"Le Cheval Blanc" Variations

Variations on the White Horse (1898) by Paul Gauguin.

Gauguin’s painting is an imaginary, synthetic vision of a Tahitian landscape. There are the contorted branches of a bourao and the white horse, its coat tinged with the green of the vegetation. An impression of paradisiacal serenity emanates from this canvas.

The pharmacist in Tahiti who commissioned the picture did not appreciate Gauguin's daring use of colour. He refused it on the grounds that the horse was too green.