Reclining Nude 1894 - 1895

Paul Gauguin made this drawing of a reclining nude using pastel on paper. Pastels feel immediate; it's a medium that allows for a direct transfer of the artist's touch. The powdery pigment is especially suited to capturing the texture of skin, and it adds an atmospheric quality to the composition. Gauguin's choice of pastel is significant, moving away from the highly skilled, laboured techniques associated with academic painting. Instead, he embraced a more direct and spontaneous mode of expression. This choice is related to his broader artistic project of challenging conventional notions of beauty and artistic skill. We can see this in the ways that he reduces the female figure to her most basic form, and his flattening of the image. In doing so, he elevates the status of the medium and the subject. He highlights the importance of materials, making, and context in understanding the full meaning of an artwork, challenging traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.