“This is the book on Gauguin we have always needed—that Gauguin himself has needed—to do justice to the range of the artist’s mind and his creative vision. Gauguin was as adept with words as with images, so the pairing of Gamboni and Gauguin is a particularly fruitful one. Gamboni matches Gauguin’s range, introducing, as he passes from one aspect of Gauguin’s creative thought to another, relevant matters of cultural anthropology, perceptual psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and theology. Gamboni’s writing matches his topic, which makes it all the more engaging and important, not only as prose, but as thought.”