Paul Gauguin is a controversial figure in the world of art, called by some a genius, by others a charlatan. According to art critic Peter Schjeldahl in the New Yorker, Gauguin "was not nice." He was a "liar and a braggart, a competitive manipulator of weaker men [such as artist Vincent van Gogh], and a self-pitying wife beater who lusted after pubescent girls." Worse yet, in Schjeldahl's eyes, Gauguin's "paintings are advertisements for himself," less "self-expression" than "a means of disguise." For this critic, "Gauguin's art dazzles, but it cannot be trusted," for it was consciously attuned to the effects it was having in the Parisian art world of the painter's day. However, even for a critic as disapproving as Schjeldahl, there is importance to be found in the artist: "Gauguin was a transitional figure between van Gogh, the last great painter of a whole world...