De wereld van Van Gogh

Time-Life Library of Art

by Robert Wallace

Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid colors and emotional impact. He suffered from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life and died, largely unknown, at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Little appreciated during his lifetime, his fame grew in the years after his death. Today, he is widely regarded as one of history's greatest painters and an important contributor to the foundations of modern art. Van Gogh did not begin painting until his late twenties, and most of his best-known works were produced during his final two years. He produced more than 2,000 artworks, consisting of around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches. Today many of his pieces—including his numerous self portraits, landscapes, portraits and sunflowers—are among the world's most recognizable and expensive works of art.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Biography Memoir, Art History

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

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See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Leonard Mokos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always interested in Genius. It's fascinating, right? Those damned Geniuses – how do they...?

As for painting, for which I myself have zero facility, I collect (modestly according to my meager means), I lust (ooh, can I not get a Terry Wilkinson?), and I search out to sit in amazement.

I think most people see the Great Works on picture books, coffee mugs and mouse pads. What a lot of useless bullshit all that is. To see a masterpiece in person is to be confronted. SLAPPED. Ka-pow. That's the only way.

Traveling through Toledo, Ohio, one comes upon the Libby Gallery. Yes, of Libby Beans fame. Delicious, convenient and, judging by the collection the family amassed, lucrative. So what can you buy with all those beans? Go inside. Be surprised. Classic sculptures from ancient Rome, etc., and, of all things, a Matisse. That giftless scribbler, I thought, until I saw they had one, a woman with her thighs open, not nude but ooh, la la... I can faint merely recalling it.

See Van Gogh, if you can, in person, wherever he can be found. Maybe the best piece I have seen so far hangs just to the right of the main entrance of London's National Portrait Gallery. The colours are over sharp limes and wild blues with everything m o v I n g and don't be surprised to lose your carefully coiffed bouffant to the wind which leaps out at you from that spectacle, that masterpiece, that square canvas of genius.

This book is excellent. I am almost embarrassed to say that. A Time-Life book? Yes, go figure. Vincent's work, his life, his personality are exposed with patience, affection, compassion. Moreover is isn't mere biography, it's part art history, taking intriguing profiles of contemporary artists such as Gauguin, Pissaro, Vincent's love fuelled brother Theo, so that the atmosphere and influences that surrounded Van Gogh soon surround you as you read along, and finally, a new understanding emerges. I can't wait to see these paintings again with new eyes and deeper gratitude.

A real find, in the local thrift shop. You will need to look past the poverty of colour plates, the antiquated print quality, but the text is so redeeming, I wish I could press it into your palm and shout “Read it for his genius, this mad beautiful bastard,” – he's really complex, sincere, marvelous. And human.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read several them them, I have grown very biased towards this series of books. They capture the moment of and around an artist: theirs lives, their environments, their art, their education, their contemporaries and rivals, and the history of the time.

This book is no different: expertly written, thorough yet light, and altogether fascinating. When one speaks of starving artists, the definition not only fits Van Gogh, but it was him and his generation that created it. He himself turned out to be a very dramatic personality and a searing example of how a passion can consume someone. The book offers several theories about what might have been behind his increasingly erratic state of mind, but it also admits that we don't really know.

Books in this series often reserve a part of the narrative to other artists of the era. In Van Gogh's volume, you also learn about the life of impressionist painter Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the godfather of graphic design. They are both suitably tragic and eccentric enough to match Van Gogh's tale, and they shared very close orbits with him.

The photos of art are as stunning. Overall, another great read in this series.

[Carl Waluconis · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the usual high quality art reproduction and book design for the Time-Life series, this work offers foremost the work of Van Gogh, but also a detailed look at the art of Gauguin. Other artists from the time period are included, such as Toulouse-Lautrec. The history takes full advantage of Van Gogh's published letters to his brother Theo and also the writing of Gaugin. Van Gogh's life and work has been continually analyzed and interpreted. This book has an overview of the different perspectives in 1969, the year of its publication. No one seems to fully pin him down, except that for him art is the most important thing, like a religion. He has a curious very humble stance regarding his own work, which he dedicated his whole life to create. He wanted to live through his creations, yet he was upset if it was publicly praised. The selection of art here is exciting with at times full-page bleeds. The writing of Van Gogh will make you want to read a more complete collection of his letters, such as "Dear Theo". I am still slowly reading through it, but it is one of the best autobiographies ever, and definitely contains very effective art criticism, of which there is generally a shortage elsewhere. These Time-Life books always attribute a joint authorship to the editors of Time-Life Books, and that seems to be true here, as the chapters with chiefly art reproduction are written as if the alternatively spaced narrative chapters do not exist, i.e. they repeat and retell, but at times in a different light. That is more a curiosity than a criticism. This relatively thin volume offers quite a lot.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was both sad and uplifting to read this account of Van Gogh's short life. His career as an artist lasted only ten years. His father was a pastor in rural Holland and the young Vincent started out as an evangelist. This did not last long, however, because his intensity scared people away. When he began to draw and paint he found a way to communicate his passion for human beings and the world around him in a manner that he could not through speech. The last two years of his life, as mental illness took hold, Van Gogh struggled and fought against it fiercely. Many of his best, and best known, paintings were done during this time, in between bouts with his illness that left him incapacitated. This book does an excellent job of showing how his love of painting his world of farm fields, trees, and sky also reflected the anxieties and dread he was feeling. The book profiles two other extremely talented but, for different reasons, likewise unhappy contemporaries of Van Gogh: Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and Paul Gauguin. Actual rating: 4.5.

[Martin Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this on the free table outside 2nd-and-Charles, a used store in Augusta GA. I believe the entire Time-Life Book series of famous painters was on that table that day. But Van Gogh was the one I wanted to know more about (now, I wished I had picked out others, like John Singer Sargent's). What an in depth look at Vincent Van Gogh's life! A sad story. A look into genius (tortured? perhaps). He burned out too soon, but then he crammed a life time of art into a 10 year period. Recommended, yes.

[Jackie Keller · Rating 3 out of 5]

These guys had amazing, eventful lives, and this book makes it all a dry and boring telling --not to mention the sidelining of any woman that stepped foot into their lives. About what I'd expect from the 70's. 🙄

Most of the stars here are for the amazing, full-color reproductions on legal-size pages.

[uena · Rating 5 out of 5]

"One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul, and yet no one ever comes to sit by it. Passerby see only a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney and continue on their way."

"In most men there exists a poet who died young, whom the man survived."

"He is a good fellow, but he is only twenty-five, God damn it."

"If one hasn't a horse, one is one's own horse."

"He once remarked that he had 'lived mainly for four days on 23 cups of coffee.'"

"He had an extraordinary way of pouring out sentences, if he got started, in Dutch, English and French, then glancing back at you over his shoulder, and hissing through his teeth."

"I want to progress so far that people will say of my work, he feels deeply, he feels tenderly-notwithstanding my so-called roughness, perhaps even because of it...This is my ambition, which is, in spite of everything, founded less on anger than on love."

"I have walked this earth for thirty years, and, out of gratitude, want to leave some souvenir in the shape of drawings or pictures-not made to please a certain taste in art, but to express a sincere human feeling."

"We shall draw the plow until our strength forsakes us, and we shall still look with admiration at the sun or the moon."

"Oh Mother! He was so my own, own brother."

[Alisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned quite a bit about the van Gogh as an adult, and about his relationships with his brother, Theo, and other painters who shaped a new era of art. However, the book was sloppily edited and repeated information from chapter to chapter. Just reading once through the book would have caught these errors! Also, substantial space was given to describing the challenges of other painters, particularly that of Paul Gauguin. While I did not mind the learning, I think it is inappropriate in a book portrayed to be about van Gogh.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just wanted to see how close Doctor Who got it...

For a book about Van Gogh, there sure was a lot in there about other artists, especially Gauguin. (But I guess that does fit as part of THE WORLD OF Van Gogh.) Amazing artist, deeply troubled man.

[Samira · Rating 4 out of 5]

diep onder de indruk

[Adam Becker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the kind of thing I usually read and I am very much a novice in the world of art. I did enjoy this book and the many color reproductions of his paintings. The way the book was organized resulted in a few repetitions of things already covered in the text.
I did enjoy the several detailed detours taken to discuss other artists who were contemporaries of Van Gogh, in particular the extensive look at the life and work of Paul Gauguin.
If you are a novice in this subject material like I am, this is a very accessible starting point.

[Shane McLennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book about Vincent van Gogh’s life with many illustrations of his art. Included are a numerous number of excerpts of letters he wrote to his loving brother, Theo, who supported him all of his life. He struggled all his life to be a successful artist which I believe created his manic depression and bouts of epileptic fits. He only sold one painting for $80 during his time alive. He is now the most famous artist next to Leonardo da Vinci. Seeing the immersion exhibit of Vincent van Gogh’s life in Sacramento, CA excited me to read more about Vincent van Gogh.

[Samuel Valentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It got my attention right away when it started off with the ear-cutting episode. The author says that's the first thing that people know about Van Gogh, so why not? Then he goes to really get into the world of Van Gogh, not just the one artist. There was quite a bit on Gauguin, and a wonderful part on Toulouse-Lautrec. It definitely inspired me to look up more artists and more artwork of the era. The whole series is well done, but this one was outstanding in particular.

[Jim Heninger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was on my mother’s bookshelf for decades - I read it through and was moved to learn details of the life of Vincent Van Gogh. He was a kind hearted man with an abrasive exterior. Am I this way sometimes? I think we all are. His lonely life is heartbreaking to me and I see in him many in the world who struggle with fitting in and a need to be loved.

[Víctor Cázares · Rating 5 out of 5]

He quedado pasmado ante la turbulenta y a la vez hermosa vida de este personaje, que si no un modelo a seguir, una verdadera inspiración para muchos artistas, que buscan una forma de transformar el dolor en arte y viceversa, para sentirse vivos.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done. Good color prints.

[Yara Verstappen · Rating 3 out of 5]

interessant boek over de werken en het leven van Van Gogh

[Frankie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual for this series, there are chapters that cover other artists of Van Gogh's world – Pissaro, Gauguin and an especially good bio on Toulouse-Lautrec. Luckily for the reader, however, there is comprehensive information on Van Gogh's life and artistic career – enough to make this volume into a biography of sorts. I was vaguely familiar with the artist's struggle with mental stability, mainly from documentaries and textbooks highlighting the shocking details (the ear, etc).

I feel much more properly informed now. Most striking of all is the artist's self-awareness and lucidity apparent in his letters to his brother Theo (often written during and after his attacks). Theo's similar insanity and dissipation after the artist's death prove, if not the hereditary condition, at least the enormous sympathy he felt for his brother. Theo's plight and ignominious end strikes one as more terrible, as he is clearly not the genius, but only the disciple and supporter of a genius.

The other striking thing I take away from the book is, in the last pages, a viewing of eight of the artist's self portraits. One can clearly see, not only the evolution of his talent, but the simultaneous degradation of his will to live. The backgrounds become increasingly muddled, the focus loosens and the perspective flattens. In the last, which everyone has seen and is familiar with, his eyes are haunting.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Time Life art series from the late '60's is very well done. One of my favorites in the series is The World of Van Gogh. Also includes works by Paul Gauguin and Toulouse Lautrec. I wish I could have bought the series when it first came upon the scene but who had money back then? As it happens I have access to most of them but only own a couple myself. C'est la vie.

One incredible omission is Van Gogh's "Starry Night" which is the one painting that most people immediately associate with this Dutch artist. ??

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vincent Van Gogh had a tormented life of insanity. I'm impressed with his stoic determination considering the weight he bore. The bond he shared with his younger brother Theo is fascinating and tragic.

[sander · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful and deeply touching description of Vincent’s life and work. It goes in depth on a lot of events and people surrounding Van Gogh himself, this gives an even better insight and understanding on how his style developed and how his tumultuous life changed from time to time.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

so far, so good!

[James Violand · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about the troubled artist. Shows the evolution of his talent with the increasing mental anguish.