Rod Gilchirst follows in Paul Gauguin’s footsteps to the Marquesas.
“Remote was what Gauguin wanted. He arrived in Hiva Oa in 1901 on the steamer Croix de Sud, after six days’ sailing from Tahiti. He unloaded his canvases and trunks into a native canoe and was rowed ashore. He had conned the Catholic church into believing he’d repent his dissolute ways, so it agreed to sell him a 700-franc piece of beachfront. Here he built his studio out of bamboo and palm fronds, calling it Maison du Jouir, the house of pleasure — which kind of gave the game away. Beside the entrance he carved 'Be amorous and you will be happy'." – from “Gauguin in the Pacific,” by Rod Gilchrist, The Times