This novel is inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin. It is the story of Charles Strickland, a conventional London stockbroker who abandons wife and children for Paris, Tahiti and his passion for painting. While his denial of family, duty, honor and orthodox morality gives him the freedom to achieve greatness, his enslavement to the more powerful bondage of his art deepens. The Moon and Sixpence is at once a satiric caricature of Edwardian mores and a vivid portrayal of the mentality of genius.