Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana)
1893
Medium
Oil on jute canvas
Dimensions
75 × 53 cm (29 1/2 × 20 7/8 in.); Framed: 98.8 × 76.6 × 8.3 cm (38 7/8 × 30 1/8 × 3 1/4 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
60812
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this portrait, the 13-year-old Tahitian girl named Tehamana appears stoic, shoulders squared and gaze unflinching. She wears a missionary dress and wields a Samoan fan as white flowers tumble from her hair. The ripe mango beside her alludes to fertility. In the background, Gauguin combined various non-European emblems—glyphs derived from an Easter Island tablet and a female deity inspired by Polynesian and Hindu sources—to build a generic sense of foreigness and mystery, transforming Tehamana...
Art Historical Context
Paul Gauguin’s 3 painting *Merahi metua no Tehamana* offers a window into the artist’s fascination with Tahitian life and identity. Created after his first stay in the South Pacific, the work portrays Tehamana, a young woman who played a significant role in Gauguin’s Tahitian experiences. The evocative title, which translates as “Tehamana Has Many Parents” or “The Ancestors of Tehamana,” suggests themes of lineage, cultural heritage, and spiritual connection central to Polynesian traditions. Painted in oil on jute canvas, the modest-sized work (75 × 53 cm) now hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago’s European Paintings collection. Gauguin’s use of rough jute fabric lends an earthy, tactile quality that complements his interest in non-Western materials and forms. The painting reflects his broader Synthetist approach, which simplified shapes and drew on local motifs to evoke a sense of mystery and cultural depth. This canvas stands as a compelling example of Gauguin’s effort to merge European painting traditions with the visual languages he encountered abroad, inviting viewers to reflect on cross-cultural exchange at the turn of the twentieth century.
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 ...