Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao
29 Jun – 7 Oct 2024
Level 1, Gallery 12
Charges apply
A 'rich and thoughtful exhibition'
About
Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao offers visitors a rare opportunity to experience the enduring art of French post-impressionist Paul Gauguin (1848–1903). Featuring many of his most recognised masterpieces, some of which were created in the Pacific region, the exhibition offers new perspectives on Gauguin’s life and work, his artistic influences and networks, as well as his historical impact and contemporary legacies.
Through a display of the artist's distinctive painting, drawing, engraving, sculpture and decorative arts, curator and former director of the Musée du Louvre and Musée d’Orsay, Henri Loyrette, traces Gauguin's trajectory, from his impressionist beginnings to his final Polynesian visions. The exhibition reveals that Gauguin belonged to the art and themes of his time and how contemporary perspectives can enable new readings of his work.
Like other contemporary and historic artists, Gauguin’s life and art have increasingly and appropriately been debated here and around the world. In today’s context, Gauguin’s interactions in Polynesia in the later part of the 19th Century would not be accepted and are recognised as such. The National Gallery will explore Gauguin’s life, art and controversial legacy through talks, public programs, a podcast series and films. Also presented during the exhibition season will be a display of collection works by contemporary artists from the Pacific and further afield.
A fully illustrated publication has been published alongside the exhibition. Edited by exhibition curator Henri Loyrette and featuring his major new essay on Gauguin, the publication will include contributions from Gauguin experts Nicholas Thomas, Vaiana Giraud and Norma Broude.
Curator: Henri Loyrette
The exhibition has been organised by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Art Exhibitions Australia.
Gauguin's World has been made possible through the continued support and generosity of Principal Sponsor Mazda Australia, Principal Donor Singapore Airlines, Strategic Partner VisitCanberra, Media Partners News Corp and Seven West Media, and the Government of French Polynesia and Minister for Tourism.
Gauguin's World: Tona lho, Tona Ao is supported by the Australian Government International Exhibitions Insurance Program.
We acknowledge Exhibition Patrons Philip Bacon AO, Kay Bryan OAM, Christine Campbell and Terry Campbell AO, Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM, Penelope Seidler AM, Lyn Williams AM, Maurice Cashmere, Robert Meller and Helena Clarke.
Tickets
| National Gallery Members | $27 |
| Adults | $35 |
| Concession / Student* | $32 |
| Child (5 to 16 years) | $12 |
| Child (4 years and under) | Free |
| Companion** | Free |
| Family (Up to 2 adults and 3 children) | $82 |
| Season Pass | $88 |
| Reciprocal Member | $27 |
| National Gallery Members | $37 |
| Adults | $45 |
| Concession / Student | $40 |
* Valid concession types: Government issued concession cards and full time students. List of valid concession types.
** We support the Companion Card program and agree to provide a ticket for the cardholder's companion at no charge when the cardholder’s ticket is purchased at the same time. Orders containing Companion tickets without an additional attendee will be cancelled. You may be required to show your Companion Card when visiting the Gallery.
General Tickets
Members Tickets
Log into your online account to access discounted exhibition tickets.
Flexible Tickets
Our new Flexible Ticket is an undated and untimed, single-entry ticket. This ticket allows the holder to enter the exhibition once at any time during the opening hours for the exhibition.
Season Pass
As a Season Pass holder, you can return and enjoy Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao multiple times throughout the exhibition season.
Season Pass holders can access their timed-entry tickets online in advance or via the ticket desk.
Gift Tickets
Purchase a gift ticket for family or friends.
Become a Member
Join as a new National Gallery Member to receive a complimentary ticket to Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao, access to member events and the latest information on exhibitions, exclusive events.
Group Tickets
If you are booking for a group of 10 or more people, please email groupbookings@nga.gov.au
Works of Art
Paul Gauguin, Bonjour, Monsieur Gauguin, 1889, oil on canvas and panel, The Armand Hammer Collection, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Paul Gauguin, The swineherd, 1888, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Lucille Ellis Simon and family in honour of the museum’s 25th anniversary © Museum Associates/Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Paul Gauguin, Still life with Hope, 1901, private collection, Milan © Paolo Vandrasch
Paul Gauguin, Te faaturuma (The brooding woman), 1891, oil on canvas, Worcester Art Museum
Paul Gauguin, Street in Tahiti, 1891, Toledo Museum of Art, purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, gift of Edward Drummond Libbey © photo Josse/Bridgeman Images
Paul Gauguin, Parahi te marae (The sacred mountain), 1892, Philadelphia Museum of Art, gift of Mr and Mrs Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee 1980.
Audio Tour
A free audio tour complements the exhibition.
The easy-to-use audio tour is accessible on your own device. Bring your headphones and be your own guide.
Spanning the full exhibition, the tour includes 20 stops sharing fascinating insights into the works of art on display and the artist's practice.
Podcast
Paul Gauguin changed the course of art history, but to many he's a monster. The modern master accused of taking ‘child brides’ in Tahiti is long dead, but his legacy in the Pacific is well and truly alive.
Hosted by award winning Samoan-Australian journalist Sosefina Fuamoli, this four-part podcast series explores the social, political and art historical themes surrounding Paul Gauguin, asking... can you love the art but loathe the artist?
Subscribe via your favourite podcast app or listen in here.
Stories & Ideas
Gauguin's World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao is the first major exhibition of the nineteenth-centry French artist's work in Australia and the Pacific region. Here we share some of the highlights.
To celebrate the Gallery's acquisition of The blue roof or Farm at Le Pouldu, 1890 by Paul Gauguin, curator Lucina Ward reflects on Gauguin's time spent on the Breton coast.
Published 01 March 2024
Paul Gauguin & Vincent van Gogh
Senior Curator, International Art, Dr Lucina Ward explores the relationship and creative exchanges between Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh.
The meaning of Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao
Traditional Tahitian cultural knowledge holders, Mr Tahiarii Yoram Pariente and Ms Hélene Lee Tin Hin explains the meaning of Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao.
Events
-
29 Jun – 10 Mar 2025
Level 1, Gallery 11
Free
publication
Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao inspires new ways of seeing and thinking about one of the most renowned artists of the nineteenth century. Revisiting Paul Gauguin at a particular moment in his life, when he was approaching death, looking back on scattered memories from his final resting place in the Marquesas Islands, Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao deepens our understanding of one of the most polarising artists of his time and ours.
This magnificent and authoritative publication, edited by the internationally esteemed scholar of nineteenth century French art, Henri Loyrette, traces Gauguin’s physical, spiritual and artistic journey as he travelled first to Denmark, Brittany and Provence, then to Martinique, Tahiti and finally the Marquesas Islands in Polynesia. Tracing Gauguin’s path as he sought increasingly remote locations to live and work, Loyrette explains how Gauguin ‘believed in a real correspondence between man and the world around him’. Thoughtful, wide-ranging perspectives on Gauguin’s life and practice by Nicholas Thomas, Vaiana Giraud, Norma Broude and Miriama Bono, with particular focus on Gauguin’s time in the Pacific, illuminate the artist in all his human and artistic complexity.
Featuring more than 150 colour reproductions, this publication is the first to explore Gauguin’s inner journey and quest to develop his own identity, surveying his practice from its impressionist beginnings and symbolist leanings to his Polynesian periods.
PUBLISHED JUNE 2024
288 pages
300 x 245 mm
Full Colour | Paperback
RRP A$59.95*
ISBN 9780642335081
*Members discount available for publication purchases made at the Gallery in the Art Store only.
stay
Planning a short break or weekend getaway in Canberra? Find more than you came for when you visit Canberra. Whether it’s iconic masterpieces, breathtaking natural beauty or world-class wining and dining, everything is just moments away. Hunt for truffles, indulge in wine tasting and boutique shopping, power through mountain biking and hiking, and experience a jam-packed calendar of festivals and events.
Accommodation
Book your Canberra accommodation package with Capital Hotel Group – three locally owned and operated properties offering hotel rooms, suites and apartments, all centrally located in the city.
Curator
Image courtesy of Henri Loyrette.
Henri Loyrette is a French 19th Century art history scholar and former Director of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée du Louvre, Paris. As director of the Louvre, Loyrette is recognised for having expanded the display of the museum’s collection, and the museum itself, to the Louvre-Lens in Northern France and the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Loyrette’s areas of specialisation are 19th Century painting and architecture. He is a renowned scholar and acknowledged expert on Edgar Degas, as well as Edouard Manet and other European artists of the period. His groundbreaking exhibitions include Degas at the Opéra at the Musée d’Orsay Paris, and National Gallery of Art Washington (2019); The Origins of Impressionism (1994); Degas, 1834–1917 (1988) and Chicago, Birth of a Metropolis (1987). Loyrette has written major books on Degas and other 19th Century artists, Gustave Eiffel, Viollet-le-Duc and Marcel Proust.
Loyrette has held important positions in French cultural organisations and has been widely honoured. When elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1997 he was its youngest member, and he is chair of both the Giacometti Foundation and Cité internationale des Arts.
Lenders
Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao includes over 130 works of art drawn from 68 leading public and private collections worldwide including: Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Cleveland Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Louvre Abu Dhabi; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo.
Partners and Donors
