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# Experts doubt that the Getty head is a Gauguin self-portrait
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/kogda-to-eta-skulptura-schitalas-avtoportretom-gogena-no-seichas-vse-bolshe-ekspertov-skhodiatsia-vo-mnenii-chto-golova-na-samom-dele-byla-sdelana-neizvestnym-polineziiskim-khudozhnikom/
- Published: 2020-01-28T19:43:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:01:41.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Museums, Observations, Humour

This sculpture was once considered a self-portrait of Gauguin, but a growing number of experts now agree that the head was in fact made by an unknown Polynesian puppet-maker in 1894\. In principle, the Getty has money to burn, so it is not all that vexing that in 2002 they bought this work for 5 million dollars. Yet one is reminded of another scandalous Getty acquisition, which in all likelihood is also a forgery: [the marble kouros](https://theparnassian.com/pered-novym-godom-u-menia-dlia-vas-uvlekatelnaia-istoriia-o-vosmidesiatykh-drevnei-statue-i-sobranii-iskusstva-pola-getti/?ref=theparnassian.com) of the 6th century BC. It can happen to anyone in the museum world, of course, but is an unfortunate pattern really emerging specifically for the J. Paul Getty Museum? 😏