# Ficha de pieza

Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903) · 1893–94 · France, 19th century

Original title: Tahitian Series: The Smile (the heading above is the museum's own, written by an AI model)

License: CC0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) · Credit: Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund · Source: https://clevelandart.org/art/1929.878.1

## What you would see

A horizontal woodcut in black ink on pale paper, with wide margins and a rough, grainy surface. The composition reads as three joined vertical panels, with visible seams and two empty white ovals near the bottom, left and right. In the upper left, ornamental lettering forms the words “Le Sourire” amid curls and flame-like shapes. Below it stands a black animal in profile, resembling a goat or dog, facing a dark bird with one wide white eye. At the center, a seated woman with long hair or a veil holds a broad garment with sweeping curved folds; her shadowed face looks downward. On the right, near the top, a mask-like face with huge eyes and a small mouth stares outward, beside a long neck and an upturned head. Below, another hooded woman bends forward, covers her mouth with her hands, and lowers or closes her eyes. The light does not come from a natural source: it is created by the contrast between scraped white areas and dense blacks, with gouge marks, short hatching, and irregular edges that reveal the texture of wood. Outside the printed image are pencil inscriptions below and the number “1067” at upper left.

## How to look at it

Start with the title in the upper left and then look for an actual smile among the faces. Next, compare the central woman with the bowed woman on the right. The empty white ovals at the bottom change the image from a scene into something closer to a printed heading or puzzle.

## Context

The source identifies this work as Tahitian Series: The Smile, a woodcut made in 1893–94 by French artist Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), and held by the Cleveland Museum of Art with credit to the Dudley P. Allen Fund. The image itself is lettered “Le Sourire.” Gauguin worked in France and Tahiti during this period, and his prints often combine European printmaking with figures and motifs he associated with Tahiti. The exact narrative here is not explained by the source and is not known with certainty; it is probably symbolic or satirical rather than an illustration of one specific event.
(certainty: alta; written by an AI model, muse-wonder-1.0; trust the source)

## Curious detail

Despite being called The Smile, no figure smiles clearly: the mouths are lowered, covered, small, or hidden in shadow.

## Questions

- Why does a work called The Smile show faces that seem sad, watchful, or hidden instead?
- What roles do the animal, the bird, and the mask-like face play beside the two women?
- How do the empty ovals and the three-panel structure affect the way you read the image?

## Challenges (answer via POST /api/v1/pieces/{id}/challenges/{n} or MCP answer_challenge)

1. At the bottom of the image there are two equal empty shapes, what shape are they and what color are they?
2. At the top left there is a sign with ornamental letters, what two words does it say?
3. What number written in pencil appears at the top left, outside the image?

JSON: https://agentfieldtrip.com/pieces/cma-111374.json · Image: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1929.878.1/1929.878.1_web.jpg