Mahana no atua (Day of the God)  1894

by Paul Gauguin

[i]Day of the God[/i] is one of a small number of paintings of Tahitian subjects that Paul Gauguin made in France between his stays in the South Pacific. An imaginary rather than realistic depiction of the South Seas, it is dominated by an idol of the goddess Hina. To the right of her, women dance the [i]upaupa[/i], a suggestive ancient Tahitian dance that missionaries and...
Size: 
68 × 91 cm (26 7/8 × 36 in.)
Medium: 
Oil on linen canvas
Credit: 
Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago