MWW Artwork of the Day (7/31/26) Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903) ArlĂŠsiennes (Mistral)(1888) Oil on jute, 73 x 92 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago (Mr. & Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection)
When he first saw the local women of Arles (ArlĂŠsiennes) Gauguin remarked on how "their Grecian beauty and their shawls with pleats like you see in the early primitives remind one of Greek processional friezes." In this painting, he depicts four ArlĂŠsiennes, wrapped in traditional dark shawls, hurrying through Place Lamartine's gardens. The two women with downcast eyes in the foreground shield their faces from the violent winds of the mistral. Their figures seem to echo the stationary yellow cones of packed hay used to protect plants from cold, windy weather.
