A personification of the great blue ocean, Guayasamín represents this bare-breasted and wide-eyed beauty in a sensual manner; her hair blows in the wind and the waves, and her tan skin shimmers. The Indian woman also suggests the dual nature of the mysterious New World paradise. She is beautiful and exotic, with multi-colored eyes and small, high breasts, but she is also dangerous and unexplored. A Spanish flag floats somewhat ominously above her fingertips (which are raised in a welcoming gesture), and her gaze is fixed outward towards the viewer, hypnotizing and captivating him or her. Guayasamín's beautiful blue maiden exemplifies the picturesque and precarious ocean herself. As La Mar, the feminine sea, she nurtures and gives life. Yet, just like the sea, she can also take life away. Her ethereal, shadowy presence may foreshadow the loss of explorers, ships and treasure upon open waters during the many tumultuous and dangerous sea-voyages undertaken during the Age of Exploration.
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