Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary), Paul Gauguin, 1891
Podcast
By David Tongi
Podcast transcript:
I felt a huge connection to this painting because I was raised by Tongan women, all of whom used to always walk around our home bare-breasted. I always saw it as a form of liberation or freedom. The pareu cloth is something that all Polynesians wear, we’ve even learned to adapt it to our Western attire. Learning to mix our Polynesian heritage with Western culture is something I have and still am learning to do. This is a huge reason for my choice to focus on Ia Orana Maria. We tend to hold our women on a higher pedestal than men, so Gauguin’s painting of these Tahitian women hit home for me. This is a rare connection that I have made between my culture and Western society. Polynesians aren’t very well known to Western society, we’re almost something of a myth. The closest people get is Hawaii. It’s statistically proven that most of the world will never even hear or travel to Polynesia. But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that’s why our culture has been preserved for so long. As a Polynesian man myself, I find Paul Gauguin’s, Ia Orana Maria, as a great representation of the marriage between East and West in Polynesia, specifically Tahiti. Gauguin effectively conveys the allure of his newfound paradise. With vibrant complimentary colors, emphasizing the Tahitian landscape. Using bold brushstrokes, Gauguin creates flat shapes portraying a sense of purity and lushness with green as a dominant color. Curved and swirled lines represent the airy freedom of the island lifestyle. To escape his reality and the shackles of industrialized society in Europe, Gauguin chose to exile himself to Tahiti. I was very skeptical when I first laid eyes on Ia Orana Maria. Simply, because of the colonial history between Tahiti and France. However, I also fell in love with this painting. Gauguin went to Tahiti in search of a paradise, to find a more natural primitive subject to incorporate into his art. He was hoping to be the first, but didn’t realize Tahiti was already contaminated by the French. Gauguin develops a connection with the Tahitian people and the land. Specifically a thirteen-year-old girl Teha’amana, whom he married, becoming the muse we all see in his paintings today. A very controversial artist and his subjects, no matter the controversy, there’s no diminishing Gauguin’s talents. The color of the women’s pareu cleverly compliments the Tahitian landscape. The synchronous rhythm of the composition; Hail Mary, Jesus, the two women praying, the angel, and the environment are all symbolic of fertility, femininity, and nature. Three key elements in Polynesian culture. The posture of every subject informs the viewer of the connection between God and nature. There’s an emphasis on the proportion of Mary and Jesus, creating an asymmetrical balance depicting the importance of the two subjects. The lushness of the landscape and the delicacies such as breadfruit and bananas suggest that there is abundance all around. Which is the way Polynesians live, off of the land and water. These could also be gifts to the divine Mary and Jesus. As in traditional Polynesian ways before colonization, we worshiped Gods. So Polynesians often made sacrifices, the fruit could be a symbol of those sacrifices. This asymmetrical balance contributes to the organic movement of the entire composition. You can feel the serenity and divinity of the painting, Ia Orana Maria. The entire composition is a successful harmonic masterpiece. Gauguin created this masterpiece to share his infatuation of the Tahitian lifestyle with his Western counterparts in Europe. In a state of poverty, Gauguin aimed to visually represent how life can be so simple in the Tahitian paradise. This is pretty ironic because he had nothing of monetary value except his supplies. Which too were very limited, but this masterpiece is a prime example of making the best out of the resources you have. Opening your eyes to the resources that surround you. Through his harmonic composition and flat imagery, Gauguin successfully conveys a sense of energy. Informing the viewer that there’s abundance all around, the connection between man, God, and the land.
