Matamoe (Death), Landscape with Peacocks

Matamoe, painted in 1892 during Gauguin's first Tahiti stay, shows a landscape with peacocks and a severed head — the title translating roughly as 'Death' or 'Sleeping' in Tahitian. The work combines observed Polynesian landscape with symbolic imagery — the peacocks, associated with immortality and pride in European iconography, take on different resonances in Gauguin's hybrid cultural world. The Pushkin Museum canvas is one of his most enigmatic early Tahitian works, the combination of natural beauty and deathly symbolism creating the unresolved tension that characterizes much of his Pacific production.

The composition combines a decorative foreground of peacocks with a receding Tahitian landscape of deep greens and blues. Gauguin's handling is more varied here than his Brittany work — the vegetation is painted with rich, thick strokes while the peacocks are rendered with careful decorative detail. The palette is luminous and tropical.