Te raau rahi (The Big Tree)

Te raau rahi (The Big Tree) — Paul Gauguin. 1891.

Medium: Oil on jute canvas. Dimensions: 72.5 × 91.5 cm (28 9/16 × 36 in.); Framed: 96.6 × 115.6 × 11.5 cm (38 × 45 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

“Everything in the landscape blinded and dazzled me,” wrote Paul Gauguin of his first months in Tahiti. Here, he showcased the island’s variety of bountiful fruit trees, including a thick-trunked, violet hotu at left; spindly mango and coconut trees; and three short banana plants with lush, splayed leaves. In the foreground, a man uses a stick to crack a coconut and a family rests in the grass with a sleeping dog beside them. The painting’s coarsely woven canvas, made of a fibrous plant matter (jute), is visible through the paint layer. Cheaper and more readily available than traditional canvas, this support material lends the work a rugged, organic texture.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.