When Paul Gauguin painted Et l'or de leur corps in 1901, he was living in the Marquesas Islands, far from the Parisian art world that had once both celebrated and scandalized him. The title, which translates as "And the gold of their bodies," is a phrase borrowed from Pierre Loti’s 1880 novel Le Mariage de Loti, a book that colored European fantasies about the South Pacific. The painting is one of the last major works Gauguin completed before his death in 1903, marking the culmination of his Tahitian and Marquesan explorations of color, myth, and the female form.

Its creation coincided with a period of declining health and increasing isolation for the artist, who was by then estranged from both his family and the colonial authorities. The scene captures two Polynesian women, their skin rendered in glowing, saturated tones, reclining amidst a lush, dreamlike landscape. Gauguin’s choice of moment is ambiguous: the women are at rest, yet their direct, unflinching gazes meet the viewer, challenging the European gaze that so often objectified them. The golden light that bathes their bodies is not only a technical feat but a symbol—suggesting both the allure and the exploitation of colonial desire.

The flattened perspective and bold outlines recall Japanese prints, while the sensual languor of the figures invites comparison with Édouard Manet’s Olympia, though here the context is far from Parisian boudoirs. Gauguin’s palette, dominated by ochres and deep greens, dissolves the boundary between figure and landscape, merging body and earth. The precise medium of Et l'or de leur corps remains uncertain, though it is likely oil on canvas, in keeping with Gauguin’s practice during his Polynesian years. The painting’s early provenance is not fully documented; it surfaced in Europe after Gauguin’s death and has passed through several private collections.

Today, it is recognized as a key example of Post-Impressionism, illustrating Gauguin’s radical approach to color and form at the end of his life. The work’s ambiguous blend of admiration and appropriation continues to provoke debate among scholars, reflecting the complex legacy of Gauguin’s Pacific paintings.