Charles Strickland is a fictional character in Sommerset Maugham’s novel, The Moon and the Penny. In fact, the novel is a character biography. However, he had a real prototype - the famous French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin.
Beginning of biography of artist Charles Strickland
This is a man who suddenly pierced a deep love of art. Gaining courage, he gave up everything that made him wealthy, and surrendered to creativity.
Charles Strickland was a stockbroker. Of course, his income could not be called fabulous, but earnings were enough for a comfortable life. At first, he made an impression of a very boring character, but one act turned everything upside down.
He left his family, left work and rented a cheap room in a seedy hotel in Paris. He began to paint pictures and often applied to absinthe. Unexpectedly for everyone, he turned out to be a crazy creator who was not interested in anything but his own painting.
Charles Strickland seemed completely insane - he did not care how and what his wife and children would live, what others would say about him, whether they would remain friends with him. He did not even seek recognition in society. The only thing he understood was an unstoppable passion for art and the impossibility of his own existence without him.
After the divorce, he became an almost impoverished artist, living for the sake of improving his skills, interrupted by rare earnings. Very often he did not have enough money even for food.
Strickland character
Artist Charles Strickland was not recognized by other artists. Only one mediocre painter Dirk Strev saw talent in him. One day, Charles fell ill, and Dirk let him into his house, despite the contempt he treated him.
Strickland was rather cynical and, noticing that Dirk’s wife admired him, seduced her only to paint a portrait.
By the time the nude Blanche portrait was completed, Charles recovered and left her. For her, parting was an unbearable test - Blanche committed suicide by drinking acid. However, Strickland was not a bit excited - he did not care about everything that was happening outside of his paintings.
The end of the novel
After all the incidents, Charles Strickland continued to wander, but after some time he went to the island of Haiti, where he took a native as his wife and again completely immersed in drawing. There he seized leprosy and died.
But shortly before his death, he created, perhaps, the main masterpiece. From floor to ceiling, he painted the walls of the hut (which was bequeathed to be burned after his death).
The walls were covered with bizarre drawings, upon looking at which the heartbeat and breathtaking. The painting reflected something mysterious, some secret that lurks in the depths of nature itself.
The paintings of Charles Strickland could have remained unknown and unrecognized works of art. But one critic wrote an article about him, after which Strickland received recognition, but only after death.
Paul Gauguin - prototype of the hero of the novel
It is not surprising that Maugham wrote a novel about a character so similar to Paul Gauguin. After all, the writer, like the artist, adored art. He bought up a lot of paintings for his collection. Among them were the works of Gauguin.
The life of Charles Strickland largely repeats the events that happened with the French artist.
Gauguin's passion for exotic countries originated in early childhood, because until 7 years he lived with his mother in Peru. Perhaps this was the reason for his move to Tahiti towards the end of his life.
Paul Gauguin, like the character of the novel, left his wife and five children for the sake of painting. After that, he traveled a lot, got acquainted with artists, was engaged in self-improvement and the search for his own "I".
But unlike Strickland, Gauguin nevertheless interested some artists of his time. Some of them had a special influence on his work. So, notes of symbolism appeared in his painting. And from communicating with Laval, Japanese motifs became noticeable in his works. For a while he lived with Van Gogh, but it all ended in a quarrel.
On his last trip to the island of Khiva-Oa, Gauguin marries a young islander and immerses herself in work: she paints, writes stories and articles. There he picks up many diseases, among which there is leprosy. From this he dies. But, despite all the difficulties, Gauguin painted his best paintings there.
During his life he managed to see a lot. But recognition and fame received only 3 years after death. His work had a significant impact on art. And until now, his paintings are recognized as one of the most expensive masterpieces of world art.