Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao
29 Jun – 7 Oct 2024
Level 1, Gallery 12
Charges apply
‘Colour! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams.’
About
Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao offers a rare opportunity to experience the enduring art of French Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin. Featuring some of his most recognised masterpieces, many 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 painting, drawing, engraving, sculpture and the decorative arts, curator and former director of the Louvre Museum and Musée d’Orsay, Henri Loyrette, traces the trajectory of the artist’s distinctive works, from his impressionist beginnings to Polynesian visions. The exhibition will reveal 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 will also be 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.
We acknowledge our Exhibition Patrons Philip Bacon AO, Kay Bryan, 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 |
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
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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.
Gift Tickets
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Group Tickets
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Watch
Traditional Tahitian cultural knowledge holders, Mr Tahiarii Yoram Pariente and Ms Hélene Lee Tin Hin travelled to Kamberri/Canberra to conduct a traditional Karakia to prepare the gallery space for the major exhibition and the return of Gauguin’s works to the South Pacific. Here, Tahiarii explains the meaning of Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao.
Dr Nick Mitzevich, Director of National Gallery of Australia, announces the major winter exhibition for 2024, Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao, Wednesday 22 November 2023.
Events and more
Curator
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.