Spirit of the Dead Watching
1892
Gauguin painted this haunting scene in 1892 after his young Tahitian wife, Teha'amana, came home late and found him sitting in the dark. Terrified, she believed she was seeing a tupapau, or spirit of the dead. The painting shows her lying face down on the bed in fear, while a shadowy, green-clad figure watches from the background. Gauguin loved the ambiguity of the title, which can mean either 'She thinks of the ghost' or 'The ghost thinks of her.' It's a perfect example of Symbolism, mixing real emotion with exotic mythology.
- Dimensions
- 72 cm x 91 cm
Location: Buffalo AKG Art Museum
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