Gauguin was one of the great egotists, a really tough, self centred and self reliant man - in his early years as a sailor, for instance, he became known for his ability to look after himself with his fists. His decision to abandon a reasonably sound Stock Exchange career for art brought a break with his Danish wife and virtual separation from his family, and later he suffered the loss of his favourite daughter. The final years in the South Seas were probably as much an effort to escape from his shadowed past as they were a quest to find new themes and approaches for his painting. Few people actually liked Gauguin, it seems, but he was certainly "for real", and this considered, unacademic biography does him justice.