Calls for greater racial sensitivity and honest interpretations of art suitable for young patrons came after Paul Gauguin’s painting “Spirit of the Dead Watching” was included in the multi-gallery show. The painting depicted a 13-year-old Tahitian girl named Teha’amana, who Gauguin took as his wife, naked on a bed. Gauguin was 44 years old. In June 2020, former DIA digital experience designer Andrea Montiel de Shuman, a Mexican woman, published an essay online announcing her resignation, citing “Spirit of the Dead Watching” as an example of the museum’s sub-par engagement with nonwhite audiences. Montiel de Shuman claimed the artworks’ label did not address that the artist sexually abused her, gave her syphilis, and colonized her home. Montiel de Shuman, in an email to the Detroit Free Press, said “asked how the DIA was preparing front-line staff to handle conversations around power dynamics, colonial abuse, and sexual assault - particularly of minors.” The museum did not publicly respond to Montiel de Shuman’s resignation, only releasing a general statement that they “[do not make media statements regarding individual employment matters.”