Pape Moe (Mysterious Water) – Paul Gauguin (1893)

Water, light and silence, in the heart of the Tahitian forest. Leaning over a rock, a young Tahitian in a yellow pareo drinks from a thin stream of water falling into a pool. All around, the jungle glows in orange, ochre and gold, broken by a few red flowers and dark green leaves. There is no horizon and no sky: only the gesture, the water and the vibrating colour.

Pape moe means “mysterious water” in Tahitian. Gauguin painted it in 1893, at the end of his first stay in Tahiti, from a photograph by Charles Spitz, a photographer living in Papeete. He turned a simple travel image into a scene of almost sacred intimacy, and returned to the motif in a wood carving and a watercolour.

Why it works on your wall

• Warm and luminous: orange, ochre and gold for a living room, a bathroom or an entrance
• A secret corner of nature: a calm, contemplative scene that brings the South Seas into your home
• Framing tip: a natural oak frame with a white mat, as in our photos, lets the colours breathe

The painting

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), a key figure of Post-Impressionism, left Paris for Tahiti in 1891, seeking a simpler, “primitive” world. His bold colours and simplified forms had a lasting influence on modern art, from the Nabis to Matisse. Pape Moe belongs to the paintings of his first Tahitian stay (1891–1893).

• Artist: Paul Gauguin (1848–1903)
• Date: 1893
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Movement: Post-Impressionism, Synthetism
• Title: Pape moe, Tahitian for “mysterious water”

Your print

• Colours restored from a high-definition scan of the original
• Printed in Europe on thick archival matte paper, FSC certified
• From A4 to A0, plus 40×60, 50×70, 60×90 and 70×100 cm and 12×18 to 27×40 inch sizes, all made for standard frames
• Free shipping, no minimum order. Shipped rolled in a sturdy tube

Pair it with Gauguin’s When Will You Marry? or Tahitian Landscape, or explore our Paul Gauguin posters.