Aha Oe Feii?

Aha Oe Feii? or Are You Jealous? (French: Eh quoi ! Tu es jalouse ?)^[1] is an oil-on-canvas painting by Paul Gauguin from 1892, based on a real-life episode during his stay on Tahiti which he later described in the diary Noa Noa: "On the shore two sisters are lying after bathing, in the graceful poses of resting animals; they speak of yesterday's love and tomorrow's conquests. The recollection causes them to quarrel, "What? Are you jealous?"^[2] Gauguin titled the painting in Tahitian language, Aha Oe Feii?, in the lower left corner of the canvas.

Aha Oe Feii?
English: Are You Jealous?
Artist	Paul Gauguin
Year	1892
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	66 cm × 89 cm (26 in × 35 in)
Location	Pushkin Museum, Moscow

The painting evokes a sense of Pacific paradise in which sexual relations are playful and harmless. According to Professor Peter Toohey, "this jealousy is not the product of a threat to an exclusive sexual relationship or jilted love affair – it is the result of one of the sisters having enjoyed more sex than the other the night before".^[3] In a letter to his friend from 1892, Gauguin wrote about the painting: "I think this is the best of what I've made so far".^[2]

The painting is housed in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia.

References

1. Brodskaia, Nathalia (December 4, 2014). Impressionnisme et le post impressionnisme. Editions Prisma. ISBN 9782810414147 – via Google Books.
2. "Aha oe feii? (А, ты ревнуешь?)". pushkinmuseum.art. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
3. Peter Toohey (2014). Jealousy. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300190489.