PAUL GAUGUIN’S TWO TAHITIAN MANIFEST PAINTINGS: MANA’O TUPAPA’U AND WHERE DO WE COME FROM? WHAT ARE WR? WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Abstract

Gauguin’s attitudes towards Tahiti and its indigenious population, colonialism and women – all the elements that are encoded in his work – were often contradictory and ambiguous. From his representation of Tahiti, one could encounter symbolistic utopias, personal vision and artistic project, contact with indigenious history and beliefs, the becoming of „noble savage“, sexual freedom and a lifequest for carefree life. Paintings Mana’o tupapa’u (The spirit watches over her, 1892) and Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? (1897-98) could both be understood as manifests of his art inspired by and produced on Tahiti, relevant for the questions raised above. Also, a deeper insight was achieved by using postcolonial and gender theories, as well as analysis of egzoticism and primitivism in the modernist art.