[1] Depicting two Tahitian women, this piece is one of a series of works completed by Gauguin during his first stay on the Pacific island chain.

Enamored by the environment and people of the islands and their separation from European cultural and aesthetic attitudes, Gauguin portrays two figures shrouded in the mystery and symbolism of Tahiti's paradise.

"[4]: 128  Although France's colonial impact by that point washed away some of these qualities he had hoped to find,[5] Gauguin nevertheless was productive and created this particular piece within the context of a greater series of many other works.

The art historian Charles Stuckey suggests that the ambiguity only adds to the mystery and sense of unknown felt in the piece.

Gauguin was mystified by this new world and its silence in particular, which he said "is even stranger than anything else...I can understand why these people can remain hours and days sitting immobile and gazing at the sky.

Their deep amber-colored skin and powerful physiques display immense musculature, making them almost androgynous figures that are more akin to sculptures.

[9]: 236 The colors Gauguin employs include orange, yellow, pink, ocher, deep reds, turquoises, and browns.

A term he coined himself, it was derived from cloisonism, which used dark lines to separate flat sections of color to reduce the sense of the real, observable subject and instead focus on the inner, symbolic poetry of it.

Gauguin was reportedly enraged when Parau api was sold, and the work underscores how important Tahitian Women on the Beach was to him.