.
An ominous raven or crow watches the woman from a windowsill in the background. In art, such birds often symbolise ill omens and impending danger. In Gauguin's painting, the menacing bird appears to be an apparition, more ornamental than real (Walther, pg. 78). Strangely, the raven is not its usual black, but dusky blue and chalky violet with a hint of green. The unusual colour of the raven contributes to the impression that the bird is a mere sceptre or dream image rather than an existent creature. .
The images of danger, i.e. the malevolent figures and the raven, are arranged on a flat plane that offers the viewer no sense of spatial depth. Gauguin's denial of perspective makes it even more difficult to discern the relationships between the bird, the ominous clothed figures, and the nude in the foreground. The bird and the title are most likely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven', which uses the word "nevermore- as a refrain (Walther, pg. 78). Despite the title and unexplained presence of the bird, Gauguin routinely denied more than a passing reference to the poem. The loose connection to the gloomy poem, however, adds to the painting's elusiveness and pervasive sense of menace (Denvir, pg. 221). .
Gauguin attempted to describe his intentions for Nevermore: "I wished to suggest by means of a simple nude a certain long-lost barbarian luxury- (Denvir, pg. 221). This statement does little to clarify the subject of the painting. One feasible interpretation of the painting is the loss of youthful innocence. The young nude woman is evidently mature, at least in physical terms. She may be laying on a white towel or blanket, an item used in certain cultures to prove a woman's virginity. Alternatively, the words spoken by the threatening figures may bode evil and provide the woman with adult knowledge, effectively ending the magic and illusion of youth. .
According to Walther, in Nevermore Gauguin may have been indicating the looming corruption of "pure- Polynesian culture (pg.