The story of a former stockbroker who traded the hustle and bustle of city life for the imagined tranquility of tropical islands serves as a precursor to downshifting—a conscious rejection of imposed values and a simplification of life in pursuit of inner harmony. Yet, the balance of gains and losses for someone who chose risk over compromise would have benefited from a timely warning: “The grass is always greener on the other side.”
In Search of Paradise
Paul Gauguin was born on June 7, 1848, in Paris, and by the age of one, he had lost both his father and his homeland. In 1849, Clovis Gauguin, a journalist in the political chronicle section, was forced to flee the French capital with his family for safety. A vulnerable radical republican, shaken by the failure of an anti-monarchist coup and unafraid to express his views in the pages of the magazine “National,” he set sail with his infant son and wife, Aline-Marie (whose mother, Flora Tristan, shared the ideals of utopian socialism), back to his wife’s Creole homeland in Peru. However, the 35-year-old head of the family never reached South America, dying of a heart attack on the ship en route to a new life.
Portrait of Paul Gauguin’s mother
Until the age of seven, Paul Gauguin lived in Peru, raised by his wealthy maternal relatives. The carefree life in his uncle’s estate in Lima left a lasting impression, filled with vivid images of colorful national attire, year-round sunshine, and the exotic southern landscape that he always longed to return to. His childhood experiences of a “paradise on earth without problems” fueled his all-consuming love for the tropics and an insatiable thirst for travel. Returning to France in 1855 with his mother to claim an inheritance from his father’s side, Paul settled in his grandfather’s house in Orléans and began preparing for a maritime academy. Unable to pass the entrance exam, the 15-year-old teenager took a job as an apprentice pilot. For seven years, he sailed the seas, visiting various corners of the globe—from the northern seas and the Mediterranean to South America and India.
The Law of Survival
The adventure-seeker returned home only to learn of his mother’s death during his travels. In her will, Aline-Marie advised her son to build a career to avoid being helpless without outside support. However, Paul had someone to support him. Thanks to a recommendation from his mother’s friend, Gustave Arosa (a stock trader, photographer, and art collector), Gauguin secured a position as a stockbroker in Paris in 1872 and married a young Danish woman he met through the same mentor within a year.
“The Garden in Vahine” (The Artist’s Family in the Garden on Carcel Street), 1881
Over the next decade, Mette-Sophie Gad bore Gauguin five children, while their father, influenced by his mentor Arosa, discovered an interest in visual arts and developed his long-hidden talent for painting. The broker set up an art studio, and his income as a successful financier was supplemented by the sale of his own paintings.
Everything was fine as long as he could afford to support his large family and pay for comfortable housing. But when he lost his lucrative job, Paul Gauguin faced a new reality: creativity and talent alone could not sustain the former standard of living. Aside from his artist friends—Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro—Gauguin’s early works attracted little interest. In 1884, the family had to leave Paris for the equally expensive Copenhagen. However, expecting support from his wife’s relatives proved to be a mistake. Witnessing the breadwinner’s inability to provide, Mette’s Danish family began to pressure her to divorce the failure. “I know what cold and hunger are,” Paul Gauguin recalled from that time. “You get used to poverty. But the worst part is that it hinders your work. The constant struggle for a piece of bread in the capital cities drains your energy and leaves your mind with no room to maneuver.”
Gauguin with his wife Mette in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1885
Not for Fame
Disturbed by family discord, in 1885, the artist fled from scandals and accusations first to Paris, and in the following years to Brittany (Pont-Aven), the island of Martinique in the Caribbean, Panama, and Arles. A historical quarrel in the southern French town with fellow artist Vincent van Gogh, during which Van Gogh, in a fit of madness, chased Gauguin with a knife and ended up in the hospital with a severed ear, prompted Gauguin to label civilization as a “disease” and escape to the tropics: at that time, France’s colonial possessions had expanded into Oceania. Learning that the French government would cover the cost of travel to the Pacific Polynesia, where local pearls were in demand among Europeans, Paul Gauguin decided to make a radical change in his life.
Vincent van Gogh, 1888
The notion of carefree tropical tribes, who supposedly did not know hard work because they had no need to earn for housing, clothing, and food, spurred the easy-going traveler to relocate. Eternal summer rendered the necessities that Europeans sought unnecessary, while breadfruit and bananas fell from the sky for the natives.
The artist also considered a special bonus for painters—dream models: beautiful, carefree, and accessible Tahitian women stirred the imagination of the Frenchman with hot Creole blood. “I intend to forget my miserable past and go where I can live without money,” Gauguin told Danish artist Wilhelm. “I will paint at will, not on commission and not for fame.” In his quest to “merge with nature,” Paul traveled to Tahiti in 1891 and settled in Papeete, where he produced 80 works over the course of a year.
Who, Where, and Where to
After a brief visit to France due to lack of funds and illness, in 1895, the artist left for Oceania for good. He had no intention of returning home. His wife and children remained in Europe. In Tahiti, the artist found a new woman: a minor model named Tehura bore him a son. This marital connection was not the only one. The amorous artist easily formed and dissolved relationships with young beauties who became his models. He also depicted port prostitutes waving medical certificates like fans when ships arrived (the title of Gauguin’s painting “Tématete” translates to “Market”). The troublemaker built himself a home on the quiet islands called Maison du Jouir (figuratively translated as “Palace of Ecstasy”). The artist’s residence was guarded by a dog named Penis.
“Tématete” (“Market”), 1892
The active European supported social protests of the natives and defended their rights in conflicts with local authorities. The artist was taken to court, fined, and even threatened with three months in prison. In 1901, Paul Gauguin moved alone to the island of Hiva Oa (Marquesas), where, following in his father’s footsteps, he worked as a journalist, wrote stories, and created picturesque canvases. Despite poverty, depression, and a host of illnesses (the result of syphilis, which caused painful sores that the artist dulled with morphine), he produced his best creative legacy there. After completing the work “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” Paul Gauguin ingested arsenic, but the suicide attempt failed: he was saved by a vomiting fit from an overdose.
“Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”, 1897
Posthumous Fame
The effects of the poisoning shortened the artist’s life: Paul Gauguin died in Atuona on May 8, 1903, at the age of 55. A heart attack was triggered by another dose of morphine, an empty ampoule of which lay beside his bed. The artist’s grave remained in Polynesia, while his works made their way to Europe, paving the way for his colleagues into symbolism and modernism. An exhibition in 1906 of 227 paintings by Paul Gauguin in Paris secured posthumous fame for the painter, sculptor, and ceramist. In total, he managed to leave humanity with 517 artistic works.
Gauguin’s grave in Atuona
Paul Gauguin’s biography inspired writer Somerset Maugham to pen the novel “The Moon and Sixpence,” while contemporary filmmakers dedicated films to the artist, who lived in poverty throughout his life, such as “The Found Paradise” and “The Savage” (“Journey to Tahiti”). And although the most famous relocation from Paris to Tahiti did not bring the adventurer either health or wealth, his extraordinary experiences influenced the subsequent appreciation of his work. Gauguin’s painting from his Tahitian period, “When Is the Wedding?” was sold by Swiss collector Rudolf Staehelin to a Qatari collector for nearly $300 million.