As a painter, designer, sculptor, and also a collector of art, Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was the leader of the Pont-Aven school, and one of the most important post-impressionist painters. Trained in painting by Camille Pissarro, he developed a novel approach to the expression of shapes and colours. His aesthetic researches took him to Brittany before luring him to the Pacific isles on a quest for a lost paradise and a wild nature. His influence on modern painting was to be decisive.