Moon and Sixpence

(1919)

This is the story of Charles Strickland, a London Stockbroker who takes up painting and gives up his comfortable yet tedious existence for a life of poverty in Paris where he devotes his life to the pursuit of art. His family are devastated by his desertion and persuade the narrator of the story to go to Paris and talk him into returning home but when he arrives in Paris, Strickland has left to paint in the South of France. By the time the narrator arrives there, he finds that the artist has set sail for the South Sea islands. Much of the story is told in flashback by the various characters that have interacted with Strickland and who relate their experiences of the painter to the narrator. Eventually, the narrator tracks him down to Tahiti but arrives just as the man has died in appalling poverty leaving nothing behind but a grieving native woman and works of art painted on the walls of the hut in which he lived. After his death he is recognised as a great artist whose works are considered priceless. Based on the life of French Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gaugin (1848-1903) The Moon and Sixpence is a moving portrayal of a man who had no choice but to follow his calling to the bitter end. ~Submitted by Brian Bean.

Fan of this book? Help us introduce it to others by writing a better introduction for it. It's quick and easy, click here.

• Related Links:

  • Quizzes on Moon and Sixpence

    No quizzes available to take yet.

  Please submit a quiz here.

Recent Forum Posts on Moon and Sixpence

Post a New Comment/Question on Moon and Sixpence