The Flageolet Player on the Cliff

The Flageolet Player on the Cliff
French: Le joueur de flageolet sur la falaise

Artist	Paul Gauguin
Year	1889
Type	Oil painting on canvas
Dimensions	70.96 cm × 91.28 cm (27.938 in × 35.938 in)
Location	Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis

The Flageolet Player on the Cliff is an 1889 oil painting by French artist Paul Gauguin, located in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana. It depicts a Breton couple on a narrow path precipitously overlooking the Atlantic.^[1]

Description

The Flageolet Player on the Cliff is a panoramic view of a rugged patch of shoreline in Brittany, viewed from a dizzying overhead perspective. The unusual point of view and brilliant patchwork of colors make the painting somewhat challenging visually, but it is not an inaccurate representation of the scene. Period photographs show similar wave patterns, and Gauguin wrote that the sand was rose, rather than yellow. On a narrow path stand a boy and girl; she holds a scythe for cutting the wheat represented by the patch of yellow in the lower right corner, while he plays a flageolet, a local flute. These attributes, scythe and flute, represent Gauguin's enduring attachment to "the harmonies of Breton life."^[2] The lower right corner is signed "P. Gauguin 89."

Historical information

In 1889, Gauguin traveled to Le Pouldu, a remote coastal village in Brittany. Its dramatic scenery evoked a strong response in him. Applying the Pont-Aven School approach called Synthetism, he merged the actual appearance of the scene, his emotional reaction to it, and his artistic sense of design.^[1]

Acquisition

The Flageolet Player on the Cliff was acquired in 1998 as part of a collection of Gauguin and his Pont-Aven coterie. Samuel Josefowitz, a Swiss collector, amassed the 17 paintings and 84 prints, worth an estimated $30 million. $20 million of that came courtesy of a challenge grant from the Lilly Endowment. The remainder was raised by the IMA, with an undisclosed amount being given by Josefowitz himself, a museum trustee. He acquired the Pont-Aven collection in the 1950s and '60s, before that period's importance in Gauguin's development was fully appreciated.^[3] This particular painting hangs in the Jane H. Fortune Gallery and has the acquisition number 1998.168.^[2]

References

1 2 Lee, Ellen Wardwell; Robinson, Anne (2005). Indianapolis Museum of Art: Highlights of the Collection. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art. ISBN 0936260777.
1 2 "The Flageolet Player on the Cliff". Indianapolis Museum of Art. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
↑ Dobrzynski, Judith H. (18 Nov 1998). "Indianapolis Museum Buys 30 Gauguins From Swiss Collector". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 17 January 2013.

External links

IMA page.

City of Indianapolis

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Marion County Indianapolis metropolitan area Indiana

Artworks in the Collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art

Significant
Artworks

African Art	Face mask Senufo female ancestor figure Magbo helmet mask for Oro society Palace plaque depicting warrior Guardian figure Healing of Abiku Children

American Painting and Sculpture to 1945	Afternoon Tea Cliff Rock--Appledore Dorothy Hotel Lobby Hurricane Jimson Weed Morning at Grand Manan Preparing for the Matinee Red Kimono on the Roof Reflections Sunlight The Boat Builders The Flight of Europa The Love Song The Rainbow Tidying Up U.S.A. Untitled (The Birth)

Asian Art	Bowl with two violet spots Cong-shaped vase Covered jar with carp design Fine Wind, Clear Morning Ksitigarbha bodhisattva Ritual wine server Shigaraki ware storage jar Vase with carved peony scrolls Vase with nine peach design

Contemporary Art	Acton Courre Merlan (Whiting Chase) Egyptian Barnyard LOVE (painting) LOVE (sculpture) The Quintet of the Silent They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another) Untitled Untitled Untitled

Decorative Arts	Angel of the Resurrection Coffee service High chest of drawers Portland Vase Side chair

European Painting and Sculpture to 1945	Aristotle Battle Between Carnival and Lent Breton Women at a Wall Broek in Waterland Charing Cross Bridge Crucifix Crucifixion Enclosed Field with Peasant Entry of Christ into Jerusalem Entry of Christ into Jerusalem House in Provence Landscape near Arles Ma Jolie Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalene Man and Woman Peasant with a Wheelbarrow Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well Roman Capriccio: The Pantheon and Other Monuments Self-Portrait Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar Still Life with Profile of Laval The Banks of the Oise near Pontoise The Boy The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe The Country Dance The Crucifixion The Fifth Plague of Egypt The Flageolet Player on the Cliff The Flight into Egypt The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist The House of the Deaf Woman and the Belfry at Eragny The Negress The Seamstress The Triumphant Entry of Constantine into Rome The Two Sisters The Valkhof at Nijmegen Triptych of the Annunciation Vorhor, the Green Wave

Art of the Americas	Haida ceremonial dance rattle

Oceanic Art	Helmet mask (Tatanua)

Prints, Drawings, and Photographs	Blasting St. Vincent's Rock, Clifton Boreas and Oreithyia Galinthias Outwits Eileithyia by Announcing the Birth of Heracles Mother (Mutter) Moulin Rouge: La Goulue The Holy Family with the Dragonfly Young Woman in Blue

Textile and Fashion Arts	Moroccan wall hanging Chinese Souls #2 Eli Lilly Family Quilt Evening dress Woman's apron Sumbanese woman's ceremonial skirt

Outdoor
Artworks
by Location

Museum Grounds	Above and Below La Hermana del Hombre Bóveda LOVE Memories of Prague Mother and Child Numbers 1-0 Snowplow Stumbling Man Sutphin Fountain Two Figures Two Lines Oblique Down, Variation III

Oldfields	Copy of Diana of Versailles Diana with Dog Female and Male Herm Fountain Four Seasons Landon-Era Birdbath Mother and Child (Gordine) Nymph and Fawn Sundial, Boy With Spider The Three Graces Pair of Urns

100 Acres	Bench Around the Lake Eden II Free Basket Funky Bones Indianapolis Island Park of Laments Stratum Pier Team Building (Align)

Artworks on Loan	East Gate/West Gate Mega-Gem Portrait of History Sewall Memorial Torches Spaces with Iron

De-accessioned Artworks	Broken Walrus II Holistic Image VIII Weather Tower

Paul Gauguin

Paintings	Still Life with Profile of Laval (1886) Vision after the Sermon (1888) The Painter of Sunflowers (1888) Landscape near Arles (1888) The Flageolet Player on the Cliff (1889) The Yellow Christ (1889) The Green Christ (1889) Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake (1889) Still Life with Head-Shaped Vase and Japanese Woodcut (1889) Tahitian Women on the Beach (1891) Vahine no te vi (1892) Fatata te Miti (By the Sea) (1892) Arearea (1892) Spirit of the Dead Watching (1892) When Will You Marry? (1892) Merahi metua no Tehamana (1893) Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897/1898) Two Tahitian Women (1899)

Other works	Jug in the Form of a Head, Self-Portrait (1889) Soyez amoureuses vous serez heureuses (wood panel, 1889) Oviri (ceramic sculpture, 1895)

Exhibitions	Les XX, 1889 The Volpini Exhibition, 1889

Public collections	Courtauld Institute of Art Hermitage Museum Musée d'Orsay Museum Folkwang Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Pushkin Museum

Friends and family	Émile Bernard Vincent van Gogh Meijer de Haan Charles Laval George-Daniel de Monfreid Camille Pissarro Émile Schuffenecker Flora Tristan (grandmother)

Art dealers	Theo van Gogh Ambroise Vollard

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