This painting is meant to be read from right to left, and signifies the passage of life by showing the aging of its Tahitian subjects.
In a letter to his friend Charles Morice, the artist states that two figures in this painting bring a "note of anguish" to the central scene and describes this painting as comparable to the gospels. A white bird stands next to an old woman at the very left of this painting, whose very right shows a black dog running into the frame. In the background of this work, two trees framed in blue can be seen in the right half of this painting, while a tree on the left looks black and foreboding and stands next to a blue statue with its arms facing palms outward. Two white cats are behind a girl eating an apple in one section, and at the very center a loincloth-wearing subject reaches upwards to grab fruit from a  tree. This painting is meant to be read from right to left, and signifies the passage of life by showing the aging of its Tahitian subjects. For 10 points identify this large panoramic work by Paul Gaughin.
In a letter to his friend Charles Morice, the artist states that two figures in this painting bring a "note of anguish" to the central scene and describes this painting as comparable to the gospels.
Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? [or D'oÃ¹ Venons Nous / Que Sommes Nous / OÃ¹ Allons Nous]