Spirit of the Dead Watching (Manao Tupapau), from "L'Estampe Originale"

Spirit of the Dead Watching (Manao Tupapau), from "L'Estampe Originale," is a significant print created by Paul Gauguin in 1894. This iteration is a zincograph, a planographic printmaking technique related to lithography, executed as part of the influential portfolio L'Estampe Originale. Gauguin produced several versions of the Spirit of the Dead Watching theme, translating the complex imagery of his Tahitian period oil painting into the stark, powerful contrasts offered by the print medium.

The subject matter directly addresses Gauguin's intense fascination with non-Western spiritualism and the perceived exoticism of Polynesian culture. The work depicts a fearful reclining figure observed by a spectral presence, or tupapau (spirit of the dead). Gauguin frequently explored the dualities of life and mortality in his graphic works, and here, the themes of Death and the supernatural are profoundly evident. The looming dark figure hovering over the subject can be interpreted as a manifestation of the Devil or a protective, yet terrifying, ancestral spirit, encapsulating the fear felt by the subject in the darkness.

This particular print demonstrates Gauguin's masterful adaptation of his highly subjective, Symbolist visual language to the constraints and strengths of the zincograph medium. Utilizing the bold outlines and stark contrasts inherent to this form of printmaking, the work achieves a raw, primitive power characteristic of his final period. As a key example of the artist's graphic output from his mature career, this work resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. High-quality prints of such historically significant works often enter the public domain, allowing broader access to Gauguin’s revolutionary graphic contributions.