Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) was not cut out for finance. Nor did he stay long in the French naval service or as a tarpaulin salesman in Copenhagen, where he did not speak Danish. He began painting in his spare time in 1873 and participated in the Paris Salon in 1876. Three years later, he exhibited alongside Pissarro, Degas, and Monet. A grumpy and hardcore man, Gauguin often called himself a "savage." His close but tense friendship with the similarly temperamental Vincent van Gogh culminated in a violent incident in 1888, when van Gogh allegedly chased Gauguin with a razor and later cut off his own ear. Shortly thereafter, after completing a mid-career masterpiece, "Vision After the Sermon" (1888), Gauguin went to Tahiti with the intention of escaping "everything that is artificial and conventional..." In Tahiti, his uninhibited joy for the island's nature, locals, and figurative images soared, driving a rich production of paintings and prints. In works like "Woman with a Flower" (Vahine no te Tiare, 1891) and "Sacred Spring, Sweet Dreams" (Nave Nave Moe, 1894), he developed a distinct, Primitivist style that dripped with sunlight and color. In the tradition of exotic sensuality, the thick, buttery surfaces vividly dominated the curves of Tahitian women. Gauguin died alone, in the neighboring Marquesas Islands of Tahiti, with many of his personal papers and possessions scattered in a local auction. It wasn't until a savvy art dealer began curating and exhibiting Gauguin's work in Paris that the artist's profound influence began to be felt, especially among young French iconoclasts like Picasso and Matisse. This book offers the essential introduction to the artist's life, from the Impressionist salons of Paris in the 1870s to his final days in the Pacific, prolific and passionate until the end.