Still Life with Exotic Birds

Painting by Paul Gauguin

Still Life with Exotic Birds (1902) by Paul Gauguin

Still Life with Exotic Birds is an oil on canvas painting by Paul Gauguin, produced in Atuona on Hiva-Oa in the Marquesas Islands, in 1902. It is held in the Pushkin Museum, in Moscow. It is signed "Paul Gauguin 1902" at bottom left, with the inscription "Oiseaux morts" (dead birds) on the back of the stretcher.[1]

Marina Alexandrovna Bessonova argues that the tablecloth covers a travelling trunk rather than a table, but the table leg is clearly visible on the right. The terracotta idol shown was made by Gauguin himself - some art historians believe it is the Polynesian moon goddess Hina (often found in other Gauguin works produced on Tahiti[2]), but Bengt Danielsson claims it is "a kind of Buddha" rather than Tahitian or Polynesian.[3]

Just after producing the work Gauguin sent it to his friend George-Daniel de Monfreid in France, who sold it to Gustave Fayet from Paris. It was known as Dead Birds in Fayet's collection, but this was changed to the more neutral Exotic Birds (Parrots) in the posthumous retrospective of Gauguin's work at the 1906 Autumn Salon in Paris.[2] In 1910 Fayet sold the painting via the Galerie Druet to the Moscow industrialist Ivan Morozov for 27,000 francs. His collection was seized by the state after the October Revolution, being placed in the State Museum of Modern Western Art from 1923 to 1948 and then at its present home.[2]

## References

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1. ^ (in Russian) M. A. Bessonova, E. B. Georgievskaya, Франция второй половины XIX — XX века. Собрание живописи / Государственный музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкин — М.: Красная площадь, 2001. — 399 pages — ISBN 5-900743-58-6, page 85
2. ^ a b c (in Russian) M. A. Bessonova, E. B. Georgievskaya, Франция второй половины XIX — XX века. Собрание живописи / Государственный музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкин — М.: Красная площадь, 2001. — 399 pages — ISBN 5-900743-58-6, page 86
3. ^ (in Russian) Bengt Danielsson, Гоген в Полинезии / пер. с швед. Л. Жданова. — М.: Искусство, 1973. — 280 pages - insert between pages 200 and 201

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Paul Gauguin

Paintings|

* List of paintings
* Study of a Nude (1880)
* Still Life with Profile of Laval (1886)
* Still Life with a Sketch after Delacroix (c. 1887)
* Vision after the Sermon (1888)
* The Painter of Sunflowers (1888)
* Landscape near Arles (1888)
* The Wave (1888)
* Portrait of Madame Roulin (1888)
* Fields by the Sea (1889)
* The Beautiful Angel (1889)
* Fruits on a Table (1889)
* The Schuffenecker Family (1889)
* The Flageolet Player on the Cliff (1889)
* The Yellow Christ (1889)
* The Green Christ (1889)
* Christ on the Mount of Olives (1889)
* Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake (1889)
* Still Life with Head-Shaped Vase and Japanese Woodcut (1889)
* Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ (c. 1890–91)
* Tahitian Women on the Beach (1891)
* Tahitian Woman with a Flower (1891)
* A Man with an Axe (1891)
* Ia Orana Maria (1891)
* The Bunch of Flowers (1891)
* Conversation (1891)
* Early Evening (1892)
* Landscape with Peacocks (Death) (1892)
* Parau na te varua ino (1892)
* Vahine no te vi (1892)
* Vairumati tei Oa (1892)
* Fatata te Miti (By the Sea) (1892)
* Arearea (1892)
* Spirit of the Dead Watching (1892)
* Te Fare (1892)
* When Will You Marry? (1892)
* Aha Oe Feii? (1892)
* Arii Matamoe (1892)
* The Siesta (1892–1894)
* Merahi metua no Tehamana (1893)
* Otahi (1893)
* Self-Portrait in a Hat (1893)
* Mahana no atua (1894)
* Nave nave moe (1894)
* Arearea no varua ino (1894)
* Le violoncelliste (1894)
* Breton Peasant Women (1894)
* Eiaha Ohipa (1896)
* Nave Nave Mahana (1896)
* Te tamari no atua (1896)
* The Queen (1896)
* Vairumati (1897)
* Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897/1898)
* Nevermore (1897)
* Two Tahitian Women (1899)
* The Great Buddha (1899)
* Tahitian Woman and Boy (1899)
* Landscape, Horse on the Road (1899)
* The Call (1902)
* Still Life with Exotic Birds (1902)
* Landscape with a Pig and a Horse (1903)

Other works|

* Jug in the Form of a Head, Self-Portrait (1889)
* Soyez amoureuses vous serez heureuses (wood panel, 1889)
* Objet décoratif carré avec dieux tahitiens (sculpture, 1893–1895)
* Oviri (ceramic sculpture, 1895)

Periodicals|

* Le Sourire (1899–1900)

Exhibitions|

* Les XX, 1889
* The Volpini Exhibition, 1889

Museums|

* Paul Gauguin Museum (Tahiti)
* Paul Gauguin Cultural Center (Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands)
* Paul Gauguin Interpretation Centre (Martinique)

People|

* Jean René Gauguin (son)
* Pola Gauguin (son)
* Paul René Gauguin (grandson)
* Flora Tristan (grandmother)
* Émile Bernard
* Vincent van Gogh
* Meijer de Haan
* Charles Laval
* George-Daniel de Monfreid
* Camille Pissarro
* Émile Schuffenecker
* Theo van Gogh
* Ambroise Vollard

Related|

* The Moon and Sixpence (1942 film)
* Lust for Life (1956 film)
* Rebel in Paradise (1960 film)
* The Wolf at the Door (1986 film)
* Paradise Found (2003 film)
* Gauguin: Off the Beaten Track (2013 comic book)
* At Eternity's Gate (2018 film)
* Gauguin (crater)
* Paul Gauguin Cruises
* ship

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