Gauguin’s Hiva Oa :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Gauguin’s Hiva Oa The Tahitian island of Hiva Oa is the place where artist Paul Gauguin chose to live out the remaining years of his life. In The Moon and Sixpence, the narrator describes the place by saying, â€Å"the beauty of the island is unveiled as diminishing distance shows you in distincter shape its lovely peaks†¦for Tahiti is smiling and friendly† (Maugham 160). This is an excellent description of the island, and it is little wonder that Gauguin found solace here. Hiva Oa is on the southern coast of Tahiti and is the most fertile and well known of the Marquisas group of islands, of which there are six. Even today, Hiva Oa retains much of the physical beauty that it did during Gauguin’s stay. Many of the roads are unpaved and the largest tikis in Polynesia are found right on the island. On the cliffs overlooking the village of Atuona is Cavalry Cemetery where Gauguin is buried, along with another famous man, Belgian singer Jacques Brel, who also lived out his life in Hiva O a. In the village is a museum dedicated to the artist’s life and works. Further to the east is Puamau Village, where many of Gauguin’s descendants still live, mostly in the native lifestyle. In The Moon and Sixpence the natives are described as being promiscuous, although the definition may have a different meaning to Westerners than it does to the natives. One of the narrator’s friends describes the artist’s wife as â€Å"a good girl and she’s only seventeen. She’s never been promiscuous like some of these girls—a captain or a first mate, yes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Maugham 185). This may have been the norm at the time, and one website describes the philosophy of natives today as â€Å"parents allow young people to live an independent sexual life. Young people choose their partners themselves and they may sleep with anyone they wish to† (Petya). Such an easygoing attitude may be hard for many people to understand, but Gauguin seemingl y fit in quite well. This general good nature is further seen in a general attitude of goodwill toward all people and overall generosity. The natives, especially in Gauguin’s time, were not so much concerned with money and material wealth as in living freely. Households at the time—and this can also be seen sometimes today—consisted of a sleeping house and a cooking house, surrounded by an ua ma, or pit for storing fermented breadfruit could be found.