![Eve ['The Nightmare'] (recto); Eve ['The Nightmare'] (verso) by Paul Gauguin](/api/artwork-image/getty-object%2F24f7de0f-e8b7-421b-b07d-ff36948ee4ed/paul-gauguin-eve-the-nightmare-recto-eve-the-nightmare-verso-j-paul-getty-museum.webp?q=72&w=2048)
about 1899–1900
Black printer's ink, ochre ink, and liquid solvent (recto); Graphite and blue crayon pencil with traces of a diluted oil medium (verso), on wove paper, Graphite
A nude woman stands with her hand to her chin, looking to the left. Behind her, a dark, amorphous shape with a horse-like head looms, and a coiled snake is visible at the bottom right. If my work must be limited to watercolor, pastel, or anything else all the spirit goes out of it ... I have at this moment a series of experimental drawings that I'm fairly pleased with. I'm sending you a small specimen; it's like an impression and yet it isn't. Thick ink replaces pencil, that's all... --Paul Gauguin Near the end of his life in isolated French Polynesia, Gauguin invented his own technique to produce this unique, double-sided image. Both sides depict a young Tahitian woman as Eve in the Garden of Eden, surrounded by the Devil as a snake, a dark figure on horseback, and a fallen Adam. One side of the drawing consists
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