Paul Gauguin

Gauguin was a successful stockbroker who painted as a hobby. After the stock market crash of 1882 he gave up his career, and eventually his family, to devote himself to art.

He spent two months with Van Gogh in Arles, an episode that ended with Van Gogh cutting his ear. From 1891 he lived in French Polynesia, seeking a “primitive” world untouched by civilisation and painting in flat, intense colour; he died in the Marquesas Islands. His exploitation of young local girls remains the subject of strong criticism today.