2003 – 29 June 2003
2003-06-29
2003-04-12
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
10 July 2003 – 28 September 2003
2003-09-28
2003-07-10
National Gallery, Sainsbury Wing (London, UK)
2003-01-11
Paradise
Loan-out
29 September 2003 – 27 June 2004
2004-06-27
29 September 2003 – 19 January 2004
2004-01-19
2003-09-29
Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, France)
29 February 2004 – 27 June 2004
2004-06-27
2004-02-29
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, USA)
http://www.mfa.org
2003-09-29
Gauguin-Tahiti
Loan-out
13 September 2006 – 16 September 2007
2007-09-16
13 September 2006 – 7 January 2007
2007-01-07
2006-09-13
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA)
http://www.metmuseum.org
17 February 2007 – 13 May 2007
2007-05-13
2007-02-17
The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, USA)
http://www.artic.edu/aic
11 June 2007 – 16 September 2007
2007-09-16
2007-06-11
Musée d’Orsay (Paris, France)
2006-09-13
Ambroise Vollard: Patron of the Avant - Garde
Loan-out
3 October 2007 – 13 January 2008
2008-01-13
3 October 2007 – 13 January 2008
2008-01-13
2007-10-03
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Vienna, Austria)
2007-10-03
Vienna - Paris. Cézanne, Van Gogh und Austria's Modern Art
Loan-out
3 July 2009 – 23 September 2009
2009-09-23
3 July 2009 – 23 September 2009
2009-09-23
2009-07-03
National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo, Japan)
2009-07-03
Gauguin in Tahiti
Loan-out
30 September 2010 – 5 June 2011
2011-06-05
30 September 2010 – 16 January 2011
2011-01-16
2010-09-30
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
27 February 2011 – 5 June 2011
2011-06-05
2011-02-27
National Gallery of Art (Washington DC, USA)
2010-09-30
Gauguin: Maker of Myth
Exhibition
30 September 2010 – 16 January 2011
2011-01-16
30 September 2010 – 16 January 2011
2011-01-16
2010-09-30
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
21 February 2011 – 30 May 2011
2011-05-30
2011-02-21
National Gallery of Art (Washington DC, USA)
2010-09-30
Paul Gauguin: Maker of Myth
Loan-out
14 June 2013 – 29 September 2013
2013-09-29
14 June 2013 – 29 September 2013
2013-09-29
2013-06-14
Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
http://seoulmoa.org/html/eng/menu01/contents05.jsp
2013-06-14
Gauguin: Voyage into Myth
Loan-out
11 October 2013 – 23 February 2014
2014-02-23
11 October 2013 – 23 February 2014
2014-02-23
2013-10-11
New-York Historical Society (New York, USA)
2013-10-11
The Armory Show at 100
Loan-out
8 March 2014 – 8 June 2014
2014-06-08
8 March 2014 – 8 June 2014
2014-06-08
2014-03-08
Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA)
2014-03-08
Gauguin/Impressions
Loan-out
7 February 2015 – 28 June 2015
2015-06-28
7 February 2015 – 28 June 2015
2015-06-28
2015-02-07
Fondation Beyeler (Riehen/Basel, Switzerland)
http://www.beyeler.com
2015-02-07
Paul Gauguin: Painting Like God
Loan-out
25 June 2017 – 21 January 2018
2018-01-21
25 June 2017 – 10 September 2017
2017-09-10
2017-06-25
The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, USA)
http://www.artic.edu/aic
9 October 2017 – 21 January 2018
2018-01-21
2017-10-09
Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, France)
2017-06-25
Gauguin: Artist - Artisan
Loan-out
20 October 2018 – 6 January 2019
2019-01-06
20 October 2018 – 6 January 2019
2019-01-06
2018-10-20
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
2018-10-20
Nashashibi/Skaer: Thinking through other artists
Exhibition
28 April 2023 – 6 August 2023
2023-08-06
28 April 2023 – 6 August 2023
2023-08-06
2023-04-28
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand – MASP (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
2023-04-28
Gauguin: The Other and I
Loan-out
1 October 2024 – 31 January 2025
2025-01-31
1 October 2024 – 31 January 2025
2025-01-31
2024-10-01
Kunstforum Wien (Vienna, Austria)
http://www.kunstforum-wien.at
2024-10-01
Paul Gauguin and the development of a new pictorial language
Loan-out
1 May 2025 – 1 May 2026
2026-05-01
1 May 2025 – 1 May 2026
2026-05-01
2025-05-01
National Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
2025-05-01
National Gallery Bicentenary
Loan-out
1 October 2026 – 28 February 2027
2027-02-28
1 October 2026 – 28 February 2027
2027-02-28
2026-10-01
Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest, Hungary)
2026-10-01
Bonjour Monsieur Gauguin. The Circles of the Post-Impressionists
Loan-out
Faa Iheihe
support: 540 × 1695 mm
frame: 700 × 1855 × 95 mm
Presented by Lord Duveen 1919
<p>'Faa Iheihe' was painted in Tahiti, where Gauguin spent his last years. It seems to represent an earthly paradise of men and women in harmony with nature. Indeed, it has sometimes been subtitled 'Tahitian Pastoral'. Gauguin found great inspiration in Tahiti, and wrote in 1898, 'Each day - my latest important <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> attest to this - I realise that I have not yet said all there is to say here in Tahiti ... whereas in France, with all the disgust I feel there, my brain would probably be sterile; the cold freezes me both physically and mentally, and everything becomes ugly to my eyes.' 'Faa Iheihe' may mean in Tahitian 'to beautify'.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-31T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Paul Gauguin</b> 1848-1903</p>
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gauguin-faa-iheihe-n03470" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03470</span></a> <b>Faa Iheihe</b> 1898</p>
<p>Inscribed 'FAA IHEIHE | Paul Gauguin | 1898' b.r. 
<br/>Oil on canvas, 24 1/4 x 66 3/4 (54 x 169.5) 
<br/>Presented by Lord Duveen 1919 
<br/><i>Prov</i>: Maurice Fabre, Aude, <i>c,</i>.1903; with Ambroise Vollard, Paris; Lord Duveen, London, 1919 
<br/><i>Exh: Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes</i>, Libre Esthétique, Brussels, February-March 1904 (54), lent by M. Fabre; Salon d'Automne, Paris, October-November 1906 (Gauguin 161); <i>Oeuvres de Paul Gauguin</i>, Galerie A. Vollard, Paris, April-May 1909 (works not numbered) as 'Panneau Décoratif (1898)'; <i>International Exhibition of Modern Art (The Armory Show)</i>, New York, February-March 1913 (173); Art Institute of Chicago, March-April 1913 (136); Copley Hall, Boston, April-May 1913 (53); <i>Panama-Pacific International Exposition</i>, San Francisco, February-December 1915 (Fine Arts: French section 34), as 'Frieze' lent by Vollard; <i>Founder's Day Exhibition. French Paintings from the Museum of the Luxembourg</i>, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, April-June 1916 (32); <i>Canadian National Exhibition: Department of Fine Arts</i>, Toronto, August-September 1916 (117); <i>French and Belgian Art from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition</i>, Detroit Museum of Arts, October 1916 (106); <i>French and Belgian Art from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition</i>, Toledo Museum of Art, November 1916 (106); <i>The Art of France and Belgium from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition</i>, Brooklyn Museum, New York, February-March 1918 (32); <i>Paul Gauguin: Paintings, Engravings and Sculpture</i>, RSA, Edinburgh, August-September 1955 (57); Tate Gallery, September-October 1955 (57); <i>Paul Gauguin</i>, Haus der Kunst, Munich, April-May 1960 (70); <i>Paul Gauguin 1848-1903</i>, Belvedere, Vienna, June-July 1960 (42); <i>Gauguin i Söderhavet</i>, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, March-May 1970 (52, repr.) 
<br/><i>Lit</i>: Bernard Dorival, 'Sources of the Art of Gauguin from Java, Egypt and Ancient Greece' in <i>Burlington Magazine</i>, XCIII, 1951, pp.118-21, detail repr. p.119; Robert Goldwater, <i>Paul Gauguin</i> (London 1957), p.150, repr. in colour opposite p.151; Georges Wildenstein (ed.), <i>Gauguin: sa Vie, son Oeuvre</i> (Paris 1958), pp.127-61, repr. pp.134-5; Bernard Dorival, <i>Gauguin</i> (Paris 1960), p.77; Georges Wildenstein, <i>Gauguin</i> (Paris 1964), No.569, Vol.1, pp.237-8, repr. p.238; Bengt Danielsson, 'Gauguin's Tahitian Titles' in <i>Burlington Magazine</i>, CIX, 1967, p.230 
<br/><i>Repr</i>: Arts and Decoration, III, March 1913, p.164</p>
<p>Bengt Danielsson, loc. cit., writes of the title 'Faa Iheihe': 'No such word exists in the Tahitian language. Gauguin has this time mistaken two glottal stops for h-sounds. In reality, the word he heard was doubtless <i>fa'ai'ei'e</i> which means <i>To beautify, adorn, embellish</i>. The sort of beautification the word usually denotes is the effort a man or woman makes to be more attractive, before going to a date or ball, by putting on his or her best clothes, combing the hair, perfuming him- or herself, etc.' L.-J. Bouge has suggested (in <i>Gauguin: sa Vie, son Oeuvre</i>, 1958, p.161) that the inscription should read 'Faa Ineine' (Preparations for a Festival), Gauguin's writing being at fault, but the two H's seem quite unmistakable.</p>
<p>In its format this picture resembles 'D'où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous?' (Boston Museum of Fine Arts), on which he was working at the end of 1897. Preoccupied with thoughts of suicide, Gauguin painted 'D'où venons-nous?' as a last great picture, an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/allegory" title="Glossary definition for 'Allegory'"><span>allegory</span></a> of life and death, before attempting to kill himself with poison. 'Faa Iheihe' was painted in all probability in February or March and in mood is profoundly different: his interest in life is revived and the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>, turned towards the future, bears the mark of a great calm and serenity. Georges Wildenstein, who underlines the importance of these two works in terms of Gauguin's development, has pointed out that they mark the end of one phase and the beginning of another. Almost all the works associated with 'D'où venons-nous?' are earlier than 1898, and almost all the works connected with 'Faa Iheihe' are later than 1898. As was often Gauguin's practice, more or less the same figures and poses appear again in other pictures. The one most closely related to the present work is 'Rupe Rupe' of 1899 (The Hermitage, Leningrad), in which the three women on the left and the horseman reappear, slightly modified; the middle section has been omitted.</p>
<p>Like various of Gauguin's other paintings from 1891 onwards, 'Faa Iheihe' shows the influence of Javanese <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculptured</span></a> friezes: this appears not only in the frieze-like conception, but in the attitude of certain figures such as the woman at the centre with the palm of her hand raised between her breasts. Two <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photographs</span></a> of details from the decoration of the Javanese temple of Bârâboudour were found in Gauguin's hut at the time of his death. On the other hand, the dog was adapted from one in a painting by Courbet which had belonged to his guardian Gustave Arosa.</p>
<p><b>Published in</b>: 
<br/>Ronald Alley, <i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.270-1, reproduced p.270</p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults animals: mammals beauty countries and continents dog - non-specific emotions, concepts and ideas ethnicity female flower food and drink forest fruit - non-specific horse landscape male man mysticism nudes objects people places plants and flowers Polynesian religion and belief riding society spirituality Tahiti transport: land universal concepts universal religious imagery woman worship