And the Gold of Their Bodies - Paul Gauguin

A 1901 Post-Impressionist oil painting by Paul Gauguin, featuring two Tahitian women rendered in flat, saturated colour planes.

Painted in 1901 during his final years in the Marquesas Islands, And the Gold of Their Bodies (Et l'or de leur corps) captures two Tahitian women seated in a garden setting. Paul Gauguin employs his characteristic approach to colour, using flat planes of saturated pigment to define the figures against a simplified background. The golden skin tones of the women contrast with the violet ground and the bright orange-red blossoms behind them, creating a deliberate tension between the subjects and their environment.

Gauguin moved away from the naturalistic representation favoured by his contemporaries, opting instead for a decorative, symbolic style. The composition is intentionally shallow, rejecting traditional perspective in favour of a two-dimensional arrangement that emphasises the rhythmic lines of the figures. The title itself, inscribed on the canvas, suggests a preoccupation with the physical presence of his subjects, reflecting his search for a primitive ideal far removed from European industrialisation.

This work demonstrates the artist's mature style, where form is reduced to its essential components. The figures are rendered with heavy outlines, and the lack of traditional shading flattens the image, drawing attention to the decorative quality of the paint surface. The painting remains a primary example of his late period, where he synthesised his experiences in the South Pacific with his earlier training in the European avant-garde. The focus remains on the interplay of colour and the quiet, static poses of the women, which invite the viewer to observe the scene without the distraction of narrative complexity or atmospheric depth. It is a study in colour harmony and formal balance, characteristic of his output during his time in French Polynesia.