L’univers est créé (The Universe Is Being Created), from the Noa Noa Suite

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Prints and Drawings

1893/94

Paul Gauguin
French, 1848-1903

Currently Off View: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Paul Gauguin
Title: L’univers est créé (The Universe Is Being Created), from the Noa Noa Suite
Origin: France
Date: Made 1893–1894
Medium: Wood-block print, printed twice in black and brown inks, with selective wiping, and hand-applied orange, yellow, red, two tones of green, two tones of blue, silver-gray and black watercolor, on cream wove Japanese paper laid down on cream laid Japanese paper (a laminate made by the artist)
Inscriptions: Monogrammed lower right, in image: "P G O"
Dimensions: 204 × 354 mm (image); 206 × 356 mm (sheets)
Credit Line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
Reference Number: 1948.260

Société du Salon d’Automne, Catalogue des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, dessin, gravure, architecture et art décoratif, exh. cat. (Compagnie Française des Papiers-Monnaie, 1906), n. pag., cat. 144.
Antonio García de Linares, Primera exposición internacional de pintura y escultura, exh. cat. (Imp. Eléxpuru Hnos., 1919), p. 14, cat. 125.
Association Paris–Amerique Latine, Exposition rétrospective: Hommage au génial artiste franco-péruvien Gauguin, with introductions by F. Cossio del Pomar and G. Daniel de Monfreid, exh. cat. (n.p., 1926), cat. 43.
Marcel Guérin, L’oeuvre gravé de Gauguin (H. Floury, 1927; Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1980), cat. 26 (ill.).
Kunsthalle Basel, Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903, exh. cat. (Kunsthalle Basel, 1928), p. 24, cat. 101.
Kunsthalle Basel, Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903, exh. cat., 2nd ed. (Kunsthalle Basel, 1928), p. 29, cat. 211.
Galerien Thannhauser, Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903, introduction by W. Barth, exh. cat. (Galerien Thannhauser, 1928), p. 15, cat. 187.
Leicester Galleries, Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Durrio Collection of Works by Paul Gauguin, exh. cat. (Ernest Brown & Phillips, 1931), p. 5, cat. 5.
Carl O. Schniewind, “Paul Gauguin,” special issue, Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 43, no. 3 (Sept. 1949), p. 49 (ill.).
Robert Goldwater and Carl O. Schniewind, Gauguin: Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York City, Inc., exh. cat. (Wildenstein & Co., 1956), p. 23, cat. 84.
Frederick B. Adams, Jr., Carl O. Schniewind, 1900–1957: Catalogue of the Carl O. Schniewind Memorial Exhibition of Prints and Drawings, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1958), cat. 53 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin Prints (Art Institute of Chicago, 1959), n.pag. (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gauguin: Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1959), p. 84, cat. 152.
Haus der Kunst, Paul Gauguin, with essays by Germain Bazin and Harold Joachim, exh. cat. (Ausstellungsleitung München e.V. Haus der Kunst, 1960), p. 32, cat. 179.
Oberes Belvedere, Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903, exh. cat. (Österreichische Galerie im Oberen Belvedere, 1960), p. 43, cat. 75.
Paul Gauguin, Noa Noa, transcription, ed. Pierre Petit, commentary by Bronwen Nicholson (J.-J. Pauvert, 1988), pp. 137–38 (ill.).
Elizabeth Mongan, Eberhard W. Kornfeld, and Harold Joachim, Paul Gauguin: Catalogue Raisonné of His Prints, with assistance of Christine E. Stauffer (Galerie Kornfeld, 1988), pp. 82–83 (ill.), no. 18.
Michael Gibson, Paul Gauguin (A. Michel, 1990), n.pag., fig. 108. Translated as Paul Gauguin (Rizzoli, 1992), n.pag., fig. 108.
Art Institute of Chicago, Intimate Encounters: Paul Gauguin and the South Pacific; The Edward McCormick Blair Collection, exhibition brochure (Art Institute of Chicago, 2003), not in cat.
Henri Dorra, Erotica, Exotica, and the Great Dilemmas of Humanity: The Symbolism of Paul Gauguin (University of California Press, 2005), p. 204, 210, 212–13, fig. 109.
Calvin Brown, “Paradise Remembered: The Noa Noa Woodcuts,” in Alastair Wright and Calvin Brown, Gauguin’s Paradise Remembered: The Noa Noa Prints, exh. cat. (Princeton University Art Museum/Yale University Press, 2010), p. 24, 130, cat. 12 (ill. and front cover ill.)
Javier González de Durana, Miriam Alzuri, and María Amezaga, Francisco Durrio (1868–1940): Sobre las huellas de Gauguin, exh. cat. (Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2013), p. 220, no. 10 (ill.).
Dario Gamboni, Paul Gauguin: The Mysterious Centre of Thought, trans. Chris Miller (Reaktion, 2014), pp. 292, 294–95, fig. 166.

Paris, Grand Palais des Champs-Elysees, “Salon d’Automne,” 1906, cat. 144.
Bilbao, Spain, Escuelas de Berastegui, “Primera Exposición Internacional de Pintura y Escultura,” August-September, 1919, p. 14, cat. 125.
Paris, Association Paris Amerique Latine, “Exposition Retrospective: Hommage au Génial Artiste Franca-Péruvien Gauguin,” December 17, 1926, cat. 43.
Kunsthalle Basel, “Paul Gauguin,” July-August, 1928, p. 24, cat. 101 (1st ed.), p. 29, cat. 211 (2nd ed.).
Berlin, Galerien Thannhauser, “Paul Gauguin: 1848-1903,” October 1928, p. 15, cat. 187.
London, The Leicester Galleries, “Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Durrio Collection of Works by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903),” May-June, 1931, p. 5, cat. 5.
New York, Wildenstein, “Gauguin,” April 5-May 5, 1956, p. 23, cat. 84.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Carl O. Schniewind: Memorial Exhibition,” January 22–March 3, 1958, cat. 53 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Gauguin: Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture,” February 12-March 29, 1959, p. 84, cat. 152; traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, April 21-May 31, 1959.
Munich, Haus der Kunst, “Paul Gauguin,” April 1-May 29, 1960, p. 32, cat. 179.
Vienna, Österreichische Galerie im Oberen Belvedere, “Paul Gauguin,” June 7-July 31, 1960, p. 43, cat. 75.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Intimate Encounters: Paul Gauguin and the South Pacific, The Edward McCormick Blair Collection,” September 6, 2003-January 11, 2004.
Princeton University Art Museum, “Gauguin’s Paradise Remembered: The Noa Noa Prints,” September 25, 2010-January 2, 2011, p. 24, 130, cat. 12 (ill. and front cover ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist”, June 25 - September 10, 2017, pp. 16, 31, 36, 37, 198, 202, 203, cat. 133, cat. by Gloria Groom, et. al., traveled to Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais, October 9, 2017 - January 21, 2018.

Francisco “Paco” Durrio (1868-1940), Paris [Kornfeld 1988]. Sold by Walter Geiser, Basel, to the Art Institute, 1948.

Kornfeld 18 II/II, B

Guérin 26 II/II

Schniewind 19 IIa/IIc

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.