The Moon and Six Pence

The third full length novel of British writer Maugham "The Moon and Six Pence" was the reflection of the

story of painter Paul Gauguin.

The moon and six pence are like the contrast of noble and humble. Moon, is the extreme lofty spirit of pursuing art. Six pence, is the life goal of pursuing fortune as happiness.

Gauguin chose the moon in the sky, what about you? Do you select the moon or six pence?

The 35 years old Gauguin was a high-paid stockbroker and married to a wealthy Danish wife and already the father of three children. But when his fourth child to be born, he suddenly announced that he quit the enviable job. He went to the Tahiti later and lived a life like savages. He completely crushed a happy and tuneful family.
Why did he make so egregious acts which were so uncommon sense?

Paris was like a desert to him, the thing he wanted to do mostly was escape when he looked at the moon in the farfetched sky. He wanted to get rid of the influences of civilization and looking for the simplest art. Tahiti was the ideal Peach Garden in his mind. He decided to travel in distant parts and returned to the unspoiled nature.
However, when Gauguin chose "moon", he paid a terrible price - breaking with his wife and children. The fates of his works were also miserable before he became famous.

It turned out that, Gauguin was invited to a studio to study painting by his colleagues by chance. He held the attitude for fun at first, but was selected due to the participation of salon and met the Impressionists by Pissarro. He was aware that the inner painting talents were calling him, he was desire to devote his whole life to art.

Gauguin used to live in a hostel in England when he had no fame at that time. When he decided to leave, he gave four oil paintings as gifts to the boss of the hotel to express his gratitude.

A few years later, a collector came to the town to purchase paintings. When he came into the hotel, he accidentally discovered that the doormats on the door turned out to be the four paintings of great painter Gauguin. These pictures were unable to be restored to their original appearances because of the tramples of numerous people.

When collectors were very painful when they found the wood carvings were reduced to protect the pigs and became deformational and decayed when they came to the island to seek for his posthumous.

Gauguin lived in a island named Tabuti in his later years. He once gave a number of woodcut goods to his friend. His friend did not know about whether they were art or not, what he thought was what would they be used on earth. And finally he found out "These would be very durable to nail a pigsty."