''Two Tahitian Women'' is an 1899 painting by

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

. It depicts two

topless Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness. Expose ...

women, one holding mango blossoms, on the Pacific Island of

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

. The painting is part of the permanent collection of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and was donated to the museum by William Church Osborn in 1949.Two Tahitian Women
- Metropolitan Museum of Art Retrieved July 15, 2012 Although Tahiti is depicted as an innocent paradise, the two women in the painting confront the viewer in a way similar to that in Manet's '' Le déjeuner sur l'herbe'' (1863) or '' Olympia'' (1863), and follow an artistic tradition of comparing woman's breasts to flowers or fruit. The women in the painting also appear in two other works by Gauguin, ''Faa Iheihe (Tahitian Pastoral)'' (1898) and ''Rupe, Rupe'' (1899). The painting was attacked April 1, 2011, while on loan to the National Gallery of Art in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

Due to the protection of the plexiglass, the painting was not harmed.

References

External links

* 1899 paintings Tahitian art Paintings by Paul Gauguin Paintings in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art {{19C-painting-stub