Merahi metua no Tehamana [SEP] collection
Merahi metua no Tehamana
Merahi metua no Tehamana (English Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana) is an 1893 painting by the French artist Paul Gauguin, currently in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The painting is a portrait of Paul Gauguin's native wife Teha'amana during his first visit to Tahiti in 1891-1893. This marriage has always provoked controversy because of the manner it was contracted and Teha'amana's age: the marriage was arranged and completed in the course of a single afternoon and Gauguin claimed
certificate showing that Teha'amana died on 9 December 1918 in Mataiea from the Spanish flu epidemic that carried off a quarter of Tahiti's native population. She is buried in Mataiea, although her tombstone bears no indication of her relationship with Gauguin. A "circa" 1888 photograph of a young Tahitian girl by Charles Georges Spitz is often reproduced as one of Teha'amana, although Danielsson points out there is no evidence at all for the identification.
Description.
The inscription below the idol reads "MERAHI METUA NO | TEHAMANA".