GAUGUIN, Paul
(b. 1848, Paris, d. 1903, Atuona, Hiva Oa, French Polynesia)

The Spectre Watches over Her (Manao Tupapau)

1892
Oil on canvas, 73 x 92 cm
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

The most important paintings executed during Gauguin's first stay in Tahiti are the Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary) and The Spectre Watches over Her (Manao Tupapau).

The inspiration for Manao Tupapau was two-fold: a free adaptation of Manet's Olympia which Gauguin had copied in 1891, and his reading of Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout's Voyages aux Iles de Grand Ocean in 1892. This work chronicled Polynesian customs and ritual, which by the time of Gauguin's arrival in Tahiti had largely vanished, mainly due to Western colonial interference. This work, first published in 1837, was the inspiration for Gauguin's Noa Noa which he began writing on his return to Paris in 1893.

The model for the present painting was Tehura, Gauguin's companion at Tahiti.




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