Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana)
Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)1893
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
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—glyphs derived from an Easter Island tablet and a female deity inspired by Polynesian and Hindu sources—to build a generic sense of foreigness and mystery, transforming Tehamana into the embodiment of his own desire.
- Medium
- Oil on jute canvas
- Original size
- 75 × 53 cm (29 1/2 × 20 7/8 in.)
Museum record · 3 owners · 22 exhibitions
Provenance
- Gauguin Sale, Paris, Hôtel 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.
- Stephen C. Clark, New York by 1938.
- Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey McCormick, Chicago by 1955; by descent to Mr. Charles Deering McCormick; on extended loan to the Art Institute, 1970; given to the Art Institute, 1980.
Exhibitions
- Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition Paul Gauguin, November 1893.
- Béziers, Société des Beaux-Arts, 1901.
- Paris, Galerie L. Dru, Exposition retrospective de P. Gauguin (1848–1903); peintures, bois, céramiques, gravures, dessins, April 16–May 11, 1923.
- Paris, Le Portique, Gauguin, 1931.
- Chicago, Quest Art Galleries, French Nineteenth Century Paintings, May 3–15, 1937 New York, Jacques Seligmann Galleries, February 1937.
- New York, Wildenstein and Co., Inc., Great Portraits from Impressionism to Modernism, March 1–29, 1938.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Great French Paintings: An Exhibition in Memory of Chauncey McCormick, January 20–February 20, 1955.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin, Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture, February 12–March 29, 1959; traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 21–May 31, 1959.
- Albi, France, Musée Toulouse-Lauctrec, Trésors impressionnistes du Musée de Chicago, June 27–August 31, 1980.
- New York, Museum of Modern Art, Primitivism in 20th Century Art, September 5, 1984-January 15, 1985, no cat. no..
- Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, The Art of Paul Gauguin, May 1–July 31, 1988; Art Institute of Chicago, September 17–December 11, 1988; and Paris, Grand Palais, January 10–April 24, 1989.
- Moscow, The Pushkin Museum, Gauguin in Russia, May-June, 1989; Leningrad, The Hermitage, July-October 1989.
- Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Paul Gauguin-Tahiti, February 7-June 1, 1998.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, September 22, 2001-January 13, 2002, traveled to The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, February 9-June 6, 2002.
- Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Gauguin: Tahiti, September 30, 2003-January 19, 2004, traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, February 29, 2004-June 20, 2004.
- Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008.
- London, Tate Modern, Paul Gauguin: Maker of Myth, September 30, 2010-January 16, 2011; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, February 21-May 30, 2011.
- Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, Gauguin Polynesia, September 24- December 31, 2011.; Seattle Art Museum, February 9- April 29, 2012.
- Treviso, Museo di Santa Caterina, Storie dell'Impressionismo, October 29, 2016-April 17, 2017.
- Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, June 25-Sept. 10.
- 2017; Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Oct. 9, 2017-Jan. 1, 2018.
- Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Gauguin Portraits, May 24 - September 8 2019; London, The National Gallery, October 9 2019 - January 26 - 2020.
