Paul Gauguin | The Siesta, 1892-94

The unaffected grace and communal ease of Tahitian women impressed Gauguin enormously.

The artist worked on this painting over an extended period, incorporating numerous changes.

The skirt of the woman in the foreground, for example, was originally bright red; there was a dog in the position now occupied by the basket at lower right; and the woman seated at the left edge of the porch was previously situated further to the left. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

La grazia spontanea e la naturale disinvoltura delle donne tahitiane colpirono profondamente Gauguin.

L'artista lavorò a questo dipinto per un lungo periodo, apportando numerose modifiche.

La gonna della donna in primo piano, ad esempio, era originariamente di un rosso acceso; c'era un cane nella posizione ora occupata dal cesto in basso a destra; e la donna seduta sul bordo sinistro del portico era precedentemente situata più a sinistra. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Siesta is an 1892-1894 oil on canvas painting by Paul Gauguin, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

It was painted during Gauguin's first extended trip to the island of Tahiti.

The picture is an unpretentious representation of a group of Tahitian women in westernised clothes chatting in the cool shade of a verandah during the hot afternoon sun.

One of the women is doing her ironing.

Although the subject matter was an aspect of everyday life, Gauguin worked on the canvas over a long period, making several changes - the shopping bag in the foreground, for example, was previously a dog.