Sculpted wood from the Maison du Jouir

Gauguin lived out his last months at Atuona, on the Marquesas Islands, in a hut mounted on stilts, made of wood, palm leaves and bamboo. He decorated the door with a set of sculptured panels, directly hewn out of sequoia wood. The three horizontal panels bear inscriptions which reveal the artist's quest for a primitive golden age, an idea which haunted him until his death. Indeed, he gave the hut the provocative name of "Maison du Jouir" (house of sensual delight). The two lower panels seem to state the conditions to be met in order to reach this Eden: "Soyez mystérieuses" (be mysterious) and "Soyez amoureuses et vous serez heureuses" (find love and you will find happiness). The nudes and female torsos which illustrate these mottoes, sturdy and serene, are sculpted with rough, incisive strokes and set in a decor of flowers and animals. The voluptuous naiveté of this work marks the beginnings of a primitivist aesthetic ideal which was developed to brilliant effect in the 20th century by artists such as Matisse, Derain, Lhote and Picasso.