Gauguin: A Dangerous Life

Gauguin: A Dangerous Life

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Paul Gauguin's vivid depictions of Pacific Island landscapes and exotic women provide a glimpse into a world few could experience in his time. However, beneath his celebrated paintings lies a life as shocking today as it was then.

Dominic West narrates Gauguin's own words, offering frank confessions in a film that both honors the artist's accomplishments and confronts his sexual exploitation of young Indigenous girls and his complicity in 19th-century French colonialism.

Filmed in France, New Zealand, Tahiti, the Marquesas Islands, and the UK, this documentary features insights from Gauguin’s descendants — great-granddaughter Mette Gauguin and Tahitian grandson Marcel Tai Gauguin — alongside commentary from art historians and contemporary artists Kehinde Wiley, Tai Shan Schierenberg, and Tyla Vaeau. Through a diverse range of perspectives, both critical and compassionate, the film presents a 21st-century analysis of this 19th-century enigma.

Cast & Crew

(Director), Dominic West (Voice of Paul Gauguin), Kehinde Wiley (Self), Marcel Tai Gauguin (Self), Mette Gauguin (Self), Tai Shan Schierenberg (Self), Tyla Vaeau (Self)

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