Paul Gauguin was a successful Parisian stockbroker with a Danish wife, five children, and an income equivalent to about $145,000 a year when the 1882 market crash wiped him out and he committed to painting full time. This episode traces the life behind that decision: a luxurious early childhood among Peruvian aristocrats, the fall back to poverty in France, a failed stint selling tarpaulins in Copenhagen, canal-digging in Panama, dysentery in Martinique, and the nine explosive weeks with Vincent van Gogh in Arles.

We break down how Gauguin's Synthetism replaced Impressionist light with flat pure color and heavy outlines, why he fled to Tahiti in 1891 chasing a paradise that no longer existed, and how he embellished his travelogue Noa Noa to sell an exotic brand back in Paris. We also address the controversies over his conduct with a 13-year ...