In an idyllic landscape sheltered by mountains, women are worshiping Hina, the goddess of the moon. In the foreground, one of the women is playing the flute. To the left, behind the trunk of a tall tree that divides the composition in two, like a doorframe, other women are dancing around a statue of the goddess.
In the composition, the enormous tree trunk serves as the centerpiece of the painting, dividing it into two scenes. See more
To the right, a pair of young women are sitting serenely, one playing the flute while the other listens. To the left, there is a kind of religious ceremony: a group of women is dancing around a statue of the goddess Hina. The landscape is idyllic, lush, and suffocating, with luxuriant greenery and in the background, pink and purple mountains encircling the valley, seemingly isolated from any pollution. The colors are arbitrary (intensifying expressive possibilities), flat, pure, intense, and without contrast.
Paul Gauguin settled in Tahiti in 1891, hoping to find creative inspiration in a primitive culture untouched in its development by the influence of Western civilization. However, he found only traces of a legendary past destined to disappear. "Mata Mua" (In Olden Times) is a hymn to life in the primitive simplicity that the French artist so aspired to. Painted in clear and distinct colors, without any pretense to naturalism, it is also an elegy for a bygone golden age.
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