In the end, while Gauguin’s Eves develop into strong, confident figures while in Tahiti, it is unfortunate that Gauguin was unable to do the same and died poor and alone in the Marquesas. During his lifetime, however, Eve remained a symbol of strength and life for Gauguin that he always returned to, as if she were a guide on in his journey through life. His ability to reject the negative Judeo- Christian connotations of Eve is admirable for both personal reasons and artistic ones as perhaps he needed to forgive Eve in order to forgive his own past transgressions. Regardless, as Tahiti marked a period of tremendous inspiration and spiritual awakening for Gauguin, his observation of his young bride in Noa Noa is a perfect metaphor for his relationship with this symbolic primitive Eve. He writes: “She came into my life at the perfect hour. Earlier, I might, perhaps, not have understood her, and later it would have been too late” (Gauguin 70-71). For Gauguin, he found his ideal Eve in Tahiti at the perfect hour of his life. While he obviously needed time for her to develop in his artwork into the standing icon that she eventually becomes, this time spent in Tahiti was crucial. As evidenced by his increasing depression and sad death, for Eve to come into his life any later would have been “too late”. Indeed, Gauguin needed her to blossom in his Eden of Tahiti at this particular hour of his life. As his constant guide through life, Eve represents the ideal paradise for which Gauguin searched, and his entire journey along the way.