Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) left his job at the bank to devote himself to painting. From one day to the next, he had no income. His Danish wife soon left him, returning to Copenhagen with their five children. Worn down by financial worries, Gauguin decided to flee Western civilization. In 1891, at the age of 43, he left for Tahiti, where he hoped to find a paradise, begin a new life and reinvigorate his painting. The film looks back on in life in Tahiti and then in the Marquesas Islands, where Gauguin died in 1903. The painter's canvases are filmed outside, from reproductions, surrounded by flowers, leaves, sand, waves. In a voice-over, the painter recounts his life story, his loneliness, his poverty, his dreams, failures and misunderstood work, his proud yet painful life as a free man, an artist toiling in obscurity.
Directed by | Richard Dindo |