1893
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana) is a 1893 oil by Paul Gauguin, a Impressionism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a young girl sitting, wearing a dress and holding a fan. She looks calm and strong. The background has strange symbols from different places. The girl's dress and fan are from different cultures. This mix of things is interesting because it shows how different cultures were combined in this art. You can learn more about this style by looking at the technique of impasto.
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 into the embodiment of his own desire.
Gauguin Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, February 18, 1895, lot 32; bought in for 300 francs; given by the artist to Daniel de Monfreid (died 1929), Paris; by descent to Mme Daniel de Monfreid, Paris; by descent to her daughter, Mme Huc de Monfreid; sold to Jacques Seligmann, Paris and New York, 1937 [see New York 1937 and Vogue 1937]. Stephen C. Clark, New York by 1938 [see Rewald 1938]. Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey McCormick, Chicago by 1955 [see Chicago 1955]; by descent to Mr. Charles Deering McCormick; on extended loan to the Art Institute, 1970; given to the Art Institute, 1980.
Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition Paul Gauguin, November 1893, cat. 33. Béziers, Société des Beaux-Arts, 1901, cat. 53. Paris, Galerie L. Dru, Exposition retrospective de P. Gauguin (1848–1903); peintures, bois, céramiques, gravures, dessins, April 16–May 11, 1923, cat. 22. Paris, Le Portique, Gauguin, 1931, cat. 1. Chicago, Quest Art Galleries, French Nineteenth Century Paintings, May 3–15, 1937, cat. 11 (ill.) New York, Jacques Seligmann Galleries, February 1937. New York, Wildenstein and Co., Inc., Great Portraits from Impressionism to Modernism, March 1–29, 1938, cat. 14. The Art…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; French: ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements.
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