ID: 700008097 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700008097	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Arii Matamoe (The Royal End) (oil painting (visual work); Paul Gauguin (French, 1848 - 1903) (French Artist); 1892; J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los A...; 2008.5)

Note: Eyes rolled backward, jaw thrust out, lips parted and teeth bared, the severed head of a Polynesian male rests on a white cushion set upon a low table in a richly ornamented interior. Alongside the wall behind this grisly nature morte crouches a nude female figure, arms cradling her head in an attitude of despair or mourning. She is framed by skull motifs in the geometric patterning on the wall and by a fierce, stylized mask near the floor by the table. Above the mask, a screen of three bamboo poles partially conceals a figure lurking in the shadows and separates the crouching figure from another woman who rises up, facing outward, arm raised to her mouth as if shouting out or wailing. Outside in the background, just beyond a narrow porch indicated by a supporting post and overhanging thatch, sit two glumly impassive figures, one bearing a tool, possibly an ax, the other cloaked in red. A carved, double-tiki figure marks the threshold of the scene, dividing the spaces of the dead and the living. Arii Matamoe is unique among the works of Gauguin's first Tahitian period. As an interior scene, it stands out against the many outdoor scenes set in the lush Tahitian landscape which he painted, and its morbid theme distinguishes it from the mood of sultry indolence and langorous activity that pervades his genre pieces. The picture appears to have held special significance for Gauguin. He included a photographic reproduction of it in his illustrated manuscript of Noa Noa, and he singled it out for description in an 1892 letter to his regular correspondent Daniel de Monfreid:I have just finished [painting] a severed kanak head ["kanak" was a generic term referring to any non-European Pacific islander] nicely arranged on a white cushion in a palace of my invention and guarded by women also of my invention. I believe that it is a pretty piece of painting. It is not quite mine since I stole it [the head] from a pine board. Don't tell anyone but what do you want. One does what one can, and when marble or wood draws a head for you it's very tempting to steal it.

Titles:

Arii Matamoe (The Royal End) (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Arii Matamoe - La Fin Royale (C,U,English,U,U)

Severed head of a Polynesian man (C,U,DE,English,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

oil painting (visual work) [300033799] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>, paintings (visual works), <paintings by material or technique>)

Classifications:

paintings (preferred)

Creation Date: 1892

Creator Display:

Paul Gauguin (French, 1848 - 1903) (French Artist) [preferred,JPGM]

Gauguin, Paul (French painter and printmaker, 1848-1903) [500011421]

Locations:

Current: J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los Angeles county, California, United States) [500329598] J. Paul Getty Museum, J. Paul Getty Trust, Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 2008.5

Other: Creation: Tahiti [7006211] French Polynesia (dependent state), Oceania (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Display Materials: Oil on coarse fabric

	oil paint (paint) [300015050]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>, paint (coating), <paint by composition or origin>)

	cloth [300162391]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>, textile materials, <textile materials by form>)

Dimensions: Unframed: 45.1 x 74.3 cm (17 3/4 x 29 1/4 in.); Framed: 66.7 x 95.6 x 5.4 cm (26 1/4 x 37 5/8 x 2 1/8 in.)

Cultures:

French (preferred)

Style/Period/Group/Movement:

	Symbolist [300021514] (preferred,style)
	.....(Styles and Periods Facet, Styles and Periods (hierarchy name), <styles| periods| and cultures by region>, European, <modern European styles and movements>, <modern European fine arts styles and movements>)

	Post-Impressionist [300021508] (style)
	.....(Styles and Periods Facet, Styles and Periods (hierarchy name), <styles| periods| and cultures by region>, European, <modern European styles and movements>, <modern European fine arts styles and movements>)

General Subject:

genre (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	head (animal or human component) [300375054]
	.....(Objects Facet, Components (hierarchy name), components (objects parts), <components by specific context>, biological components, animal components) (AAT)

	death [300151836]
	.....(Activities Facet, Events (hierarchy name), events (activities), personal life events) (AAT)

Inscriptions: Title inscribed, upper left: "ARii MATAMOE"

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Arii Matamoe (The Royal End)	........ [JPGM,VP]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)
Arii Matamoe - La Fin Royale	........ [JPGM]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)
Severed head of a Polynesian man	........ [VP]
	........ Getty Vocabulary Program rules

Subject: ....... [JPGM,VP]

Note:
English	..... [JPGM]
	..... J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)