A staid, dull Englishman abruptly abandons his middle-class life, his family, and his duties to become a painter in the South Seas. Loosely inspired by Paul Gauguin's life, this is the story of Charles Strickland, a stock broker who, to follow his dream of becoming a painter, leaves his life behind and he becomes an awful human being, wholly devoted to his ideal: beauty. By W. Somerset Maugham.