Charles Strickland - real person or fictional character

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Charles Strickland is a fictional character in Sommerset Maugham's novel Moon and Gross. In fact, the novel is a biography of the character. However, he had a real prototype - the famous French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin.

The beginning of the biography of the artist Charles Strickland

He is a man who was suddenly pierced by a deep love for art. Gaining courage, he abandoned everything that made him we althy and devoted himself to creativity.

Charles Strickland was a stockbroker. Of course, his income could not be called fabulous, but the earnings were enough for a comfortable existence. At first, he gave the impression of a very boring character, but one act turned everything upside down.

He left his family, quit his job and got a cheap room in a seedy hotel in Paris. He began to draw pictures and often take 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 to be a complete madman - he did not care how and on what his wife and children would live, what others would say about him, they would remainwhether friends with him. He did not even seek recognition in society. The only thing he understood was an irrepressible passion for art and the impossibility of his own existence without it.

After the divorce, he became a practically impoverished artist, living to improve his skills, surviving on rare earnings. Very often he did not even have enough money for food.

Strickland's character

Artist Charles Strickland was not recognized by other artists. Only one mediocre painter, Dirk Stroeve, saw talent in him. Once Charles fell ill, and Dirk let him into his house, despite the contempt with which the patient treated him.

Strickland was rather cynical and, noticing that Dirk's wife was admiring him, he seduced her only to paint a portrait.

By the time the nude portrait of Blanche was completed, Charles had recovered and left her. For her, parting became an unbearable test - Blanche committed suicide by drinking acid. However, Strickland was not a bit worried - he did not care about everything that happens outside of his paintings.

End of romance

After all the incidents, Charles Strickland continued to wander, but after some time he went to the island of Haiti, where he married a native and again completely immersed himself in drawing. There he caught 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).death).

The walls were covered with bizarre drawings, at the sight of which the heart sank and breathtaking. The painting reflected something mysterious, some secret that lurks in the depths of nature itself.

Paintings by the artist 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 after his death.

Paul Gauguin - the prototype of the hero of the novel

No wonder Maugham wrote a novel about a character so similar to Paul Gauguin. After all, the writer, like the artist, adored art. He bought many paintings for his collection. Among them were works by Gauguin.

The life of Charles Strickland largely repeats the events that happened to the French artist.

Gauguin's passion for exotic countries originated in early childhood, because until the age of 7 he lived with his mother in Peru. Perhaps this was the reason for his moving 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, met artists, was engaged in self-improvement and search for his own "I".

But unlike Strickland, Gauguin was still interested in some artists of his time. Some of them had a special influence on his work. Thus, notes of symbolism appeared in his painting. And from communication 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 Hiva-Oa, Gauguin marries a young islander and plunges into work: he paints pictures, writes stories and articles. There he picks up many diseases, among which there is leprosy. This is why he dies. But, despite all the difficulties, Gauguin painted his best paintings there.

He has seen a lot in his life. But he received recognition and fame only 3 years after his 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.