Fragrant Scent

In 1893 Paul Gauguin returned to Paris from his first trip to Tahiti and exhibited his new paintings to a bewildered public. After the critics panned his show, Gauguin wrote Noa-Noa to explain his Tahitian works. The woodblock prints he included in the book were meant to be translations, rather than reproductions, of paintings, sculptures, and drawings he had created in Tahiti.