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| Self-Portrait as a Tahitian | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Amrita Sher-Gil |
| Year | 1934 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 90 cm × 56 cm (35 in × 22 in) |
| Location | Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi |
Self-Portrait as a Tahitian is an oil painting on canvas created in 1934 in Paris by Hungarian-born Indian artist Amrita Sher-Gil. It is held in the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, India. Under India's Antiquities and Art Treasures Act (1972) the work is a national art treasure and must stay in India.
In the painting Sher-Gil is portrayed in partial nudity in the shadow of an unknown male figure. A plain white cloth is wrapped around her lower body, leaving her slightly protruding abdomen, full body breasts and crossed arms naked. She is standing, with smaller Oriental figures in the background.
In 1934 the painting was exhibited at the Salon des Tuileries, Paris, alongside her 1932 portrait of her friend Boris Taslitzky, Young Man with Apples. The work has been seen as Sher-Gil's response to seeing Paul Gauguin's Faa Iheihe in London in 1933, and hence a tribute to him, with a combination of east and west. Paula Modersohn-Becker's Self-Portrait at 6th Wedding Anniversary was also likely familiar to her. Critics have varied in their view of the extent of influence by Vincent van Gogh.