Paul Gauguin was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose work made a lasting impact on 20th-century art. Employing a palette of both naturalistic and bright colors, Gauguin structured his works with Symbolist imagery, flat patterns, and modeled volumes like those of Paul Cézanne. “Don't paint too much directly from nature. Art is an abstraction,” he once proclaimed. “Study nature then brood on it and treasure the creation which will result, which is the only way to ascend towards God.” Born on June 7, 1848 in Paris, France, at the age of three he and his family moved to Lima, Peru only to return to France four years later. The young Gauguin worked as a stockbroker in Paris before embarking on a career...