Spirits of the Flowers Keep Watch
Floral Interpretation of
Parahi Te Maraw (There Dwells the Temple / The Sacred Mountain)
Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)
1892
oil on canvas
26 × 35 in.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Notes: The painting There Dwells the Temple was created on Gauguin's first trip to Tahiti. It depicts a marae, a Tahitian sacred enclosure of Gauguin's imagination. Most were in ruins by the time of Gauguin's visit.
Gauguin left many ruins in his wake as the Spirits know.