Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary)
A Tahitian Mary and Christ Child, two women with palms joined, and a yellow-winged angel: a religious painting from Paul Gauguin's first year in Tahiti. Full commentary ↓
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Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary) is an oil painting by Paul Gauguin (1891) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 113.7 × 87.6 cm.
In the pictureA Tahitian woman wrapped in a red pareo stands with a child on her shoulder. Both have thin halos around their heads. On the left an angel with yellow wings stands behind a tree, and in front of it two women hold their palms together in prayer. Bananas and breadfruit lie in the foreground, and behind them tropical plants and mountains spread out in purple and green. The Tahitian title is written at lower left.
BackgroundGauguin painted it in 1891, the year he arrived in Tahiti. The title means "Hail, Mary" (Ave Maria) in Tahitian. He transposed the imagery of the Madonna and Child and the Annunciation to a tropical island, and the pose of the two praying women was taken from a photograph of a relief at the Borobudur temple in Java. Gauguin considered this painting the best of his Tahitian works and was disappointed when it did not sell in Paris.
Puzzle tipIts rich colors make sorting easy: the red pareo, the yellow wings, the blue clothing, the green leaves, the purple mountains. Complete the four figures first, then fill in the tropical plants by the shapes of the leaves and the mountains and sky by bands of color. The fruit in front and the lettering at lower left are good reference points.
- Artist
- French, Paris 1848–1903 Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 113.7 x 87.6 cm
- Credit line
- Bequest of Sam A. Lewisohn, 1951
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- Seven Paris Paintings from 1874 to 1897, from Manet's Boating to Pissarro's Winter Boulevard
Twenty-three years, from Manet's Boating to Pissarro's Boulevard Montmartre. Following Impressionism's birth, its split, and the passage to the next generation through seven paintings. Plus how pointillism and blurred brushwork differ as puzzles.
