Punaauia is a commune in the suburbs of Papeete in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. Punaauia is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands, themselves part of the Society Islands. In the late 1890s, the French painter Paul Gauguin lived in Punaauia. Here he painted his masterpiece, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?. The commune borders Faaa on the north and Paea on the south.