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Wild Thing
A Life of Paul Gauguin
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Brief Description
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'Scintillating.' FINANCIAL TIMES'Immaculate.'...
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See moreA vital re-examination of the trailblazing and controversial artist Paul Gauguin, by the prize-winning author of I Am Dynamite!
A vital re-examination of the trailblazing and controversial artist Paul Gauguin, by the prize-winning author of I Am Dynamite!
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Description
A TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2025
WINNER OF THE POL ROGER DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024
WINNER OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY LITERARY AWARD 2024
'Scintillating.' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Immaculate.' NEW STATESMAN
'Phenomenal.' PROSPECT
'A heroic rehabilitation.' THE TIMES
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.
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.
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2025
WINNER OF THE POL ROGER DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024
WINNER OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY LITERARY AWARD 2024
'Scintillating.' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Immaculate.' NEW STATESMAN
'Phenomenal.' PROSPECT
'A heroic rehabilitation.' THE TIMES
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.
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.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780571365944
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 05 June 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Edition: Main
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 432
About the Author
Sue Prideaux's first biography Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream (2005) won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Strindberg: A Life (2012) won the Duff Cooper Prize and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. I Am Dynamite!: A Life of Friedrich Nietzsche (2018) was awarded the Hawthornden Prize and was The Times Biography of the Year.
Also by Sue Prideaux
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The Times Biography of the Year Longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2019 'A strikingly original portrait of Nietzsche and beautifully written.' Antony Beevor 'Outstanding.' The Sunday Times 'A revelation.' Guardian 'Riveting.' New Statesman Friedrich Nietzsche's work rocked the foundation of Western thinking, and continues to permeate our culture, high and low - yet he is one of history's most...PaperbackSold Out -
Wild Thing
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 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. Gorgeously illustrated with 70 full-colour images 'Scintillating.' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Immaculate.' NEW...HardbackSold Out
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