Te Tamari no Atua (The Child of God) by Paul Gauguin (Interpretation and Analysis)

Te Tamari no Atua
Source: Wikimedia Commons

The art of Paul Gauguin is endlessly interesting to me. Although Gauguin himself was a rather problematic individual, his art is extraordinary. To this day, his paintings and sculptures are recognized for their original and expressive character and for Gauguin’s unique approach to color. Gauguin’s work is also remarkable for the mix of cultural themes and ideas that permeate his work.

Gauguin is most famous for the art he executed while living in Tahiti, and, while his understanding of Tahitian culture was limited, his time in French Polynesia made a huge impact on his work. Te Tamari no Atua (which roughly translates to The Child of God) is a fine example of the way Gauguin used cultural synchronism to create interesting and impactful art.

As the title suggests, the painting depicts Gauguin’s version of the Christian Nativity. Here, he reworks the birth of Christ as a Tahitian scene. In the foreground, a young woman—the mother—lies sleeping on yellow sheets on an ornately carved bed. In the background, two women watch over the newborn baby, who is crowned with a yellow halo. Two cows are also visible in the background, a reference to the Biblical story of Christ’s birth in a manger.

Gauguin’s choice to re-work this scene is interesting. At his core, Gauguin was interested in portraying spiritual, emotional, and psychological experience in all its many forms. He often achieved this through religious imagery, which was deeply imbedded in his own psyche. As art critic Martin Gayford notes, “[Gauguin’s] imagination was filled with Catholic imagery and doctrine, and had been from an early age.” While the Christian undertones of Te Tamari no Atua were not necessarily important to Gauguin (he was far from pious), he was interested in the spiritual and psychological power of religious imagery.

Here, Gauguin uses the theme of the Nativity to dissect and examine this particular brand of spiritual energy. Birth and motherhood are important themes and tenants in many religions around the world, and Gauguin rightly surmised that these ideas were crucial to creating meaning within the human experience of the world. As Martin Gayford further explains, “[Gauguin] was attracted to the idea...that all the world’s religions and mythologies were essentially the same. In 1897 he wrote a long, rambling essay entitled ‘The Catholic Church and Modern Times.’ In this Gauguin claimed that divinity was an ‘unfathomable mystery.’ ‘God does not belong to the scientist, nor to the logician; he belongs to the poets, to the realm of dreams; he is the symbol of Beauty, Beauty itself.’”

Te Tamari no Atua can be seen as a reiteration of this idea in canvas and paint. In Te Tamari no Atua, the Nativity transcends Christianity and becomes a universal symbol of beauty and spiritual power. The painting symbolizes the emotional and psychological underpinnings that give meaning to human life.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.