Poor Fisherman

Painted in 1896 during Gauguin's second Tahitian stay, this image of a solitary fisherman in a canoe carries the quiet, timeless atmosphere of Gauguin's mature Polynesian vision. The isolated figure on the still water reflects his ongoing meditation on the relationship between human beings and the elemental natural world — a relationship he saw as intact in Polynesia in ways he believed modern Europe had destroyed. The São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil holds this work as one of several important Post-Impressionist canvases in its collection.

The lone canoe and figure are placed in an expanse of water that fills much of the composition with reflective stillness. The water surface is rendered in flat, subtly varied tones of blue-green that mirror the sky above. The figure is small against the aquatic expanse, reinforcing the elemental loneliness of the composition. Gauguin's characteristic colour warmth softens what might otherwise be a stark, minimalist scene.