This image reflects the common Breton theme of women praying for the safe return of the fishermen from stormy seas. Gauguin took his title from a story by Edgar Allen Poe of fishermen caught in a whirlpool.

Gauguin combines a bird's eye view of the sea with a frontal view of the women and piles of seaweed. His use of both perspectives suggests the treatment of space found in Japanese prints. The shape is a variation of the fan format popular with both Asian and European artists.

Gauguin's striking use of lavis, or ink wash, adds texture and nuance to the composition.

Samuel Josefowitz, Lausanne, by 1986;{1}given to Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1998.

{1}This print was included in the exhibition and catalogue prepared by Caroline Boyle-Turner in collaboration with Samuel Josefowitz, The Prints of the Pont-Aven School: Gauguin and his Circle in Brittany, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Washington, D.C., 1986, cat. no. G.4 (ill.)