This Menu Barbare is one of eleven menu cards illustrated by the French post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin in 1900. Painted three years before his death at the age of 54, the menu was created with ink and pencil and painted in watercolor and charcoal.

The famous artist spent the final ten years of his life in French Polynesia, eking out a living as a painter – he became famous only after his death - and as an accountant and a journalist.

The menu illustration is believed to have been created for dinners served at the artist’s house in Punaauia on Tahiti.

The first item 'foutimaises assorties' is an expression invented by Gauguin and means assorted little pictures. Following that, 'puaha ovriri' is wild pig, 'moa opapa sauce coco' is chicken in coconut sauce, 'roti boeuf' is roast beef and 'pas de salade' – nothing salad- is a Gauguin joke and may refer to the lack of green leaves and vegetables on the island. The remainder of the menu lists desserts, appetizers and wine.

All eleven menu cards were first exhibited in 1949 at the Paris Orangeries Museum to mark the centenary of Gauguin and were later released in a limited number of lithographs.

Courtesy Private Collection.