Van Gogh

by Vincent van Gogh

This Taschen Portfolio presents 14 stunning frame-able prints by Vincent Van Gogh, one of world’s best-loved painters.

“This man will either go mad or he will outstrip us all.” Such was the fate that Camille Pissarro, the great Impressionist painter, predicted for his colleague Vincent van Gogh, a struggling artist still vainly seeking a buyer for his pictures. He was to prove right on both counts. Van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, near Breda, the eldest son of a Dutch pastor. He tried his hand at numerous professions, working as an art dealer, a teacher, a lay preacher and a bookseller before finally embarking, largely self-trained, upon a career as an artist. All his life, however, he remained a solitary and despairing figure, and his self-destructive nature drove him in his later years to the brink of madness.

Feeling himself alone in the world, his only true friend and source of moral and financial support was his brother Theo, who attended van Gogh’s welfare throughout his life and who would ultimately follow him, within the space of six short months, to the grave. The recognition and admiration for which van Gogh fought so bitterly would only be granted him after the self-inflicted revolver shot which ended his tragic life.

Today, van Gogh is not only considered the most important pioneer of 20th-century art, but is widely regarded as one of the most significant painters in the entire history of art.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1979

About the author

Vincent 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.

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam today. They've presented the pieces as a journey through the emotional life of the artist.

It was really exciting turning around a corner and being confronted with the original painting of an image I've seen countless times in my life. Bedroom in Arles and The Potato Eaters were two such paintings.

It was also interesting to see paintings by his contemporaries and friends. They had a collection of Gauguin, especially of the paintings he did while in Martinique. I think Mango Pickers may have been my favorite painting of the day.

[image error]

I'm obviously not very familiar with Van Gogh's work... I was very taken back by his later work including Tree Roots. Honestly, it was fantastic to discover favorites for the first time in person.

[image error]

[margo✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish i could hang this book on my wall and change everyday the paintings

[Jesús Rivas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro súper cortito pero muy bueno. Compila la biografía de Van Gogh junto con sus obras más destacadas.

[Sara Bostan · Rating 5 out of 5]

am terminat-o intr-o ora, 40 minute citit si 20 studiatul picturilor. in ciuda problemelor lui, imi place mult de vincent si perceperea lui asupra artei, ceva de apreciat.
m-a atins mult una din scrisorile lui trimise catre theo, zicand asa "they are vast fields of wheat under troubled skies, and i did not need to go out of my way to try to express sadness and extreme loneliness"

[Alexa Mir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta padre, es una las compras que más quería empezar a leer de la FIL. Si quieres saber más sobre Van Gogh y su arte con este libro puedes aprender bastante. Es breve y ligero.

[Ginny-Sunny Weasley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiroiva ja tiivis, mukaansatempaava ja kiehtova läpyskä. Luin junassa ja lentokoneessa taidematkallani Pariisiin, joten lukumuistoni ovat ikuisesti yhteydessä siihen.

[Vale G · Rating 4 out of 5]

termine esta genial descripción de la vida de Van Gogh durante una hora y media. Habla desde su infancia, el inicio de sus pinturas y su relación muy especial con su hermano menor Theo. Fue un artista solitario que reflejo su tristeza en cada una de sus obras.

[David Chacon Cisterna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brevisimo y poco organizado recorrido

En poco más de media hora de lectura, se pueden apreciar detalles biográficos de la vida del pintor obsesionado con la naturaleza y el espíritu del evangelio. Falta mucho orden y edición en la entrega de los contenidos.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice reproductions of several of Van Gogh's paintings. Colors pop and pages are sturdy. Each painting has a fact or quote from Van Gogh on the back.