Manao Tupapau (She is Haunted by a Spirit)

Paul Gauguin

1894

ink

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century

About this work

This painting shows a woman lying on a yellow mat, wrapped in a dark blanket. Behind her, a dark background has orange leaves and a faint outline of a house. The colors are bold—black, yellow, and orange—and the shapes are simple but strong. The artist used a woodcut method, which means the design was carved into wood and then printed. This style was common in Japan at the time, and Gauguin was inspired by it. Look up woodcut to see how artists carve and print images this way.