Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin's legend as a transgressive genius arises as much from his aesthetically daring Polynesian paintings as from his biography. But as Sue Prideaux reveals in this gorgeously illustrated, myth-busting work, although Gauguin was a complicated man, his scandalous reputation is largely undeserved. Self-taught, he became a towering artist in his brief life, not just in painting but in ceramics and woodcuts. He fled the bustle of Paris for the beauty of Tahiti, where he lived simply and worked consistently to expose the tragic results of French colonialism. His unconventional career and bold, breathtaking art influenced Van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso. Through new primary research, Prideaux upends much of what we thought we knew about Gauguin, including the pernicious myth of his syphilis, and illuminates the extraordinary oeuvre of a visionary artist vital to the French avant-garde.