Wild Thing

<p><b>A <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i>, <i>TIMES</i>, <i>DAILY TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, ECONOMIST</i>, <i>NEW STATESMAN </i>AND <i>TLS </i>BOOK OF THE YEAR</b><br><br><b>LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2025<br>WINNER OF THE POL ROGER DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2025<br></b><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024</b><br><b>WINNER THE AMERICAN LIBRARY IN PARIS BOOK AWARD 2025<br></b><b>WINNER OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY LITERARY AWARD 2024<br></b><br><b>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 </b><i>I Am Dynamite!: A Life of Nietzsche</i><b>.<br></b><br><b>'Scintillating.' </b><i>FINANCIAL TIMES<br></i><b>'Immaculate.' </b><i>NEW STATESMAN</i><br><b>'Phenomenal.' </b><i>PROSPECT<br></i><b>'A heroic rehabilitation.' </b><i>THE TIMES</i><br><br>Paul 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.<br><br>In <i>Wild Thing</i>, 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.<br><br>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.</p>