Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009176The Large Tree
by Paul Gauguin
About the Artwork
Disgusted with the materialism of European society, Gauguin abandoned his family and career as a stockbroker and departed for Tahiti in 1891. This canvas is among the first paintings he completed on the island. Its rich colors and stylized figures were intended to be both symbolic and mysterious, evoking private thoughts and emotions. “I obtain symphonies,” he wrote, “harmonies that represent nothing real in the absolute sense of the word.”
Inscriptions
Signed lower right: P Gauguin 91 Inscribed lower left: Te raau rahi
Provenance
1927-1929: (Reinhardt Gallery, New York, NY, 1927) 1929: (Leicester Galleries, London, United Kingdom, 1929, sold to Mr. Frank H. Ginn) 1929-: Mr. Frank H. Ginn [1868-1938], Gates Mills, OH, by descent to this daughter, Barbara Ginn 1976: Mr. and Mrs. Frank Griesinger (Barabara Ginn), Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1976-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Masters of Impressionism. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico (November 17, 1998-February 28, 1999). Degas to Picasso: The Painter, the Sculptor and the Camera . San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (October 1, 1999-January 4, 2000); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (February 1-May 7, 2000); Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 48001 Bilbao, Spain (June 12-September 10, 2000). Verso l'Arte Moderna, da Puvis de Chavannes a Matisse e Picasso. Palazzo Grassi spa, 30124 Venice, Italy (organizer) (February 10-June 16, 2002). Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008). Gauguin and Polynesia: South Pacific Encounters. Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (February 14-April 29, 2012). Van Gogh Repetitions lend-back. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy (October 12, 2013-June 1, 2014). Paul Gauguin: Painting Like God. Fondation Beyeler, CH-4125 Riehen/Basel, Switzerland (organizer) (February 7-June 28, 2015). Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia (June 29-October 7, 2024) https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/gauguins-world/; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (November 3, 2024-February 16, 2025).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)
- Date
- 1891
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 92.4 x 112.7 x 6.4 cm (36 3/8 x 44 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 74 x 92.8 cm (29 1/8 x 36 9/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of Barbara Ginn Griesinger
- Accession no.
- 1975.263
More by Paul Gauguin in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009176
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