("Leda") Design for a Plate: Shame on Those Who Evil Think (Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense) ; cover illustration for the "Volpini Suite" entitled Lithographic Drawings (Dessins lithographiques)

This hand-colored zincograph served as the cover illustration for Gauguin's groundbreaking 'Volpini Suite' in 1889, a pivotal moment when he was developing his bold Synthetist style. The work features a mysterious female figure—possibly Leda from classical mythology—surrounded by the French motto 'Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense' ('Shame on Those Who Evil Think'), the motto of the Order of the Garter. Created during his transformative time in Brittany, this piece bridges Gauguin's early Impressionist training and his later radical experiments with flat color planes and symbolic imagery. The Volpini Suite was exhibited at the Café des Arts during the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, where Gauguin and his circle deliberately positioned themselves as an alternative to official academic art. The use of zincography—a lithographic printing process—allowed for bold, simplified forms that Gauguin then enhanced with watercolor and gouache, creating a unique object that straddles the line between print and painting. The vibrant chrome yellow paper adds an unconventional, almost provocative foundation, characteristic of Gauguin's rejection of traditional artistic conventions. This portfolio cover announced his artistic manifesto: a turn away from naturalism toward a more decorative, symbolic approach that would later fully flourish in his Tahitian works of the 1890s.