Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary)

Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary)

Paul Gauguin

Colors in this work

Details

Artist
Paul Gauguin
Date
1891
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
44 3/4 x 34 1/2 in. (113.7 x 87.6 cm)
Department
European Paintings
Holding institution
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Bequest of Sam A. Lewisohn, 1951

Art Genome Taxonomy

12 tags

Subject Matter

  • Landscapes Both · 98%

    The catalog lists Landscapes as a subject, and the image contains an extensive outdoor setting with vegetation and a distant background.

  • Madonna and Child Both · 98%

    The catalog identifies the Virgin Mary and Jesus, while the image shows a woman carrying a child in a devotional grouping and a haloed figure above them.

  • Deities and Holy Figures Metadata · 96%

    The catalog lists Angels, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus among the subjects; a haloed, elevated figure is also directly visible in the image.

  • Flora Visual · 99%

    Leaves, palms, flowering plants, shrubs, and large fruits occupy much of the composition.

  • Figures in Nature Both · 94%

    Human figures are placed directly within and surrounded by abundant vegetation rather than isolated from the landscape.

Visual Qualities

  • Bright and Vivid Colors Visual · 90%

    The painting uses strong red, yellow, green, blue, pink, and violet passages, especially in the foreground garment, flowers, fruit, and landscape.

  • Flatness Visual · 95%

    Simplified contours, broad areas of relatively even color, and limited naturalistic modeling create a noticeably flattened pictorial space.

  • Patterns Visual · 92%

    Floral motifs recur across garments and vegetation, producing a pronounced decorative patterning throughout the scene.

  • Dense Composition Visual · 88%

    Figures, plants, fruit, and landscape elements are closely layered across the tall picture surface, particularly in the upper and middle sections.

Medium and Techniques

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 99%

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art classifies the work as a painting and records the medium as oil on canvas.

  • Painting Visual · 99%

    The image is a vertically oriented painted composition with multiple figures, vegetation, and a landscape setting.

Time Periods

  • Late 19th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The catalog dates the work to 1891, placing it in the late nineteenth century.

Source & rights

Paul Gauguin. Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary). The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

High-resolution sources