Spirit of the Dead Watching [SEP] material used
Spirit of the Dead Watching
Spirit of the Dead Watching (Manao tupapau) is an 1892 oil on burlap canvas painting by Paul Gauguin, depicting a naked Tahitian girl lying on her stomach. An old woman is seated behind her. Gauguin said the title may refer to either the girl imagining the ghost, or the ghost imagining her.
Subject.
The subject of the painting is Gauguin's young native wife Teha'amana (called "Tehura" in his letters), who one night, according to Gauguin, was
of Manet's "Olympia" with him on his first visit to Tahiti. Claire Frèches-Thory remarks that "Olympia", the modern equivalent of Titian's "Venus of Urbino", is a constant presence in Gauguin's great nudes of the South Pacific: "Spirit of the Dead Watching", "Te arii vahine", and "Nevermore".
When Gauguin exhibited "Spirit of the Dead Watching" at his largely unsuccessful 1893 Durand-Ruel exhibition (in particular he failed to sell "Spirit"