In this penetrating and daring biography of Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Nancy Mowll Mathews traces the themes of sex and violence through the artist’s life, from the near-murderous quarrels of his grandparents, to his abusive treatment of his wife, to his sexual encounters in French Polynesia in the 1890s. The book examines how Gauguin used these complex themes in his art and writings and how he carefully presented his erotic life” in the autobiographical treatises “”Noa Noa”” (1893) and “”Avant et Aprà s”” (1903). The central drama of Gauguin’s adulthood–his marriage to Mette Gad Gauguin–is assessed in detail