When Gauguin arrived in Tahiti for the first time, he became aware of the presence of the idol, yet he was unsure about its significance. Gauguin’s first painting from the islands, entitled Self-portrait with Idol (1891), brings along the first illustration of an idol in his paintings. This is also the first time we observe the psychological conflict, as it shows the incipient phase of the relationship between the Frenchman and the idol, where the two “opponents” are put in the same scene. Since the painting is a self-portrait, the focus is directed towards the depiction of Gauguin’s physical features and emotions, rather than on the surroundings. The painter occupies the central position in the foreground, while the idol is far in the bakground, acting like a lens through which the main character can be better perceived. While the painter’s face conveys power, by the use of luminous colors and straight lines, the idol, on the other hand, sits silently and shadowed in the back, with only its left half exposed to the viewer. This could suggest that the painter finds himself in a dilemma: whether to completely disregard it and leave it out from the picture or to fully depict it, and thus admit its power.
We can see how Gauguin’s Christian beliefs start to be threatened by the idol in Old Times, which was painted in 1892, at the middle of his first trip. In the foreground we see the basis of a very large, supposedly never ending, tree, whose top is hidden from the viewer, suggesting a resemblance to the Tree of Knowledge in Christian religion. 
Its importance is magnified by its position right in the middle of the painting, like a pillar supporting the pastoral surroundings, while the Christian meaning is emphasized by the placid women dressed in white. The presence of the idol in this picture comes highly dissonant, strongly contrasting the other elements inside. That is, a pagan idol is put together with strong Christian symbols, showing how the painter’s Catholic views are starting to be undermined by the new and unknown Tahitian religion. If we turn to his journal, he mentions at the middle of his journey: “Civilization is falling from me little by little” (Noa Noa 37). Thus, the chronological advancement is related to his personal fall, which in this painting is represented by the loss of Christian traditions and the assimilation of barbarian cultural elements.
The religious level of the connection between the painter and the idol is further emphasized by The Day of the God (1894), which shows how the Polynesian idol replaced the Christian God in Gauguin’s faith. This was painted shortly after his return to Paris from his first trip, thus it bears all the marks of the two years Gauguin spent on Tahitian land. 
This time, its theme is focused entirely on the idol, thus showing a regress of the painter’s situation as the years passed. We can spot a statuette resembling the idol, but this time it is actually dedicated to Taaroa, the central figure of the Maori pantheon (Goldwater 126). Moreover, this is Gauguin’s first painting in which the idol gets to have the main role, as it occupies the central position while having a higher placement than everyone else, showing its increased importance. All the other characters in the painting are women, whose postures suggest servility to the god: the two on the left are bringing gifts, the two on the right are performing ritual dances, while the ones in the foreground are sitting languidly on the sand, showing how powerless they are in front of the god (Goldwater 126). Noa Noa gives a sense about the artist involution, as he writes: “Yes, wholly destroyed, finished, dead, is from now on the old civilization within me” (Noa Noa 48). Although he makes this statement in a proudly manner, The Day of the God shows that the real situation is totally opposed to Gauguin’s beliefs, as the death of civilization is tightly related to the death of Christian thinking in the painter. Thus he lost strongly held beliefs, which had characterized his individual self prior to his coming to Tahiti. This proves how unfortunate Gauguin was, as he practically resigned to the Polynesian idol by accepting it instead of the Christian God, symbol of civilization and of the older, but more powerful Gauguin.
Images (from top to bottom):
Self Portrait with Idol. 1891. Marion Koogler McNay Institute, San Antonio, Texas
Mata mua - Old Times. 1892. Sammlung Thyssen-Bornemisza, Lugano, Switzerland
Mahana no Atua - The Day of the God. 1894. The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois