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Vincent van Gogh: A Life in Letters
A remarkable selection covering all aspects of Vincent van Gogh’s life and offering valuable new insights into the creative process behind his many famous works. This captivating collection of Vincent van Gogh’s letters opens a window into the mind of one of history’s greatest artists. Giving rare insight into his complicated relationships with family, friends, and other fellow artists, the letters describe his personal doubts, fears, and above all his overriding passion for his art. Introductions by the letters editors from the Van Gogh Museum highlight the most recent discoveries and theories surrounding Van Gogh’s work and personal history. Illustrated with original manuscript letters, sketches, paintings, and photographs of correspondents, this book brings Van Gogh’s story and work to life. Vincent van A Life in Letters is a valuable personal introduction to the artist’s life and work, with illuminating commentaries by experts on the subject. 85 illustrations
432 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2020
247 people are currently reading
1153 people want to read
About the author
Vincent van Gogh
681 books2,301 followersVincent Willem van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885). In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. In a fit of epilepsy, van Gogh pursued his friend with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. In a fit of epilepsy, van Gogh pursued his friend with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
February 17, 2021
The obsession of wanting to describe what his eyes are seeing like there is something no one else can see.
He has spent so much time observing nature.
He sees the universe bounding together, the feelings blending into shapes and colors.
Loneliness.
His writing screams frustration. He kept painting, as it was the only thing in this world he felt he could control and make a difference.
That green, that yellow, that blue. The halo around the beauty of the simple things that no one can still see.
The mind. He feels sad, miserable, and digs into it. Looking for stronger feelings, the ones that move his engine. His tendency to not accept things he can’t control. He could never control other people. So many ‘If she/he only were..’. The self-destructive behavior to blame the universe seems so flamboyant, and yet so human. There is a small Vincent in all of us.
The brotherhood reciprocated with Theo, his young brother. When nothing seems to go right, it is still there. When words become harsh, Theo is still there, in all the possible ways: he supports him financially, physically. It seems to be the only stable thing in Vincent’s life.
Letters are one direction: Vincent did not collect Theo's replies until the very end; making the read even more fascinating.
What was Theo getting out of his support?
He has spent so much time observing nature.
He sees the universe bounding together, the feelings blending into shapes and colors.
Loneliness.
His writing screams frustration. He kept painting, as it was the only thing in this world he felt he could control and make a difference.
That green, that yellow, that blue. The halo around the beauty of the simple things that no one can still see.
The mind. He feels sad, miserable, and digs into it. Looking for stronger feelings, the ones that move his engine. His tendency to not accept things he can’t control. He could never control other people. So many ‘If she/he only were..’. The self-destructive behavior to blame the universe seems so flamboyant, and yet so human. There is a small Vincent in all of us.
The brotherhood reciprocated with Theo, his young brother. When nothing seems to go right, it is still there. When words become harsh, Theo is still there, in all the possible ways: he supports him financially, physically. It seems to be the only stable thing in Vincent’s life.
Letters are one direction: Vincent did not collect Theo's replies until the very end; making the read even more fascinating.
What was Theo getting out of his support?
January 2, 2021
Simply wonderful. This collection gathers a small number of the numerous letters Vincent Van Gogh wrote during his lifetime (at least 900 alone) and contextualizes them with the events taking place around Van Gogh, as well as the personal tragedies, triumphs, and minutiae of his life. Rather than a kitsch collection of quotations Nienke Baker assembles these letters so that the reader is able to see Van Gogh as a man who driven to accomplish something through his paintings and contribute something meaningful to the tradition of painting. And along with this, the reader is afforded to see how the relationship between Vincent and his brother Theo was so important to his perception of self.
For me what was most inspiring was observing the way Van Gogh was always driven by his desire for expression and the craft of painting. As an aspiring artist myself it was beautiful to see Van Gogh discussing his doubts, his joys, and his ideas about painting and in the same letters seeing him address the events of his days or his desire to make his family proud. This collection showed me the humanity of Van Gogh rather than just his aesthetic. I can't wait to read the entirety of his letters.
For me what was most inspiring was observing the way Van Gogh was always driven by his desire for expression and the craft of painting. As an aspiring artist myself it was beautiful to see Van Gogh discussing his doubts, his joys, and his ideas about painting and in the same letters seeing him address the events of his days or his desire to make his family proud. This collection showed me the humanity of Van Gogh rather than just his aesthetic. I can't wait to read the entirety of his letters.
February 29, 2024
I absolutely loved this collection of Van Gogh's letters to his brother and some other friends and family. It included short passages with background information about his life, sketches he made in his letters and some examples of his paintings. Even though I knew his mental health was not great, that he was admitted to a mental health hospital and the way he died, it was still devastating to read it all.
November 3, 2023
This book is a literary masterpiece and a precious historical document. We can discover not only the artistic point of view of the father of modern art, but also his moral sense, his favorite books, his life philosophy. Plenty of sentences slapped me in the face as they were written yesterday. A smart, direct, contemporary Dutch man speaking.
April 6, 2021
The morning after the memorial service for my Pop at our family compound in New Hampshire, I crept over to his house, large mug of coffee in hand, to look through the items I had been told were left there, on the diningroom table. There were some tchotchkes, but what really caught my interest was a bundle of letters. I opened the first, then the second, and realized that these were all the letters Pop had written home between March 1917 and April 1919 while he was an ambulance driver on the Western Front. He went over as a volunteer with the nascent American Ambulance Field Service (he was in Unit 15) and stayed on when the operation was taken over by the American Expeditionary Force in the fall 1917.
What was so extraordinary to me were not just the stories he told of his experiences but the insight he offered into his family, his parents, the culture that shaped him and against which, to some extent, he always struggled. So many of the letters included phrases like, "You asked me about this" or "You had mentioned your feelings about that." What I wanted more than anything were those letters, the ones written by his mother and father especially. I wanted both sides of the conversation.
That is how I feel reading this selection of letters written by Vincent van Gogh mostly to his brother Theo but also to his sister Wil and artist friends like Emile Bernard. Just as I was finishing the book, my husband (who had presented it as a gift at Christmas) asked about Theo's letters. Had they also been translated? What did we know of them.
At the end of this truly excellent production (it's a physically beautiful book as well as an eminently readable work of scholarship) there is considerable back matter providing all sorts of useful information for the van Gogh enthusiast. And here was the the answer to my husband's query:
Theo kept huge piles of correspondence, including letters from his family and those that Jo had written to him before and during their short marriage; at some point his mother returned the letters he had written her, and also sent him others to keep. After his death in 189s all these letters remained in his estate thanks to Jo, their son Vincent Willem and the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, and they are now preservice in the Van Gogh Museum.
Vincent himself was decidedly careless with his mail and he is known to have thrown away or burned letters he received...There are clear indications that at a certain point Vincent decided to keep the letters from Theo and Jo, since they have been preserved almost in their entirety from the end of April 1889 on. Chance certainly played an important part in the survival of the other letters.
And how much more careless are we of letters and other communications now than we were in the 1910s or the 1880s?
The letters can be difficult to read. Vincent was a whinger and the litany of complaints, particularly in the earlier years, is tedious. Theo must truly have loved him and had some mystical belief in his future as an artist. Vincent rambles, digresses and runs on as well. But then don't we all.
The book is organized into seven chronological sections, prefaced by a useful "Note to the Reader." It starts in June 1880, "Introduction: 'A Man of Passions,' Cuesmes, June 1880" and recognizes the key moments of his artistic development. "Deceptive Peace and Quiet, Auvers-sur-Oise, May 1890-July 1890" feels a little like watching the end of the movie "Titanic." We know what's coming.
And therein lies my one moment of discontent. In 2011, Gregory White Smith and Steven Naifeh published "Van Gogh: The Life," an absolute doorstop of a biography. But I read it--thank heavens that while length might have been a deterrent, readability wasn't--and was fascinated. Fully a third of the book was about Vincent's ancestry--and the issues of mental illness on both sides of the family. While all the genealogical minutia was trying at times, it certainly made some much of Vincent's personal story make more sense.
The ending of the book, however, is the part that got a lot of press attention and has stayed with me as an art historian and teacher of art history. White and Naifeh don't think Vincent committed suicide. They argued and most persuasively that Vincent died accidentally, the victim of a couple of rich-kid bullies whose parents were summering in Auvers. Vincent was strange and the object of consider public derision--the boys may have taken that contempt a step too far.
At the end of the book, the editor-authors state that Vincent died a suicide, concede the utter absence of evidence that surrounds that assertion, and don't even mention the alternative theory of accidental manslaughter.
That's a damned shame to me. In fact, I had never been able to satisfactorily explain WHY and HOW Vincent had committed suicide. The White-Naifeh hypothesis, however, rests on a heap of credible circumstantial evidence and well documented hearsay.
I think it is important to stop hearing Don McLean crooning "Starry Starry Night" when we look at Vincent van Gogh's paintings.
What was so extraordinary to me were not just the stories he told of his experiences but the insight he offered into his family, his parents, the culture that shaped him and against which, to some extent, he always struggled. So many of the letters included phrases like, "You asked me about this" or "You had mentioned your feelings about that." What I wanted more than anything were those letters, the ones written by his mother and father especially. I wanted both sides of the conversation.
That is how I feel reading this selection of letters written by Vincent van Gogh mostly to his brother Theo but also to his sister Wil and artist friends like Emile Bernard. Just as I was finishing the book, my husband (who had presented it as a gift at Christmas) asked about Theo's letters. Had they also been translated? What did we know of them.
At the end of this truly excellent production (it's a physically beautiful book as well as an eminently readable work of scholarship) there is considerable back matter providing all sorts of useful information for the van Gogh enthusiast. And here was the the answer to my husband's query:
Theo kept huge piles of correspondence, including letters from his family and those that Jo had written to him before and during their short marriage; at some point his mother returned the letters he had written her, and also sent him others to keep. After his death in 189s all these letters remained in his estate thanks to Jo, their son Vincent Willem and the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, and they are now preservice in the Van Gogh Museum.
Vincent himself was decidedly careless with his mail and he is known to have thrown away or burned letters he received...There are clear indications that at a certain point Vincent decided to keep the letters from Theo and Jo, since they have been preserved almost in their entirety from the end of April 1889 on. Chance certainly played an important part in the survival of the other letters.
And how much more careless are we of letters and other communications now than we were in the 1910s or the 1880s?
The letters can be difficult to read. Vincent was a whinger and the litany of complaints, particularly in the earlier years, is tedious. Theo must truly have loved him and had some mystical belief in his future as an artist. Vincent rambles, digresses and runs on as well. But then don't we all.
The book is organized into seven chronological sections, prefaced by a useful "Note to the Reader." It starts in June 1880, "Introduction: 'A Man of Passions,' Cuesmes, June 1880" and recognizes the key moments of his artistic development. "Deceptive Peace and Quiet, Auvers-sur-Oise, May 1890-July 1890" feels a little like watching the end of the movie "Titanic." We know what's coming.
And therein lies my one moment of discontent. In 2011, Gregory White Smith and Steven Naifeh published "Van Gogh: The Life," an absolute doorstop of a biography. But I read it--thank heavens that while length might have been a deterrent, readability wasn't--and was fascinated. Fully a third of the book was about Vincent's ancestry--and the issues of mental illness on both sides of the family. While all the genealogical minutia was trying at times, it certainly made some much of Vincent's personal story make more sense.
The ending of the book, however, is the part that got a lot of press attention and has stayed with me as an art historian and teacher of art history. White and Naifeh don't think Vincent committed suicide. They argued and most persuasively that Vincent died accidentally, the victim of a couple of rich-kid bullies whose parents were summering in Auvers. Vincent was strange and the object of consider public derision--the boys may have taken that contempt a step too far.
At the end of the book, the editor-authors state that Vincent died a suicide, concede the utter absence of evidence that surrounds that assertion, and don't even mention the alternative theory of accidental manslaughter.
That's a damned shame to me. In fact, I had never been able to satisfactorily explain WHY and HOW Vincent had committed suicide. The White-Naifeh hypothesis, however, rests on a heap of credible circumstantial evidence and well documented hearsay.
I think it is important to stop hearing Don McLean crooning "Starry Starry Night" when we look at Vincent van Gogh's paintings.
September 11, 2023
Nicole and I were walking around the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam admiring some art, minding our own business, when we heard a prodigiously loud woman confidently proclaim to her posse that "you know, he was painting up until the day HE WAS
SHOT
." Intrigued, I decided to pick up this anthology of Van Gogh's letters in the gift shop in order to get some answers to the many questions I had: Who shot him? What was the motive? Was it Colonel Mustard or Colonel Sanders? Who is this mysterious woman who knows the untaught secrets of history? What other falsehoods do they teach us in school? CAN jet fuel melt steel beams? Is Avril Lavigne REALLY alive?
Unfortunately, reality is a lot less exciting than the delusional world of Ms. Crackpotty Crackpototamus McCrackpothead III. What I really learned about was just how constantly stressed and depressed everyone's favorite starry-night-painter was about money and relationships. I am blessed and impressed that he made so many great paintings in such a short time. The letters give a great feel for Van Gogh's personality, and they add another dimension to his short but variegated life.
P.S. If you truly seek answers to the questions listed above... don't.
Unfortunately, reality is a lot less exciting than the delusional world of Ms. Crackpotty Crackpototamus McCrackpothead III. What I really learned about was just how constantly stressed and depressed everyone's favorite starry-night-painter was about money and relationships. I am blessed and impressed that he made so many great paintings in such a short time. The letters give a great feel for Van Gogh's personality, and they add another dimension to his short but variegated life.
P.S. If you truly seek answers to the questions listed above... don't.
November 21, 2024
Incredible to see the world from his lens. How he described what he saw with such passion, his sketches hugged by his elegant penmanship. A wonderful insight into the thoughts and mind of one of the most fascinating artists to have ever lived. I give it 4 stars only because I did not want the letters to end. 🤗
October 31, 2024
This took so long to read but I savored every page istg.
It made me cry SO MUCH.
It made me cry SO MUCH.
February 7, 2021
Dit boek helpt in het begrijpen van zijn kunstwerken, leest vlot en is helder van structuur.
Een aanrader voor elke kunstliefhebber!
Een aanrader voor elke kunstliefhebber!
March 21, 2023
Bro je weet wat er gaat gebeuren maar nog doet het pijn..
January 24, 2024
A personal and complicated story which reveals the struggle that comes along with creative pursuits. The imagery of the French landscapes and countryside are even more poignant and vivid since my travels, which has deepened my appreciation of his works. In particular, I found the love between brothers an untold and heartwarming story.
March 28, 2021
Ik kocht het boek bij de tentoonstelling over deze brieven in het Van Gogh museum. Tijdens het lezen realiseerde ik me hoe bijzonder het is om zó dicht bij Van Gogh te komen door zijn brieven te lezen. Stel dat hij geen broer had gehad en er dus ook geen intensieve briefwisseling was ontstaan waardoor er zo veel over hem bekend is? Was hij dan ook zo’n grote schilder geworden? Zou er dan ook een Van Gogh museum zijn geweest?
Een minpunt vind ik dat de brieven van Theo aan Vincent er niet in staan. Enerzijds omdat je dan nóg meer in het verhaal van hun leven zou worden getrokken. Anderzijds omdat Theo gevoelsmatig gemarginaliseerd wordt terwijl híj́ degene was die het Vincent mogelijk maakte om te schilderen.
Een minpunt vind ik dat de brieven van Theo aan Vincent er niet in staan. Enerzijds omdat je dan nóg meer in het verhaal van hun leven zou worden getrokken. Anderzijds omdat Theo gevoelsmatig gemarginaliseerd wordt terwijl híj́ degene was die het Vincent mogelijk maakte om te schilderen.
January 23, 2023
This man is an overlooked genius in terms of his other talents: he is so astute, so knowledgeable and such a good writer.
March 7, 2023
I bought this book in the very Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. My interest in the artist had begun a couple of years earlier after a visit to Paris led to an encounter with some of his works. The impression his colourful and thick brushstrokes made on me was quite big. Therefore, it was in my to-do list to go to the above-mentioned museum to see more of his artwork.
In between, I read the monumental Van Gogh: The Life by Steve Naifeh; which I assumed to be the canonical work about Vincent van Gogh. I thoroughly enjoyed Naifeh's book, and if anything, it increased my curiosity about the artist (as I learnt about the unique epistolary exchange between Theo and Vincent van Gogh).
With this backdrop, I plunged into reading Vincent van Gogh: A Life in Letters with an interest in learning about Van Gogh in his own words. I got way more than what I expected.
Overall, this book is a curated selection of letter ranging from 1880 to 1890 (the year Van Gogh passed away). It covers his early years as a painter, his humble and hard beginnings as he tried to learn the craft and find his own expression language, all the way to his last, and most intense, two years of life.
What I found most impressive about this book is the edition work, as it is not only about printing the curated translations verbatim. Most letters are accompanied by scans of the original manuscripts to show the sketches Van Gogh attached to them, giving the reader a fuller context that enhances the comprehension of the letters. Not only that, halfway through the book there's the usual coloured pictures of some paintings. This volume also includes at the end some tidbits about the history of publication of Van Gogh's letter, a bibliography, a summary of Van Gogh's main correspondents and a map listing all addresses where Van Gogh resided during his lifetime. This I found to be a nice little touch.
So credit where is due to the editors for putting together such a comprehensive and cohesive package. If I had to recommend a book to someone about what book to read about Van Gogh, hands down this would be my choice.
The question remains, if I've been raving about this book in this review, how come I scored it 4 stars? The only downside for me, and a big one by the way, was that the font size in main text is ridiculously small (8 pt?). Even though I desired to do long reading stretches, my sight would tire after 40 minutes and had to put it down. So a small technicality really, but something I wouldn't pass.
Whether you know nothing about Van Gogh or have a biography under your belt, this book has something for you.
In between, I read the monumental Van Gogh: The Life by Steve Naifeh; which I assumed to be the canonical work about Vincent van Gogh. I thoroughly enjoyed Naifeh's book, and if anything, it increased my curiosity about the artist (as I learnt about the unique epistolary exchange between Theo and Vincent van Gogh).
With this backdrop, I plunged into reading Vincent van Gogh: A Life in Letters with an interest in learning about Van Gogh in his own words. I got way more than what I expected.
Overall, this book is a curated selection of letter ranging from 1880 to 1890 (the year Van Gogh passed away). It covers his early years as a painter, his humble and hard beginnings as he tried to learn the craft and find his own expression language, all the way to his last, and most intense, two years of life.
What I found most impressive about this book is the edition work, as it is not only about printing the curated translations verbatim. Most letters are accompanied by scans of the original manuscripts to show the sketches Van Gogh attached to them, giving the reader a fuller context that enhances the comprehension of the letters. Not only that, halfway through the book there's the usual coloured pictures of some paintings. This volume also includes at the end some tidbits about the history of publication of Van Gogh's letter, a bibliography, a summary of Van Gogh's main correspondents and a map listing all addresses where Van Gogh resided during his lifetime. This I found to be a nice little touch.
So credit where is due to the editors for putting together such a comprehensive and cohesive package. If I had to recommend a book to someone about what book to read about Van Gogh, hands down this would be my choice.
The question remains, if I've been raving about this book in this review, how come I scored it 4 stars? The only downside for me, and a big one by the way, was that the font size in main text is ridiculously small (8 pt?). Even though I desired to do long reading stretches, my sight would tire after 40 minutes and had to put it down. So a small technicality really, but something I wouldn't pass.
Whether you know nothing about Van Gogh or have a biography under your belt, this book has something for you.
January 26, 2025
This was astonishing to read and very well done. I've always been a fan of Van Gogh's artwork and knew little bits and pieces about his life. But until now, I hadn't really engaged in depth with what we do know about his life and the challenges he faced. So this was really special to spend time with and feel like I could get a true glimpse of the man himself.
This is an edited collection of Van Gogh's letters, largely to his brother, Theo, but also to other people (friends, his sister, his mother). It's structured chronologically and separated by short, 2-to-4 page editorial entries that catch the reader up on a new era of time, as it were, that you're about to read and provide the wider context of what was going on. It also includes many illustrations/sketches of his work, which were lovely to see.
These little editorial interjections were immensely helpful. If you don't happen to know his life story (I didn't - well, unless you count that Doctor Who episode ...), these really fill in the blanks and help you to get off on the right foot while reading the letters. They are all the letters penned by Van Gogh himself, so it's a one-sided look into the correspondence (editorial comments to fill in previous correspondence he was referring to were thus v. useful. Plus, there are notes on the text at the end that provide further comments/context to particular lines of the letters.)
And it was magical. His way with words (and hats off to the translation efforts here) was actually shockingly fantastic. The way he describes colours and why/how he'd create a particular hue for a painting was gobsmacking. I don't think I have nor could think of colours in the way that Van Gogh describes - it really gave me, at least, the impression of his underlying genius when it came to art.
I almost found it fascinating to read his philosophical ponderings - and the amazement of him referencing Dickens and other authors (Victor Hugo!), because of course, those publications existed in his time. It made Van Gogh feel that much more real and closer to our present day because these are books we could, and do, read even now. All his commentary on this material he engaged with really suggested the great volume of thoughts and introspection going on inside his head - he certainly would have been a fascinating person to sit down and talk to.
If you have any interest in Van Gogh, this is well worth the read. Learning about which painters inspired him and his thought process behind what did gives you a whole other perspective from which to view his work next time you have the privilege to do so.
This is an edited collection of Van Gogh's letters, largely to his brother, Theo, but also to other people (friends, his sister, his mother). It's structured chronologically and separated by short, 2-to-4 page editorial entries that catch the reader up on a new era of time, as it were, that you're about to read and provide the wider context of what was going on. It also includes many illustrations/sketches of his work, which were lovely to see.
These little editorial interjections were immensely helpful. If you don't happen to know his life story (I didn't - well, unless you count that Doctor Who episode ...), these really fill in the blanks and help you to get off on the right foot while reading the letters. They are all the letters penned by Van Gogh himself, so it's a one-sided look into the correspondence (editorial comments to fill in previous correspondence he was referring to were thus v. useful. Plus, there are notes on the text at the end that provide further comments/context to particular lines of the letters.)
And it was magical. His way with words (and hats off to the translation efforts here) was actually shockingly fantastic. The way he describes colours and why/how he'd create a particular hue for a painting was gobsmacking. I don't think I have nor could think of colours in the way that Van Gogh describes - it really gave me, at least, the impression of his underlying genius when it came to art.
I almost found it fascinating to read his philosophical ponderings - and the amazement of him referencing Dickens and other authors (Victor Hugo!), because of course, those publications existed in his time. It made Van Gogh feel that much more real and closer to our present day because these are books we could, and do, read even now. All his commentary on this material he engaged with really suggested the great volume of thoughts and introspection going on inside his head - he certainly would have been a fascinating person to sit down and talk to.
If you have any interest in Van Gogh, this is well worth the read. Learning about which painters inspired him and his thought process behind what did gives you a whole other perspective from which to view his work next time you have the privilege to do so.
February 4, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. It was a major window into the artist's life. Though not quite literature in the traditional sense, I found that van Gogh said things that resinated deeply with the human experiences.
When I was in high school, I started reading his letter to his brother, Theo, online but the format of my phone made the task quite arduous. To have a collection of his letters, carefully selected, curated by period, and bound, made reading through segments of his life a great pleasure.
I found myself heartbroken at how optimistic he was, and heartbroken that he didn't believe in his abilities. Towards the end of the book, it really touched me when he wrote, "I was extremely surprised by the article on my paintings that you sent me, no need to tell you that I hope to go on thinking that I don't paint like that, but rather I do see from it how I ought to paint."
It had seemed that he had received some recognition for his paintings while he lived, although he did not see a successful sale or the full extent of his fame. Still, I don't think that he could have handled it, writing, "Please ask Mr Aurier not to write any more articles about my painting, tell him earnestly that first he is wrong about me, then that really I feel too damaged by grief to be able to face up to publicity."
He retreated in those last years of his life, seemingly feeling a great level of anxiety around people. Theo wrote concerning his funeral, "If he could have seen how many people behaved toward me when he had left us and the sympathy of so many for himself, he would at this moment not have wanted to die."
All in all, a tragic story about artistry, genius, not fitting in, mental health, and most of all, humanness. While I read through his book, I saw some of his work in the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and it was incredible to see that someone who painted with such clarity of mind, also suffered mentally.
To any creative questioning their work, van Gogh's letters are an introspective pursuit showcasing the highs and lows of the artist's mind at it's best, worst, and everything in between.
When I was in high school, I started reading his letter to his brother, Theo, online but the format of my phone made the task quite arduous. To have a collection of his letters, carefully selected, curated by period, and bound, made reading through segments of his life a great pleasure.
I found myself heartbroken at how optimistic he was, and heartbroken that he didn't believe in his abilities. Towards the end of the book, it really touched me when he wrote, "I was extremely surprised by the article on my paintings that you sent me, no need to tell you that I hope to go on thinking that I don't paint like that, but rather I do see from it how I ought to paint."
It had seemed that he had received some recognition for his paintings while he lived, although he did not see a successful sale or the full extent of his fame. Still, I don't think that he could have handled it, writing, "Please ask Mr Aurier not to write any more articles about my painting, tell him earnestly that first he is wrong about me, then that really I feel too damaged by grief to be able to face up to publicity."
He retreated in those last years of his life, seemingly feeling a great level of anxiety around people. Theo wrote concerning his funeral, "If he could have seen how many people behaved toward me when he had left us and the sympathy of so many for himself, he would at this moment not have wanted to die."
All in all, a tragic story about artistry, genius, not fitting in, mental health, and most of all, humanness. While I read through his book, I saw some of his work in the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and it was incredible to see that someone who painted with such clarity of mind, also suffered mentally.
To any creative questioning their work, van Gogh's letters are an introspective pursuit showcasing the highs and lows of the artist's mind at it's best, worst, and everything in between.
May 22, 2023
This is for the Van Gogh enthusiast. Many regard Vincent as an artistic genius and rightly so, but his writings are almost as stunning. Equally stunning is the amount of letters that survived. There are hundreds of letters to various people, mostly to his beloved brother, Theo. If you love the art, then you will love the letters that accompany the thought that went into Vincent's paintings. The struggle of perfection and passion is monstrous. The drive in Vincent to express himself is rarely matched in humans. There is a letter in which Vincent uses a metaphor of a caged bird to explain away his family's thought of him being "lazy." It is beautiful.
Of the things I read of his work and his life, I only wish that he could have witnessed the appreciation for his gift to the world.
Of the things I read of his work and his life, I only wish that he could have witnessed the appreciation for his gift to the world.
April 8, 2021
This collection of Van Gogh's letters and illustrations of his art is beautifully selected and arranged and includes insightful overviews to each chapter. The letters themselves are works of art that delve into the struggle to create and to live as a working artist, into family bonds and conflicts, into mental health ... and I'm only scratching the surface. I highly recommend this book, even to readers who don't have a prior interest in Van Gogh or in art in general.
December 28, 2022
A fascinating view of Van Gogh, his life, his early attempts at employment, and finally his career as an artist.
Reading the letters and the historical sections, readers learn how Van Gogh developed his artistic eye and ideas.
What genius.
Thanks to a friend for loaning me her copy . I read it after reading “The Secret Life of Sunflowers “ a fictional biography of Jo Bonger, van high’s sister in law.
Reading the letters and the historical sections, readers learn how Van Gogh developed his artistic eye and ideas.
What genius.
Thanks to a friend for loaning me her copy . I read it after reading “The Secret Life of Sunflowers “ a fictional biography of Jo Bonger, van high’s sister in law.
August 5, 2023
An interesting book about the life of Vincent van Gogh. I was a little sceptical initially because I was unsure how this book would illustrate and highlight the different aspects of the painter's life. However, I enjoyed it and through Vincent's letters to his friends and family, one can understand Vincent's personality and fears as well as his inspiration and how he ended up to be one of the greatest painters in the world.
December 9, 2023
Mis ideas preconcebidas de lo que era Van Gogh como persona, como artista, han sido desmanteladas. Estas cartas son la prueba de que detrás de la obra de Van Gogh hay mucho más de lo que podemos entender. Y aunque no puedo decir que sólo sabía expresar sus emociones a través de la pintura (estas cartas son la prueba, la sensibilidad) eran el medio que mejor le resultaba para darle sentido al caos de lo que pasaba dentro.
March 26, 2021
A wonderful collection of Van Gogh's letters from June 1880 to the month of his death. I feel like I have begun to know Vincent and Theo a little. The battles he fought throughout his life are apparent as he writes to his beloved brother and his enthusiasm for his work is clear in his letters to Theo and his artist friends. The copies of the original letters and sketches are wonderful to see too.
August 31, 2021
Read quickly because truthfully I skipped most of the letters because I’ve read them before. The letters can be quite dense and cumbersome.
However, I loved how this book mentioned a time period in his life and then included letters from those years. You do get to develop a picture of what he was going through. I just wish the sections about his life gave more information.
However, I loved how this book mentioned a time period in his life and then included letters from those years. You do get to develop a picture of what he was going through. I just wish the sections about his life gave more information.
May 31, 2023
It was such an insight into the thought process and the turmoil that Vincent went through.
by the end of the book I felt like I knew him so well that I'd lost a good friend.
From an artists perspective it was so interesting to get to terms with the paints he ordered, his work ethic and the way he talks and analyses other artists work as well as his own.
by the end of the book I felt like I knew him so well that I'd lost a good friend.
From an artists perspective it was so interesting to get to terms with the paints he ordered, his work ethic and the way he talks and analyses other artists work as well as his own.
June 20, 2024
Ykw, I like this book. However I feel as if they should have put Theos and others corresponding letters to make it look less like a rant.
Nevertheless, it was great to see his life and journey through his own eyes and words. It was bittersweet in a way, to enjoy such a heartfelt but heartbreaking read.
Nevertheless, it was great to see his life and journey through his own eyes and words. It was bittersweet in a way, to enjoy such a heartfelt but heartbreaking read.
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July 5, 2024Quedé sorprendida de ver que van Gogh no quería que su obra fuera martirizada, ni tener éxito póstumo, y que estuviera consciente de esto me dio mucha pena, porque es exactamente lo que sucedió. Investigar estas cartas es esencial para darse cuenta del carácter verdadero del artista, y de su abundante autopercepción y deseo, en fin, todo es deprimente 😅
July 27, 2025
在荷兰，文森特梵高的故乡，买到一本有关他个人经历和艺术想法的中文书，是一件很奇妙的事情。
通过浏览梵高博物馆和阅读这本书，我得以更深入地走入这位艺术家的生活和精神世界。一开始，我被他与他弟弟提奥之间的情谊所感动。他的弟弟是他唯一的挚友，一直坚定不移地支持他以及给予他资金上的帮助，即使那是梵高非常落魄，在家庭中也非常疏离。这是一种非常伟大的情感。后来，在阅读梵高的书信过程中，我感受到了这位艺术家不凡的精神魅力。他对于生活，文学与绘画，都有着自己的思考。他把自己的思考和理念，融入日渐纯熟技法，在绘画中显示出来，并通过颜色来表达自己的情感。他热爱自然，讨厌被城市，被日复一日的重复日常规训，并且痛恨没有意识地活着。在这一点上，他与我颇为相似。因此，当我带着对从他新的认识重新看待他的艺术作品，我又有了全新的感受。
通过浏览梵高博物馆和阅读这本书，我得以更深入地走入这位艺术家的生活和精神世界。一开始，我被他与他弟弟提奥之间的情谊所感动。他的弟弟是他唯一的挚友，一直坚定不移地支持他以及给予他资金上的帮助，即使那是梵高非常落魄，在家庭中也非常疏离。这是一种非常伟大的情感。后来，在阅读梵高的书信过程中，我感受到了这位艺术家不凡的精神魅力。他对于生活，文学与绘画，都有着自己的思考。他把自己的思考和理念，融入日渐纯熟技法，在绘画中显示出来，并通过颜色来表达自己的情感。他热爱自然，讨厌被城市，被日复一日的重复日常规训，并且痛恨没有意识地活着。在这一点上，他与我颇为相似。因此，当我带着对从他新的认识重新看待他的艺术作品，我又有了全新的感受。
May 28, 2022
Després de llegir-lo només tinc ganes d'abraçar en Vincent ben fort. Com va esciure Don McLean "this world was never made for one as beautiful as you" i en les seves cartes i reflexions queda mes que demostrat.
July 1, 2022
Van Gogh was truly a philosopher in his own right as well an an artist. I was moved by his love of “art and life” and for his family. It truly breaks my heart to think of the tragedy that befell him and the amount of beauty that the world cannot see because of his untimely death.
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June 3, 2023“If he could have seen how people behaved toward me when he had left us and the sympathy of so many for himself, he would at this moment not have wanted to die.” - Theo Van Gogh in a letter to his mother two days after the funeral of Vincent
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