Cabane Sous Les Arbres 1892

Paul Gauguin made "Cabane Sous Les Arbres" using oil paint, a readily available material in the late 19th century. However, his approach wasn't traditional. Look closely, and you'll see how the materiality of the paint itself contributes to the dreamlike quality. Gauguin applied the colors in bold, flat areas, almost like textile patterns. This was a departure from the illusionistic painting styles of the time, which relied on careful modeling to trick the eye. There is a flattening of perspective, in which the image is made to look naive, to be seen and understood through the cultural lens of his European audience. Gauguin was interested in a "primitive" aesthetic, one which fetishized the notion of simpler life in the region, though it arguably romanticized the experience and material conditions of indigenous people. By attending to the making of this painting, and the cultural context in which it was made, we can start to understand the dynamics of colonialism in Gauguin's art.