Manao tupapau (She Thinks of the Ghost or The Ghost Thinks of Her)
1894/95
Medium
Wood-block print, printed twice in black ink, on cream Japanese paper
Dimensions
Image: 22.9 × 15.7 cm (9 1/16 × 6 3/16 in.); Sheet: 23.2 × 18.8 cm (9 3/16 × 7 7/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
55774
Art Historical Context
Paul Gauguin's *Manao Tupapau (She Thinks of Ghost or The Ghost Th of Her)*, created around 1894–95, captures the artist's fascination with Tahitian life and spirituality during his time on the island. The title, in Tahitian, evokes a haunting ambiguity—a reclining nude woman, inspired by Gauguin's Tehura, gazes into the night while a ghostly spirit (tupapau) looms above. This woodcut belongs to his *Noa Noa* series, a suite of prints reflecting his idealized vision of Polynesian culture, blending exoticism with Symbolist themes of dreams and the supernatural. Printed twice in black ink on cr...
About the Artist
Paul Gauguin · 1848–1903
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose bold experiments with color, form, and subject matter made him one of the most influential figures in the transition from 19th-century art to modernism. His rejection of European civilization for the perceived authenticity of 'primitive' cultures established an archetype of artistic exile that continues to resonate. Gauguin's ...