Portrait of the Artist’s Mother (Eve) 1889 - 1890

Here, at The Art Institute of Chicago, we have Paul Gauguin's small oil on canvas "Portrait of the Artist’s Mother (Eve)". The composition is strikingly simple: a pale, ethereal figure set against blocks of red and blue, crowned by an abstract yellow form. This arrangement evokes a sense of serene detachment. Gauguin manipulates color and form to challenge conventional portraiture. The flattened perspective and bold color choices, depart from traditional representation, hinting instead at symbolic meaning. The figure’s nudity, combined with the title ‘Eve’, invites a semiotic reading: she becomes a signifier of primal innocence, yet the overall effect, with that ochre yellow is not one of pure origins, it is one of constructed identity. The very texture of the paint—thick in some areas, thinly applied in others—adds another layer of complexity. The canvas's rough edges disrupt any illusion, reminding us of the artwork's materiality. This work destabilizes fixed meanings. In its re-presentation of Eve, and its construction of form, Gauguin offers an ongoing invitation to interpret the very essence of identity and representation.