In order to underline the inconsistency between the mystical construal of Gauguin’s self-portraits and his religious credo, we must enquire into his re-interpretation of Church dogma as formulated in his essays “The Catholic Church and Modern Times” and “Catholicism and the Modern Mind”. In his “The Modern Spirit and Catholicism”, Gauguin argued against the double nature of Christ as both divine and human and contended that only the latter existed. Gauguin’s reason for advocating the mortal character of Christ was that his human nature was essential for the mission of saving humankind by providing a model for human existence. (qtd. Amishai-Maisels, 25) It is thus Gauguin’s belief that Christ was fully and exclusively mortal and not Gauguin’s partaking in the divine that allowed the painter to identify with Christ. Interpreted in the light of his own writings on religious themes, which give priority to the empirical, the self-portraits as Christ depict Christ as a replica of Gauguin, rather than Gauguin as a replica of Christ.