The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham

THE MOON AND SIXPENCE is loosely based on the life of the painter Paul Gauguin. The story is told as a series of glimpses into the life of Charles Strickland, a middle-aged English stock broker who abandons his wife and children in order to pursue a life as a painter first in Paris, and eventually, Tahiti. His magnum opus is painted on the walls of hut in Tahiti, which is burned down by his native wife after his death.