The Essential: Vincent van Gogh

The Essential

by Ingrid Schaffner

Book by Abrams

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, Biography

112 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 1998

Reviews

[Carmen]

This is a great book. It teaches you about van Gogh's life, but also about his art and how to interpret it. It has a lot of pictures, so that you can see his art while the author explains it to you. I learned a lot of fascinating things about van Gogh, whom I was very unfamiliar with before reading this book. I only knew about Starry Night, his Sunflower paintings, and that he cut off his own ear. From reading this book I learned that he didn't cut off his whole ear – just a piece (which he then gave to a prostitute for safekeeping). He was institutionalized in an asylum. I learned that he ended up killing himself when he was 37 by shooting himself in the chest. He was religious and idealized Japan. He tried to paint like they did in Japan. He even does a self-portrait of himself as a Buddhist monk, on which he remarks in a letter to his sister: “I look like a Japanese.” I really like his painting “Skull with a Burning Cigarette”.

Here is a quote: “I am a man of passions, capable of and subject to doing more or less foolish things, which I happen to repent, more or less, afterward...My only anxiety is, how can I be of use in the world? Can't I serve any purpose and be of some good?” - Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo, in a letter, 1880.

[Iqra M.]

I enjoyed the book as a whole although the writing style isn't my cup of tea AT ALL.
But it was fun reading about one of my favourite artists so I shall let it slide!
This would be a good reference book for my Art and I got it for very cheap too!

[Jodi]

There is a lot packed into this small, short book. I learned things I didn't previously know about van Gogh, even after having read several other books about him. I loved seeing so many of his paintings in it, and the longer description of several of them were especially insightful.

[Julie Moore]

3.9

[Phyllis Skidmore]

A nice basic introduction.

[Rena Sherwood]

This review originally appeared on my blog Why Van Gogh Matters http://whyvangoghmatters.blogspot.com...

The back cover claims that you can be a Van Gogh expert in 5 minutes with The Essential Vincent Van Gogh" by Ingrid Schaffer (Harry N. Abrams; 1998.) You won't. It also takes longer than 5 minutes to read this small hardback -- unless you decide to just look at the pictures. You may be able to finish it while waiting in line for a new Van Gogh exhibition.

However, some of the facts in this little book are wrong. For example, it claims that Van Gogh didn't start drawing until he was 27. He actually started as a child. Some of the interpretations of Vincent's major works are spot on. It also talks a little about the debate over what painting was Van Gogh's last -- something usually passed over in other books.

This little book is aimed for tweens, teens and adults with really short attention spans. It's littered with white space, summaries, bullet points, "sound bytes" (short quotes in large print), modern slang and exclamation marks. It does have some great reproductions on Van Gogh's best known works, including The Starry Night, The Yellow House and Irises.

This book is one in a series on famous artists. Other artists in the series include Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollok, Man Ray, Edward Hopper, Mary Cassatt, Henri Matisse and Claude Monet.

[Melanie Franklin]

Van gogh is awesome. what else is there to say?

[Morgan Ashleigh]

Interesting little coffee table book. Didn't like the style of writing. It was too informal, and not whimsical enough to be informal.

[sid]

ugh gosh I love Vincent so much more, I didnt know that much about him and his paintings are beautiful