Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux

A TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2025WINNER OF THE POL ROGER DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2025SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024WINNER OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY LITERARY AWARD 2024

A vital re-examination of the trailblazing and controversial artist Paul Gauguin - and the first full biography in over thirty years - written by the award-winning author of I Am Dynamite!: A Life of Nietzsche. 'Scintillating.' FINANCIAL TIMES'Immaculate.' NEW STATESMAN'Phenomenal.' PROSPECT'A heroic rehabilitation.' THE TIMESPaul Gauguin is chiefly known as the giant of post-Impressionist painting whose bold colours and compositions rocked the Western art world. It is less well known that he was a stockbroker in Paris and that after the 1882 financial crash he struggled to sustain his artistry, and worked as a tarpaulin salesman in Copenhagen, a canal digger in Panama City, and a journalist exposing the injustices of French colonial rule in Tahiti.

In Wild Thing, the award-winning biographer Sue Prideaux re-examines the adventurous and complicated life of the artist. She illuminates the people, places and ideas that shaped his vision: his privileged upbringing in Peru and rebellious youth in France; the galvanising energy of the Paris art scene; meeting Mette, the woman who he would marry; formative encounters with Vincent van Gogh and August Strindberg; and the ceaseless draw of French Polynesia. Prideaux conjures Gauguin's visual exuberance, his creative epiphanies, his fierce words and his flaws with acuity and sensitivity.

Drawing from a wealth of new material and access to the artist's family, this myth-busting work invites us to see Gauguin anew.

Format: Paperback / softback 432 pages
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Edition: Main
ISBN: 9780571365944
Published: 5 Jun 2025
Classifications: Art & design styles: Impressionism & Post-Impressionism, Painting & paintings, Individual artists, art monographs, Biography: arts & entertainment
Weight: 404g
Dimensions: 128 x 198 x 38 (mm)
Pub. Country: United Kingdom
Country of Origin: GB