Marie Baarspul

Van Gogh is such an appealing artist because of his talent, having infused beautiful color and a feeling of connection into his paintings, but also because of his vulnerability. He was filled with self-doubt and only became an artist after a crisis at age 27 had left him wondering what to do with his life. After his rapid evolution from the realism of The Netherlands to the impressionists in Paris, he idealistically planned an ‘artist’s colony’ and brotherhood in Arles, when of course events in reality would have him arguing violently with the friend closest to him and then plumbing the depths of depression. He sold only one (yes, one) of the roughly 900 paintings he produced in the ten years of work prior to his suicide at the age of 37, regrettably at the height of his powers.

I loved this little book for its description of Van Gogh’s letters, many of which were to his dearly beloved brother Theo, which he illustrated (and by the way wow, imagine getting one of those, and compare it to today’s shorthand SMS texts). I also loved it for showing the context of the times, including side by side comparisons of Van Gogh’s works to others, e.g. The Potato Eaters, 1885, vs. Jozef Israels’ A Peasant Family at the Table, 1882, as well as Van Gogh’s painting of Agostina Segatori vs. Toulouse-Latrec’s in the same posture at a café table, both from 1887, made interesting all the more by the description that Van Gogh had had an affair with her for several months that year.

Not all of Van Gogh’s greatest works are here because the Van Gogh museum contains only a subset, but the sampling is across his entire life, and quite nice. Aside from those mentioned elsewhere in this review, the iconic Irises, 1890, and The Sower, 1888, stood out for me. And there are nice works from others illustrated here as well, for example, Breton’s Young Peasant Girl With a Hoe, 1882, and Camille Pisarro’s Route de Versailles, Rocqencourt, 1871.

In the guide, I would have liked a little bit more depth on the darker times, of the arguments with Gaugin that led to him lopping off an ear, of his depression and how it manifested itself in his final works (e.g. The Bedroom, 1888, with its somewhat skewed perspective, or Wheatfield with Crows, 1890, with its absolutely brilliant sense of despair). The works are reproduced here, but the insight into them is missing. However, this would probably have been beyond the scope of a guide book for a museum, and regardless, it’s certainly enjoyable.… (mehr)