One of the key paradoxes concerning Paul Gauguin is the fact that he was both a profound individualist and at the same time the founder of an artistic school. For the young artists collectively known as the Nabis, Gauguin's personal version of Symbolism became the canonical route to modern art. The book, which accompanies an exhibition at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemsiza, reveals this double facet of the artist and his legacy through a series of successive encounters between Gauguin and his masters, his contemporaries and his pupils.