The artist; (Gauguin sale, Paris, 18 February 1895, no. 10, bought in); (purchased 17 October 1900 through George-Daniel de Manfreid [1856-1929] Paris, by Ambroise Vollard [1866-1939], Paris);[1] sold on 30 May 1906, for 4000 francs, to Alexandre Berthier, 4th Prince de Wagram (1883-1918);[2] returned possibly due to non-settlement of bill to Vollard, stock no. 5453, by 1910.[3](Paul Rosenberg, Paris, by 1928).[4] Millet, Paris. Phileas Pluckett, Manchester, England.[5] Paul Guillaume [1891-1934], Paris; sold 1930 to Marie N. Harriman [1903-1970] and W. Averell Harriman [1891-1986], New York;[6] the W. Averell Harriman Foundation, New York; gift 1972 to NGA. [1] A receipt for that date from Manfreid to Vollard lists “quatre toiles de Gauguin (anciennes) marquées au dos H - E - AG - Y- faisant partie précédemment de l'inventaire dressée par Chaudet pour le compte de Gauguin [...]” (four canvases by Gauguin (old) marked on the back H – E – AG – Y - previously part of the inventory drawn up by Chaudet on behalf of Gauguin) where AG referred to_Parau Na Te Varua ino_, as noted in the entry for the painting in the catalogue raisonné of Gauguin paintings 1891–1903 by the Wildenstein-Plattner Institute. The entry also gives detailed information about the consignments of the painting between the 1895 sale and its 1900 purchase by Vollard. See https://digitalprojects.wpi.art/gauguin/artworks/detail?title=parau%20na%20te%20varua&a=71635-parau-na-te-varua-ino. [2] As revealed by a letter dated 11 June 1906 from Vollard to the Prince de Wagram recording: ‘tableau en hauteur femme nue se cachant le sexe; derrière l’esprit du mal, 4000 francs’, one among a bulk purchase of six Tahitian canvases made by the Prince on 30 May 1906. MS 421. Cited by Suzanne Diffre and Marie-Josèphe Lesieur in ‘Gauguin dans les archives Vollard du musée d’Orsay,’ _Gauguin-Tahiti, L’Atelier des tropiques_, Paris, 2003: 353. [3] The painting was lent by Vollard to _Manet and the Post-Impressionists_, Grafton Galleries, London, 1910-1911, no. 43, as _L'Esprit du mal_, per Donald Gordon, _Modern Art Exhibitions: 1900-1916: Selected Catalogue Documentation_, Munich, 1976: 436. Vollard also lent the painting to the 1913 Armory show as _Spirit of Evil_ and offered it for sale there (see Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C.: Walt Kuhn Family Papers and Armory Show Records, 1.3 European Entry Cards and 1.4 Notes). [4] See the inventory list from the Rosenberg records, available at the Musée d’Orsay website under Fonds de la galerie Rosenberg. https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/node/199562. [5] Millet and Pluckett information according to Marie Harriman record, which indicate the title _Paroles du diable_ and inventory 1004. [6] According to Harriman collection records in NGA curatorial files.