# Te raau rahi (The Big Tree)

- By: Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)
- Date: 1891
- Medium: Oil on jute canvas
- Classification: Painting
- 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.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Gift of Kate L. Brewster
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111062)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/916405d1-1407-d90e-1be8-f8c77f26f546/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

“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, CC BY 4.0