Born in Paris in 1848, Gauguin spent a substantial part of his childhood in Peru before joining the merchant marine in his late teens and traveling around the Southern hemisphere. A taste for colorful exotic places acquired during these formative years would become characteristic of his painting. While Gauguin's work initially followed that of his Impressionist contemporaries, he would later radically break away from this style, to become a figure-head of Symbolism, a movement aiming to give visual expression to the mystical and occult. Gauguin's originality in being one of the first to seek inspiration in the arts of ancient or primitive peoples, as well as his extraordinary influence and role as precursor of artistic movements such as Fauvism and Nabism, are now undisputed. Yet during his lifetime he was plagued by both poverty and illness, and few would have seconded his own self-assessment: I am a great artist and I know it. It is because I am that I have endured such suffering. Illustrated in full color throughout, this informative and entertaining reference book pays tribute to one of the greatest post-impressionist painters.