 The model for this work, Tohotaua, reappeared in 'Contes Barbares'
, but the painting itself was based on a photograph of
the woman taken in 1901 and found in Gauguin's effects after his
death in Hivaoa. Although the pose in the painted version is broadly
similar to that in the photograph, Gauguin has made a number of
important changes. Instead of coolly appraising the viewer as in the
photograph, the woman here gazes into space, and the mood is not
unlike that in 'Faaturuma'. The pareo with which Tohotaua
covered her breasts in the photograph, has been changed and the image
becomes much more overtly erotic. The position of the fan has been
moved slightly, so that it covers her right breast in a provocative
fashion, not unlike the fruit in 'Ea haere ia oe?'. In
making these changes, Gauguin has constructed an image of an
archetypal Polynesian woman, passive and sexually available.
Gauguin (Colour Library)
by Alan Bowness
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