GAUGUIN (TASCHEN BA)

After starting a career as a bank broker, Paul Gauguin (1848 1903) turned to painting only at age twenty-five. After initial successes within the Impressionist circle, he broke with Vincent van Gogh and embarked on a peripatetic life, ending up in Tahiti. In pictures devoid of any attempt at romantically disguising the lifestyle of the island peoples, Gauguin was able to convey the magical effect that both the landscapes and life of the natives their body language, charm and beauty had on him.