Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana)

1893

Paul Gauguin
French, 1848-1903

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.

Status: On View, Gallery 247
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Paul Gauguin
Title: Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana)
Place: France (Artist's nationality)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1893
Medium: Oil on jute canvas
Inscriptions: Signed lower center: P. Gauguin. / 93 Inscribed lower left: MERAHI METUA NO / TEHAMANA
Dimensions: 75 × 53 cm (29 1/2 × 20 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Deering McCormick
Reference Number: 1980.613
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/60812/manifest.json

Jean de Rotonchamp, Paul Gauguin 1848–1903 (Paris, 1906), p. 120, no. 33, p. 135, no. 32.
Charles Morice, Paul Gauguin (Paris, 1920), p. 148 (ill. opp.).
Robert Rey, Gauguin, Maîtres de l’art moderne (Paris, 1923), pl. 23.
Robert Rey, Gauguin, trans. F. C. de Sumichrast (London, 1924), pl. 28.
Gustave Kahn, “Paul Gauguin,” L’Art et les artistes 12, 60 (October 1925), p. 56 (ill.).
Jean de Rotonchamp, Paul Gauguin 1848–1903 (Paris, 1925), p. 137.
Arsène Alexandre, Paul Gauguin; Sa vie et le sens de son oeuvre (Paris, 1930), p. 219 (ill.).
Charles Kunstler, Gauguin, peintre maudit, Anciens et Modernes (Paris, 1934), p. 159.
R. G. Wilenski, French Painting (Boston, 1931), 2nd ed. 1936, p. 290.
S. Rocheblave, La Peinture française au XIXe siécle (Paris, 1936), pl. 90.
“‘Tehura,’ A New Gauguin for America,” Vogue 89 (February 15, 1937), pp. 54, (ill.) 55.
John Rewald, Gauguin (Paris, 1938), p. 21, pl. 152.
Antony de Witt, Paul Gauguin (Milan, 1945), pl. 23.
Hans Graber, Paul Gauguin: Nach eigenen und fremden Zeugnissen (Basel, 1946), p. 510, ill.
Herbert Lee van Dovski, Paul Gauguin oder die Flucht vor der Zivilisation (Olten and Bern, 1948), p. 350, no. 300.
Maurice Malingue, Gauguin: Le Peintures et son oeuvre (Paris, 1948), fig. 202.
Georges Wildenstein, “L’Idéologie et l’estétique dans deux tableaux-clés de Gauguin,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 47, per. 6 (January–April 1956), pp. 143, 162, fig. 9.
“Gauguin,” The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 53, 1 (February 1959), p. 4 (ill.).
Georges Wildenstein, Gauguin (Paris, 1964), no. 497 (ill.).
Paul Gauguin, Noa Noa (Paris, 1966), p. 34 (ill.).
Bengt Danielsson, “Gauguin’s Tahitian Titles,” Burlington Magazine 9, 760 (April 1967), p. 231.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report 1969–1970 (Chicago, 1970), p. 6.
G. M. Sugana, L’opera completa di Gauguin (Milan, 1972), no 322 (ill.).
Herbert Lee van Dovski, Die Wahreit über Gauguin, mit Vielen, zum Teil farbigen Abbildungen und einem ‘Katalog der Gemälde’ (Darmstadt, 1973), no. 300, (ill.) 175.
James N. Wood and Katherine C. Lee, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1988), p. 71 (ill.).
Frances S. Connelly, “Primitivism of Philipp Otto Runge,” Art Journal 32, 2 (1993), p. 38, fig. 7.
Douglas Druick and Peter Zegers, Paul Gauguin: Pages From the Pacific (Chicago and Auckland, 1995), p. 23, fig. 43.
Peggy Vance, Gauguin (London, 1991), pp. 120-1 (ill.), 144.
June Hargrove, “Woman with a Fan: Paul Gauguin’s Heavenly Vairaumati–A Parable of Immortality,” The Art Bulletin 88, 3 (September 2006), p. 557, fig. 3.
The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London, 2008), cat. 70, pp. 146–47 (ill.).
Suzanne Greub, Gauguin Polynesia, Exh. cat (Seattle Art Museum, 2012), p. 221, p. 352-353. fig. 205.
Timothy 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.
Marco Goldin, ed., Storie dell’Impressionismo: I grandi protagonist da Monet a Renoir da Van Gogh a Gauguin (Linea d’ombre, 2016), 173 (color ill), 224-25 (detail ill.), 248-49 (color ill.), 400-01 cat. 22.
“Gauguin, Cat. 50, Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana) (1980.613),” 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.
Gloria Groom, ed. Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/ Yale University Press, 2017). p. 16, 58, 70n9, 235, 238, 242-243, 252, 286, 331, cat. 183.
Claire Bernardi and Ophélie Ferlier-Bouat, Guaguin: L’alchimiste, exh. cat. (Musée d’Osay/ Réunion des muséea nationaux-Grand Palais/ Graphicom, 2017), p.192-193 , 305, cat. 196.
Cornelia Homburg, et. al., Gauguin Portraits, exh. cat. (Yale University Press, 2019), 148-53, 256.

Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition Paul Gauguin, November 1893, cat. 33.
Béziers, Société des Beaux-Arts, 1901, cat. 53.
Paris, Galerie L. Dru, Exposition retrospective de P. Gauguin (1848–1903); peintures, bois, céramiques, gravures, dessins, April 16–May 11, 1923, cat. 22.
Paris, Le Portique, Gauguin, 1931, cat. 1.
Chicago, Quest Art Galleries, French Nineteenth Century Paintings, May 3–15, 1937, cat. 11 (ill.)
New York, Jacques Seligmann Galleries, February 1937.
New York, Wildenstein and Co., Inc., Great Portraits from Impressionism to Modernism, March 1–29, 1938, cat. 14.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Great French Paintings: An Exhibition in Memory of Chauncey McCormick, January 20–February 20, 1955, cat. 19 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin, Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture, February 12–March 29, 1959, cat. 51 (ill.); 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, cat. 31 (ill.).
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Primitivism in 20th Century Art, September 5, 1984-January 15, 1985, no cat. no. (ill.).
Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, The Art of Paul Gauguin, May 1–July 31, 1988, cat. 158 (ill.); 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, cat. 30 (ill.); Leningrad [St. Petersburg], The Hermitage, July-October 1989.
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Paul Gauguin-Tahiti, February 7-June 1, 1998, cat. 44 (ill.).
The 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.
Paris, 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.
Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008, cat. 70 (ill.).
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. fig. 205; Seattle Art Museum, February 9- April 29, 2012.
Treviso, Museo di Santa Caterina, Storie dell’Impressionismo, October 29, 2016-April 17, 2017, cat. 22.
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, cat. 85; London, The National Gallery, October 9 2019 - January 26 - 2020.

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 [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.

Wildenstein Gauguin 1964 497

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

On View

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

Explore Further

Suggested Terms

See all hours

Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana)

On View

Date:

Artist:

About this artwork

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

Extended information about this artwork

Publication History

Exhibition History

Provenance

Catalogues Raisonnés

Multimedia

Share

Explore Further

Related artworks

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Gallery actions

Image actions

Share

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.