George-Daniel de Monfreid

Much of what we know about Paul Gauguin's last years comes from the letters he sent to one friend in France, George-Daniel de Monfreid. While Gauguin was in Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands, Monfreid, a painter and collector, looked after his affairs in Paris, receiving canvases, dealing with buyers and sending money. The letters were published in 1918, introduced by a tribute from the writer Victor Segalen.

Segalen was a French naval doctor who reached Polynesia shortly after Gauguin's death in 1903 and bought works at the sale of his belongings. Back in France he became close to Monfreid, who painted portraits of him and of his wife Yvonne. The portrait of Segalen has recently entered the Musée d'Orsay. Monfreid's son Henry became well known in his own right as an adventurer and writer on the Red Sea.