In September 1901, Paul Gauguin embarked at Papeete on the steamship La Croix du Sud and arrived six days later at his last island, Hivaoa in the rugged Marquesas. Disillusioned by his lack of success in Tahiti, its modernization and narrow-minded colonialists, “the romantic savage” was still seeking the unspoiled paradise he had dreamed of for so long. Tragically, he was too late; both in health (he was ravaged by disease, frail from heart attacks and, finally, suff
