

Gauguin’s vivid artworks sell for millions. He was an inspired and committed multi-media artist who worked with the Impressionists and had a tempestuous relationship with Vincent van Gogh. But he was also a competitive and rapacious man who left his wife to bring up five children and used his colonial privilege to travel to Polynesia, where in his 40s he took ‘wives’ between 13 and 15 years old, creating images of them and their world that promoted a fantasy paradise of an unspoilt Eden in the Pacific. Later, he challenged the colonial authorities and the Catholic Church in defence of the indigenous people, dying in the Marquesas Islands in 1903, sick, impoverished and alone.

Dominic West
Voice of Paul Gauguin
LeadMarcel Tai Gauguin
—
Mette Gauguin
—

Tai Shan Schierenberg
—
Tyla Vaeau
—
Kehinde Wiley
—

Paul Gauguin
Self (archive footage)
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Patricia Wheatley's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
“Every frame feels alive. Gauguin: A Dangerous Life is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”