When the name of Paul Gauguin is called, before our eyes, first of all, numerous oceanic canvases appear with nature permeated with the heat of the sun, with tightly tailored Tahitians and Tahitians, as if their big, slightly awkward feet have grown into the hot earth. Why, then, in this earthly paradise, in which the artist's brush did not reveal a single dark spot, did his life end in poverty and grief? And what brought into this strange, fabulous world of the painter, whom we call French, despite the fact that almost his entire creative life was connected with the islands of Oceania? The answers to these questions can be given by the epistolary and literary heritage that remained after the death of the artist and which is a kind of commentary on his extensive work. These texts are the key to understanding both the complex creative path that Gauguin traveled and his personal life, full of storms and upheavals.

This edition includes selected letters from Gauguin to his wife, to artists (E. Bernard, M. Denn, D. de Montfred and others), to writers and musicians with whom he had friendly or business relations| as well as the autobiographical work "Noa Noa" and excerpts from the book "Before and After", written in Oceania shortly before the death of the artist, which are of a diary nature.