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\u2014glyphs derived from an Easter Island tablet and a female deity inspired by Polynesian and Hindu sources\u2014to build a generic sense of foreigness and mystery, transforming Tehamana into the embodiment of his own desire.<\/p>\n","short_description":"In this portrait, Gauguin depicts the 13-year-old Tahitian girl Tehamana in a missionary dress holding a Samoan fan. A ripe mango alludes to fertility. In the background, Gauguin combined various non-European emblems\u2014glyphs derived from an Easter Island tablet and a female deity inspired by Polynesian and Hindu sources\u2014to build a generic sense of foreignness, transforming Tehamana into the embodiment of his own imagination.","dimensions":"75 \u00d7 53 cm (29 1\/2 \u00d7 20 7\/8 in.); Framed: 98.8 \u00d7 76.6 \u00d7 8.3 cm (38 7\/8 \u00d7 30 1\/8 \u00d7 3 1\/4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":53,"height":75,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":8,"width":76,"height":98,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on jute canvas","inscriptions":"Signed lower center: P. Gauguin. \/ 93; inscribed lower left: MERAHI METUA NO \/ TEHAMANA","credit_line":"Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Deering McCormick","catalogue_display":"
Wildenstein Gauguin 1964 497<\/p>","publication_history":"Jean de Rotonchamp, Paul Gauguin 1848\u20131903 (Paris, 1906), p. 120, no. 33, p. 135, no. 32.\n\nCharles Morice, Paul Gauguin (Paris, 1920), p. 148 (ill. opp.).\n\nRobert Rey, Gauguin, Ma\u00eetres de l\u2019art moderne (Paris, 1923), pl. 23.\n\nRobert Rey, Gauguin, trans. F. C. de Sumichrast (London, 1924), pl. 28.\n\nGustave Kahn, \u201cPaul Gauguin,\u201d L\u2019Art et les artistes 12, 60 (October 1925), p. 56 (ill.).\n\nJean de Rotonchamp, Paul Gauguin 1848\u20131903 (Paris, 1925), p. 137.\n\nArs\u00e8ne Alexandre, Paul Gauguin; Sa vie et le sens de son oeuvre (Paris, 1930), p. 219 (ill.).\n\nCharles Kunstler, Gauguin, peintre maudit, Anciens et Modernes (Paris, 1934), p. 159.\n\nR. G. Wilenski, French Painting (Boston, 1931), 2nd ed. 1936, p. 290.\n\nS. Rocheblave, La Peinture fran\u00e7aise au XIXe si\u00e9cle (Paris, 1936), pl. 90.\n\n\u201c\u2018Tehura,\u2019 A New Gauguin for America,\u201d Vogue 89 (February 15, 1937), pp. 54, (ill.) 55.\n\nJohn Rewald, Gauguin (Paris, 1938), p. 21, pl. 152.\n\nAntony de Witt, Paul Gauguin (Milan, 1945), pl. 23.\n\nHans Graber, Paul Gauguin: Nach eigenen und fremden Zeugnissen (Basel, 1946), p. 510, ill. \n\nHerbert Lee van Dovski, Paul Gauguin oder die Flucht vor der Zivilisation (Olten and Bern, 1948), p. 350, no. 300.\n\nMaurice Malingue, Gauguin: Le Peintures et son oeuvre (Paris, 1948), fig. 202.\n\nGeorges Wildenstein, \u201cL\u2019Id\u00e9ologie et l\u2019est\u00e9tique dans deux tableaux-cl\u00e9s de Gauguin,\u201d Gazette des Beaux-Arts 47, per. 6 (January\u2013April 1956), pp. 143, 162, fig. 9.\n\n\u201cGauguin,\u201d The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 53, 1 (February 1959), p. 4 (ill.).\n\nGeorges Wildenstein, Gauguin (Paris, 1964), no. 497 (ill.).\n\nPaul Gauguin, Noa Noa (Paris, 1966), p. 34 (ill.).\n\nBengt Danielsson, \u201cGauguin\u2019s Tahitian Titles,\u201d Burlington Magazine 9, 760 (April 1967), p. 231.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report 1969\u20131970 (Chicago, 1970), p. 6.\n\nG. M. Sugana, L\u2019opera completa di Gauguin (Milan, 1972), no 322 (ill.).\n\nHerbert Lee van Dovski, Die Wahreit \u00fcber Gauguin, mit Vielen, zum Teil farbigen Abbildungen und einem \u2018Katalog der Gem\u00e4lde\u2019 (Darmstadt, 1973), no. 300, (ill.) 175.\n\nJames N. Wood and Katherine C. Lee, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1988), p. 71 (ill.).\n\nFrances S. Connelly, \u201cPrimitivism of Philipp Otto Runge,\u201d Art Journal 32, 2 (1993), p. 38, fig. 7.\n\nDouglas Druick and Peter Zegers, Paul Gauguin: Pages From the Pacific (Chicago and Auckland, 1995), p. 23, fig. 43.\n\nPeggy Vance, Gauguin (London, 1991), pp. 120-1 (ill.), 144.\n\nJune Hargrove, \u201cWoman with a Fan: Paul Gauguin\u2019s Heavenly Vairaumati\u2013A Parable of Immortality,\u201d The Art Bulletin 88, 3 (September 2006), p. 557, fig. 3.\n\nThe Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London, 2008), cat. 70, pp. 146\u201347 (ill.).\n\nSuzanne Greub, Gauguin Polynesia, Exh. cat (Seattle Art Museum, 2012), p. 221, p. 352-353. fig. 205. \n\nTimothy O. Benson, Expressionism in Germany and France: From Van Gogh to Kandinsky, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art\/DelMonico Books;Prestel, 2014), 169 ill.\n\nMarco Goldin, ed., Storie dell'Impressionismo: I grandi protagonist da Monet a Renoir da Van Gogh a Gauguin (Linea d\u2019ombre, 2016), 173 (color ill), 224-25 (detail ill.), 248-49 (color ill.), 400-01 cat. 22.\n\n\u201cGauguin, Cat. 50, Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana) (1980.613),\u201d in Gauguin Paintings, Sculpture, and Graphic Works at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Genevieve Westerby (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), https:\/\/publications.artic.edu\/gauguin\/reader\/gauguinart\/section\/140163<\/a>. \n\nGloria Groom, ed. Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago\/ Yale University Press, 2017), 16, 58, 70n9, 235, 238, 242-243, 252, 286, 331, cat. 183.\n\nClaire Bernardi and Oph\u00e9lie Ferlier-Bouat, Guaguin: L\u2019alchimiste, exh. cat. (Paris: Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Osay\/ R\u00e9union des mus\u00e9ea nationaux-Grand Palais\/ Graphicom, 2017), 192-193 , 305, cat. 196.\n\nCornelia Homburg, et. al., Gauguin Portraits, exh. cat. (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada; London: National Gallery, 2019), 148-53, 256.\n\nAdriano Pedrosa, Fernando Oliva and Laura Cosendey, eds., Paul Gauguin: The Other and I, exh. cat. (S\u00e3o Paulo: Museu de Arte de S\u00e3o Paulo, 2023), 69, 70 fig. 39, 71.\n\nHenri Loyrette, Gauguin\u2019s World: T\u014dna Iho, T\u014dna Ao, exh. cat. (Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2024), 109 fig. 3, 111.","exhibition_history":"Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition Paul Gauguin, November 1893, cat. 33.\n\nB\u00e9ziers, Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Beaux-Arts, 1901, cat. 53.\n\nParis, Galerie L. Dru, Exposition retrospective de P. Gauguin (1848\u20131903); peintures, bois, c\u00e9ramiques, gravures, dessins, April 16\u2013May 11, 1923, cat. 22.\n\nParis, Le Portique, Gauguin, 1931, cat. 1.\n\nChicago, Quest Art Galleries, French Nineteenth Century Paintings, May 3\u201315, 1937, cat. 11 (ill.)\n\nNew York, Jacques Seligmann Galleries, February 1937.\n\nNew York, Wildenstein and Co., Inc., Great Portraits from Impressionism to Modernism, March 1\u201329, 1938, cat. 14.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Great French Paintings: An Exhibition in Memory of Chauncey McCormick, January 20\u2013February 20, 1955, cat. 19 (ill.).\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin, Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture, February 12\u2013March 29, 1959, cat. 51 (ill.); traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 21\u2013May 31, 1959.\n\nAlbi, France, Mus\u00e9e Toulouse-Lauctrec, Tr\u00e9sors impressionnistes du Mus\u00e9e de Chicago, June 27\u2013August 31, 1980, cat. 31 (ill.). \n\nNew York, Museum of Modern Art, Primitivism in 20th Century Art, September 5, 1984-January 15, 1985, no cat. no. (ill.).\n\nWashington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, The Art of Paul Gauguin, May 1\u2013July 31, 1988, cat. 158 (ill.); Art Institute of Chicago, September 17\u2013December 11, 1988; and Paris, Grand Palais, January 10\u2013April 24, 1989.\n\nMoscow, The Pushkin Museum, Gauguin in Russia, May-June, 1989, cat. 30 (ill.); Leningrad [St. Petersburg], The Hermitage, July-October 1989.\n\nStaatsgalerie Stuttgart, Paul Gauguin-Tahiti, February 7-June 1, 1998, cat. 44 (ill.).\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, September 22, 2001-January 13, 2002, cat. 141 (ill.), traveled to The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, February 9-June 6, 2002.\n\nParis, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Gauguin: Tahiti, September 30, 2003-January 19, 2004, cat. 99 (ill.), traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, February 29, 2004-June 20, 2004.\n\nFort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29\u2013November 2, 2008, cat. 70 (ill.).\n\nLondon, Tate Modern, Paul Gauguin: Maker of Myth, September 30, 2010-January 16, 2011; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, February 21-May 30, 2011.\n\nCopenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, Gauguin Polynesia, September 24- December 31, 2011. fig. 205; Seattle Art Museum, February 9- April 29, 2012.\n\nTreviso, Museo di Santa Caterina, Storie dell'Impressionismo, October 29, 2016-April 17, 2017, cat. 22.\n\nChicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, June 25-Sept. 10. 2017; Paris, Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay, Oct. 9, 2017-Jan. 1, 2018.\n\nOttawa, National Gallery of Canada, Gauguin Portraits, May 24 - September 8 2019, cat. 85; London, The National Gallery, October 9 2019 - January 26 - 2020.","provenance_text":"Gauguin Sale, Paris, H\u00f4tel 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.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":1985,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":36.3819,"color":{"h":41,"l":43,"s":82,"percentage":0.00544146614863909,"population":55},"latitude":41.8795415014807,"longitude":-87.6224003556462,"latlon":"41.879541501481,-87.622400355646","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 247","gallery_id":2147479699,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":34611,"artist_title":"Paul Gauguin","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[34611],"artist_titles":["Paul Gauguin"],"category_ids":["PC-10","PC-831","PC-839"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe","Essentials","Save Ferris"],"term_titles":["oil on canvas","portraits: child subject","oil painting","Post-Impressionism","oil paint (paint)","deities","fruit","flowers","symbols","decoration","white (color)","blue (color)","fans","stripes","portraits: female subject","portrait","french","oil paintings (visual works)","paint","portrait","canvas","jute","paint","painting","painting","painting techniques","19th century","nineteenth century","painting (image making)","painting","european painting","women","portraits","mysteries\/fantasies","interiors","fashion","dresses","text","Tahiti","Tahitian people"],"style_id":"TM-7547","style_title":"Post-Impressionism","alt_style_ids":["TM-13203","TM-15636"],"style_ids":["TM-7547","TM-13203","TM-15636"],"style_titles":["Post-Impressionism","19th century","nineteenth century"],"classification_id":"TM-66","classification_title":"oil on canvas","alt_classification_ids":["TM-14976","TM-78","TM-10387","TM-12855","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-66","TM-14976","TM-78","TM-10387","TM-12855","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["oil on canvas","french","oil paintings (visual works)","paint","portrait","painting","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-8594","alt_subject_ids":["TM-13075","TM-11204","TM-10482","TM-12498","TM-12627","TM-11841","TM-11843","TM-12686","TM-14472","TM-8582","TM-14105","TM-8735","TM-8658","TM-10184","TM-12285","TM-8663","TM-12529","TM-12260","TM-12828","TM-12827"],"subject_ids":["TM-8594","TM-13075","TM-11204","TM-10482","TM-12498","TM-12627","TM-11841","TM-11843","TM-12686","TM-14472","TM-8582","TM-14105","TM-8735","TM-8658","TM-10184","TM-12285","TM-8663","TM-12529","TM-12260","TM-12828","TM-12827"],"subject_titles":["portraits: child subject","deities","fruit","flowers","symbols","decoration","white (color)","blue (color)","fans","stripes","portraits: female subject","portrait","women","portraits","mysteries\/fantasies","interiors","fashion","dresses","text","Tahiti","Tahitian people"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-3124","TM-3084","TM-2577","TM-13502"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-3124","TM-3084","TM-2577","TM-13502"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","canvas","jute","paint","painting"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-14210","TM-3971","TM-3891"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-14210","TM-3971","TM-3891"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting","painting techniques","painting (image making)"],"theme_titles":["Essentials","Save Ferris"],"image_id":"48268fc7-2eb4-ded6-1293-e91f27b66478","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["82c51207-24a5-9da8-e8c4-149d7f97d593"],"sound_ids":["82c51207-24a5-9da8-e8c4-149d7f97d593"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[39588758708],"section_titles":["Cat. 50 \u00a0Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The\u00a0Ancestors of Tehamana), 1893"],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana)","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1980.613"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana)"],"weight":11698,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2025-12-18T14:35:57-06:00","updated_at":"2026-09-01T03:05:37-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-06T05:52:06-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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