The Large Tree

1891 · oil on canvas

May one see it?

Not receiving at present

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: yesterday
In this state since: Aug 16, 2026
Source: The museum's own collection data

On the map Museum page

About the painting

Disgusted with the materialism of European society, Gauguin abandoned his family and career as a stockbroker and departed for Tahiti in 1891. This canvas is among the first paintings he completed on the island. Its rich colors and stylized figures were intended to be both symbolic and mysterious, evoking private thoughts and emotions. “I obtain symphonies,” he wrote, “harmonies that represent nothing real in the absolute sense of the word.”

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Particulars

Accession number: 1975.263

In the catalog

Paintings French painting Impressionism 19th century France, 19th century

Sources

The Cleveland Museum of Art: the museum's own open data · fetched 7 days ago
Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — CC0 (Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access)

Meanwhile, in the life of Paul Gauguin

The whole life

1870s–1891 · Workplace
Paris
1886–1891 · Workplace
Pont-Aven
February 1891
Successful Auction at the Hôtel Drouot
A successful auction of paintings at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris in February 1891, aided by a glowing review from Octave Mirbeau, together with a banquet and a benefit concert, provided the funds for the journey to Tahiti.
1 April 1891
Departure for Tahiti
On 1 April 1891, after a final visit to his wife and children in Copenhagen, Gauguin sailed for Tahiti, intending to escape European civilization and "everything that is artificial and conventional." He spent his first three months in Papeete, then set up a studio in a bamboo hut at Mataiea.
1891–1901 · Workplace
Tahiti
August 1893
Return to France
In August 1893 Gauguin returned to France, where he continued painting Tahitian subjects such as Mahana no atua and Nave nave moe; he rented an apartment on rue Vercingétorix on the edge of Montparnasse and held a weekly salon, cultivating an exotic image.