GAUGUIN

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was not cut out for finance. He didn't last long in the French navy either, or as a tent salesman in Copenhagen because he couldn't speak Danish. He began painting in his spare time in 1873, and in 1876 he participated in the Paris Salon. Three years later, he exhibited alongside Pissarro, Degas and Monet.

Intense and a heavy drinker, Gauguin used to describe himself as "savage". His close but troubled friendship with the equally temperamental Vincent Van Gogh climaxed with a violent incident in 1888, when Van Gogh reportedly confronted Gauguin with a razor and later cut off his ear. Shortly thereafter, after completing one of his masterpieces, The Vision After the Sermon (1888), Gauguin moved to Tahiti with the intention of escaping "everything artificial and conventional" in the world.

The boundless joy that Gauguin found in Tahitian nature, in the island's people, and in figurative imagery permeated a prolific output of paintings and prints. In works such as Girl with a Flower (Vahine no te Tiare, 1891) and Sweet Dreams (Nave Nave Moe, 1894) he developed a distinct, primitivist style that distilled sun and color. True to an exotic sensuality, his brushstrokes concentrated especially on the curves of Tahitian women.

Gauguin died alone in another corner of French Polynesia, in the Marquesas Islands, and many of his documents and personal belongings disappeared at local auctions. His great influence on art, especially on members of the new generation of the French avant-garde like Picasso and Matisse, did not begin to be fully appreciated until a savvy art dealer began showing Gauguin's work in Paris. This essential introduction to the artist uncovers his colorful world, from the Impressionist salons of 1870s Paris to his last days in the Pacific, a productive and passionate life to the end.