
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00001995Earthly Paradise
by Paul Gauguin
Provenance
Commissioned by Henri-Ernest-Ponthier de Chamaillard, Pont-Aven and Mesquéon-en-Gourlizon, France, 1888 to at least 1911 [this and the following according to Cariou 2003]. Lluís Garriga Roig (died 1939), Paris, by 1935; by descent within the family, 1939 [according to Thomson 2005]. Sold to Maurana Art Ltd., Zurich, about 1993 [according to Jean-Marie Le Fell to Gloria Groom, Oct. 8, 2015; email copy in curatorial object file]; sold by Galerie Le Fell, Paris, as an agent for Maurana Art Ltd., Zurich, to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2007.
Exhibition history
Paris, Musée du Luxemburg, L’aventure de Pont-Aven et Gauguin, Apr. 2–June 22, 2003, cat. 36 (ill.); Quimper, Musée des Beaux-Arts, July 12–Sept. 30, 2003; Naples, Castel Sant’Elmo, as Gauguin e la Bretagna, Oct. 19, 2003–Feb. 11, 2004, cat. 23 (ill.). Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, June 25-Sept. 10. 2017; Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Oct. 9, 2017-Jan. 1, 2018. Amsterdam, Netherlands, Van Gogh Museum, Gauguin and Laval in Martinique, October 5, 2018-January 13. 2019, cat. 125.
Publications
André Salmon, “Chamaillard et le groupe de Pont-Aven,” L’art vivant 1, no. 13 (July 1, 1925), p. 15. Marcel Guérin, L’oeuvre gravé de Gauguin (H. Floury, 1927; Alan Wofy Fine Arts 1980), p. 13. Probably Henri Dorra, “Extraits de la correspondance d’Émile Bernard des débuts à la Rose-Croix (1876–1892),” Gazette des beaux-arts 96 (Dec. 1980), p. 235. Charles-Guy Le Paul, L’impressionnisme dans l’école de Pont-Aven: Monet, Renoir, Gauguin et leurs disciples, with Judy Le Paul (Bibliothèque des arts, 1983), p. 268. Translated: Judy Le Paul and Charles-Guy Le Paul, Gauguin and the Impressionists at Pont-Aven (Abbeville, 1987), p. 270. Denise Delouche, Gauguin et la Bretagne (Apogée, 1996), p. 54 (ill.). André Cariou, L’aventure de Pont-Aven et Gauguin, exh. cat. (Skira, 2003), pp. 134; 135 (detail); 136; 137, cat. 36 (ill.). André Cariou, Gauguin e la Bretagna, exh. cat. (Skira, 2003), pp. 92; 93 (detail); 94; 95, cat. 23 (ill.). Belinda Thomson, ed., Gauguin’s Vision, with Frances Fowle and Lesley Stevenson, exh. cat. (National Galleries of Scotland, 2005), pp. 58, fig. 68; 59. Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report: 2006–2007 (Art Institute of Chicago, 2007), p. 33. Gloria Groom, “Earthly Paradise,” Notable Acqusitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, special issue, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 35, no. 2, (2009), pp. 64–65 (ill.). Douglas Druick, “Material Perspectives: The Art Object, the Art Museum and the History of Art,” in Claire Barbillon, Catherine Chevillot, and Françoise-René Martin, Histoire de l’art XIXe siècle (1848–1914): Bilans et perspectives (École du Louvre, 2012), pp. 277; 281, fig. 6. Fred Leeman, Émile Bernard (1868–1941), with Béatrice Recchi-Altarriba and Annie Champié (Wildenstein Institute/Citadelles & Mazenod, 2013), pp. 140; 141, cat. 70 (ill.); 142. Martin Schwander, "Paul Gauguin: The Great Inconsolable Magician, An Introduction," in Raphaël Bouvier and Martin Schwander, eds., Paul Gauguin, exh. cat. (Foundation Beyler: asel, 2015). p. 14, 15 fig. 7. “Gauguin, Cat. 9, Earthly Paradise (2007.247),” in Gauguin Paintings, Sculpture, and Graphic Works at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Genevieve Westerby (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), https://publications.artic.edu/gauguin/reader/gauguinart/section/140163. Gloria Groom, ed. Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/ Yale University Press, 2017). p. 104, 142, 143, 329, cat. 69. Claire Bernardi and Ophélie Ferlier-Bouat, Guaguin: L’alchimiste, exh. cat. (Musée d’Osay/ Réunion des muséea nationaux-Grand Palais/ Graphicom, 2017), p. 60, 299-300, cat. 60. Van Dijk, Maite, et. al., Gauguin and Laval in Martinique, exh. cat. (The Van Gogh Museum/Thoth Publishers, 2018) pp. 134-137, cat. 125
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903) / Émile Bernard (French, 1868–1941)
- Date
- 1888
- Medium
- Wood with paint, glass and metal
- Dimensions
- 101 × 120 × 60.5 cm (39 3/4 × 47 1/4 × 23 13/16 in.)
- Type
- Sculpture
- Classification
- sculpture
- Style
- nineteenth century
- Place
- France
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Through prior gift of Henry Morgen, Ann G. Morgen, Meyer Wasser, and Ruth G. Wasser; purchased with funds provided by Edward M. Blair
- Accession no.
- 2007.247
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