Paul Gauguin wrote an amazing canvas “House of the Hymns” in 1892, becoming finally an islander, leaving France. The work was included in the numerous collection of the second Tahitian period of the author, and is a complex mixture of styles of painting. It is devoted to the themes, aimed at the ritual life of French Polynesia.
The author called his picture as “The House of Anthems”, although it is known that the entire adult population of Polynesia still gathers together for the singing of hymns in churches. However, the church was characteristic of the more prosperous corners of the islands, so this village was given a cheerful chant in a specially designated House. Watching how many people came to perform hymns, the conclusion emerges about the importance of religion and morality in the life of the Polynesians. Hymn, in understanding the population of Polynesia – the glorification of not only the country and the people, as, for example, in our case.
For indigenous islanders, the hymn is a glorification of God, who created a “garland of islands,” as well as love and children, everything that gave birth to life and the opportunity to live. The event itself looks very touching. Songs are accompanied by clapping their hands, but the text itself is most often understood only by the priests. Today the traditional music of the Polynesians has evolved and acquired a European color. This was due to the lack of records of ancient rites and melodies. Paul Gauguin opened the traditional ceremony of the holiday of the song of the islanders in the presented picture and immersed the contemporary in a religious theme.
Pay attention to what the visitors of the House are wearing. Their outfits are monotonous with an amendment to the color. The bodies of people are completely covered. The fabrics are dazzling, like a patchwork quilt. All come sit, some – plunged into a dream. It can be seen that the people do not experience a fearful fear of a religious attitude, rather, on the contrary. Silence, pacification settled in the work.
The atmosphere of weightlessness ripples over the House with ocher paints. Gauguin used a very warm palette. His writing technique here acquired a viscidity, a smooth transition from one color to another in a vertical direction. A bit like watercolor. Muffled light breaks the flare of yellow light at the end of the room. The aura of the work as a whole resembles an evening dream, silence, tranquility.
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