When Will You Marry?

This is a bright oil painting.

It uses colors like green, blue, and yellow. A woman in a pink dress sits in the back. A second woman sits in the front. She wears traditional clothes. She has a white flower behind her ear.

The artist was Paul Gauguin. He traveled to a place called Tahiti. He liked to use the local way of talking. He wrote words on this art.

One person thought the flower meant she wants a husband. The title asks when she will marry. It is a very famous work of art.

This oil painting is called "When Will You Marry?"

. Paul Gauguin made it in 1892. He was a French artist. He traveled to Tahiti to find a new way to make art. He wanted to find a pure style. He painted many women in Tahiti. Some wore local clothes. Others wore Western dresses.

The painting uses bright colors. You can see green, yellow, and blue. One woman sits in the front. She wears traditional clothes. She has a white tiare flower behind her ear. Some people think this flower means she wants a husband.

A second woman sits in the back. She wears a pink dress. Her face is the center of the art. She wears a high-necked dress from the West. At the bottom, Gauguin wrote in the Tahitian language. The words mean "When will you marry?" He liked the local way of speaking. This painting is very valuable. In 2015, it sold for nearly 210 million US dollars. That is one of the highest prices ever paid for art.

The painting "When Will You Marry?" is a famous work of art.

It was made in 1892 by a French artist named Paul Gauguin. This oil painting is very special and very valuable today. In February 2015, it was sold for nearly 210 million US dollars. This was one of the highest prices ever paid for a painting. Many people find it interesting because of its bright colors and stories. It shows how people saw the island of Tahiti long ago.

Look closely at the colors and the people in the art. The front and middle areas use green, yellow, and blue.

A young woman in traditional clothes sits near the front. She has a white tiare flower behind her left ear. Some experts believe this flower means she is looking for a husband. Behind her, a second woman sits very straight. She wears a pink, high-necked dress from the West. Her face is the center of the whole image.

Paul Gauguin traveled to Tahiti for the first time in 1891. He wanted to find a paradise to make a pure kind of art. He did not want to make the same art as painters in France. However, he found that Tahiti had changed quite a bit. The island had been colonized in the 18th century. Many indigenous people had died from diseases brought by Europeans. This meant the old culture had been mostly wiped out.

Even so, Gauguin painted many pictures of the local people. He often painted women in different types of clothing. He even wrote words in the Tahitian language on his art. At the bottom right, he wrote "NAFEA Faa ipoipo." This phrase means "When will you marry?" in Tahitian. Gauguin was fascinated by the language, even if he only knew the basics. He used these local words to connect his art to the island.

This painting had a very long journey through time. When Gauguin first showed his work in France in 1893, it was not a big success. He tried to sell this specific painting for 1,500 francs. At that time, that was the highest price he ever asked for. But nobody bought it at the exhibition. Eventually, a man named Staechelin bought it in 1917. It stayed with his family for nearly fifty years before being sold again.

“When Will You Marry?” is a significant oil painting created in 1892. It was painted by the French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin. Post-Impressionism is a style of art that uses bold colors and thick paint. This specific work is famous for its immense value in the modern art market. In February 2015, the painting was sold privately for nearly US$210 million. This amount, roughly £155 million, is one of the highest prices ever paid for a single work of art.

The painting uses a complex arrangement of colors and figures to tell a story. The front and middle grounds are built with areas of green, yellow, and blue. A young woman dressed in traditional Tahitian clothes sits on the threshold between these areas. She has a white tiare flower tucked behind her left ear. According to researcher Richard Field, this flower indicates she is seeking a husband. The woman's pose is stylized and her facial features are simplified. Field suggested her pose might have a Japanese precedent. Another researcher, Charles F. Stuckey, suggested it relates to Delacroix's "Women of Algiers."

Behind the first woman, a second figure sits in a very different way. This woman wears a high-necked, Western-style dress. She sits very erectly, which creates a sense of formality. Richard Field believed her gesture might come from Buddhist art. However, art historian Naomi E. Maurer identified the gesture as a mudra. A mudra is a symbolic hand gesture used in various spiritual traditions. In this case, the mudra denotes a warning or a threatening sign. This second woman is painted flush with the yellow and blue areas.

The composition is centered on the face of the rear female figure. Her pink dress is a color that stands out clearly from the rest of the palette. At the bottom right corner, Gauguin included a specific inscription. He wrote "NAFEA Faa ipoipo," which translates to "When will you marry?" in Tahitian. Gauguin often used Tahitian inscriptions during this period of his life. He was fascinated by the local language. However, he never moved beyond the most basic rudiments of the language.

Gauguin's journey to Tahiti began in 1891 when he traveled there for the first time. He was searching for an "edenic paradise." He wanted a place where he could create pure, "primitive" art. He wanted to avoid the faux-primitive works being produced by painters in France. When he arrived, he discovered that Tahiti was not the paradise he imagined. The island had been colonized during the 18th century. At least two-thirds of the indigenous population had died from diseases brought by Europeans. This meant much of the original "primitive" culture had been wiped out.

Despite these changes, Gauguin continued to paint the local people. He depicted native women in various states, including nude, in traditional clothes, or in Western dresses. Historian Nancy Mowll Mathews noted that Gauguin portrayed the natives as living only to sing and make love. She suggests he did this to raise public interest and money from his friends. However, Gauguin was aware of the reality. He knew Tahiti was actually an unremarkable island with a Westernized community. This tension between his art and the reality of the island is a key part of his history.

The painting's commercial history was difficult for many years. When Gauguin returned to France, his work was met with relative indifference. His 1893 Durand-Ruel exhibition was only a limited success. It received some favorable reviews, but it did not result in many sales. Gauguin placed "When Will You Marry?" on consignment at that exhibition. He set the price at 1,500 francs. This was the highest price he assigned to any of his works at that time. Despite this, there were no buyers at the exhibition.

Eventually, the painting found its way into a private collection. A man named Rudolf Staechelin purchased the work in 1917 at the Maison Moos gallery in Geneva. The painting remained on loan to the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland, for nearly fifty years. It was exhibited at the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen until June 28, 2015. In a separate discovery in 2017, a pencil sketch of the painting's central figure was authenticated. This sketch was featured on the program "Fake or Fortune?" and is valued at £200,000.