Women Bathing|Paul Gauguin |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 09 April 2025

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On Display

Permanent collection

Paul Gauguin

Paris, 1848 - Atuona, Hiva'Oa, Marquesas Islands, 1903

Women Bathing

Date	1885
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	38.1 x 46.2
Inscriptions	Signed and dated lower left: P. Gauguin 85
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	Wildenstein 167; D. Wildenstein 179; M491
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0104

This work was painted while Gauguin lived in Dieppe on the coast of the English Channel. Exhibited at the 8th Impressionist Exhibition of 1886, the work with its composition based on a horizontal band and its simplified figures and its thick outlines was critical for Gauguin as he distanced himself from Impressionism. (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)

Provenance

Boussod, Valadon et Cie, Paris, 26. 12. 1887; Dupuy, 28. Boussod, Valadon & Co., 26 December 1887; Dupuy, 28 December 1887; Galerie E. Druet, Paris, stock no. 7419, photo no. 4473; purchased from Galerie E. Druet by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, ca. December 1921 [see letter from Galerie E. Druet to Léonce Bénédite, dated 13 December 1921, in the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, Paris (copy in NMWA curatorial file)]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.

Exhibition History

1886: 8e Exposition des impressionnistes, Paris, 0 1886 - 0 1886, no. 53
1888: Gauguin, Boussod, Valadon et Cie, Paris, 0 1888 - 0 1888
1923: Gauguin, Galerie Druet, Paris, 0 1923 - 0 1923, no. 5
1982: Exposition spéciale pour l'ouverture du Musée des Beaux-Arts, Gifu : Paris autour de 1882 : Le Développemėnt de la peinture moderne en France et Hôsui Yamamoto, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, 3 November 1982 - 19 December 1982, cat. no. 74, repr.
1983: 1880 nendai no Parigadan Ten, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, 15 January 1983 - 20 February 1983, cat. no. 65, repr.
1986: The New Painting: Impressionism 1874-1886, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, 17 January 1986 - 6 April 1986, The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, 19 April 1986 - 6 July 1986, cat. no. 145, col. repr.
1987: Paul Gauguin, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 6 March 1987 - 17 May 1987, Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, 12-28 June, cat. no. 11, col. repr.
1989: The French Modern Painting, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Miyakonojo City Museum, 15 April 1989 - 14 May 1989, cat. no. 11, repr.
1993: Tournant de la peinture―entre la seconde moitié des années 1880 et les années 1890 théories artistiques et peinture française : Exposition commémorant les dix ans d'activité du Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, 4 February 1993 - 21 March 1993, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, 10 April-16 May 1993, cat. no. 13, col. repr.
1997: Expressiveness of Materials, National Museum of Art, Osaka, 17 April 1997 - 22 June 1997, cat. no. 32
2009: Gauguin: Where Do We Come from? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 18 April 2009 - 21 June 2009, cat. no. 3, col. repr.
2009: Paul Gauguin, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 3 July 2009 - 23 September 2009, cat. no. 2, col. repr.
2013: Monet, An Eye for Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings, Pola Museum of Art, 13 July 2013 - 24 November 2013, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 December 2013-9 March 2014, cat. no. 52, col. repr.
2017: Hokusai and Japonisme, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 21 October 2017 - 28 January 2018, cat. no. 69, col. repr.
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus, Museum Folkwang, 6 February 2022 - 15 May 2022
2024: Gauguin's World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 29 June 2024 - 7 October 2024, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 3 November 2024-16 February 2025

Bibliography

1888: Fénéon, F. Calendrier. Revue Indépendante, 15. 1. 1888, p. 170.
1955: Dorra, Henri. Emile Bernard and Paul Gauguin. Gazette des Beaux-Arts. vol. 45, 1955, pp. 227-246, repr.
1955: La Collection Matsukata, Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 (Japanese), no. 47, repr.
1961: Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-153.
1964: Wildenstein, G. Gauguin. 1, catalogue, Paris, 1964, p. 62, no. 167, repr. (as "Baigneuses à Dieppe")
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 127, repr.
1982: Paris autour de 1882: Le Développemėnt de la peinture moderne en France et Hôsui Yamamoto: Exposition spéciale pour l'ouverture du Musée des Beaux-Arts,Gifu (exh. cat.). Musée des Beaux-Arts,Gifu, ed. Gifu, Musée des Beaux-Arts,Gifu, 1982, cat. no. 74, repr.
1983: 1880nendai no Paris Gadan Ten (exh. cat.). The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura; The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, eds. [Tokyo], Tokyo Shimbun, 1983, cat. no. 65, repr.
1986: The New painting: Impressionism 1874-1886 (exh. cat.). The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; The National Gallery of Art, Washington. [San Francisco], Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1986, pp. 444, 458, cat. no. 145, col. repr.
1987: Paul Gauguin (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, ed. [Tokyo], The Tokyo Shimbun, 1987, pp. 58-59, 164, 190, cat. no. 11, col. repr.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 701.
1993: Tournant de la peinture: entre la seconde moitié des années 1880 et les années 1890 théories artistiques et peinture française (exh. cat.). The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu; The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, eds. [Gifu]; [Gunma], The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu; The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, 1993, p. 45, cat. no. 13. col. repr.
2002: Wildenstein, Daniel. Gauguin: a savage in the making: catalogue raisonné of the paintings, 1873-1888. Milan, Skira; Paris, Wildenstein Institute, 2002, vol. 1, pp. 217-218, no. 179, repr.
2009: Paul Gauguin. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, ed. Tokyo, NHK; NHK Promotions Inc., 2009, cat. no. 2, col. repr.
2009: Gauguin: Where Do We Come from? What Are We? Where Are We Going?. George T. M. Shackelford. [Nagoya], Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 2009, cat. no. 3, col. repr.
2013: MONET, An Eye For Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings(exh. cat.). Tokyo, TBS, c2013, cat. no. 52, col. repr.
2017: Hokusai and Japonisme (exh. cat.). Hakamata, Hiroyo; Ikeda, Yuko, eds. Tokyo, Yomiuri Shimbun; The National Museum of western Art, Tokyo, 2017, pp. 112-113, 384, cat. no. 69, col. repr.
2018: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 491, col. repr.
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus (exh.cat.). Engel, Nadine; Herlemann, Rebecca, eds. Berlin, Hatje Cantz, [2022], pp. 325, 364, col. repr.
2024: Gauguin's World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao (exh. cat.). Loyrette, Henri. Parkes, ACT/ The Rocks, NSW, National Gallery of Australia; Art Exhibitions Australia Limited, 2024, pp. 71, 262, col. repr.

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