What do you think?
Rate this book
Dostlukla - Seçme Mektuplar
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) geride dikkate değer birçok resmin ve çizimin yanı sıra, çok ilginç ve hacimli bir yazışma dizisi de bıraktı. Son derece kolay izlenebilen bu kitap, elimizdeki toplam 820 mektubun 265’inden oluşan geniş bir seçmeyi içeriyor. Mektupların seçiminde Van Gogh’un yazgısını bulmak için giriştiği ve onu bir sanatçı olmaya yönelten sonu gelmez arayışa, kardeşi Theo’yla yakın bağına, babasıyla rahatsız edici ilişkisine, kabul görme yönündeki doğuştan arzusuna, müthiş sanat ve edebiyat tutkusuna ağırlık verilmiştir. Yazışmalar sadece Van Gogh’un karmaşık iç dünyasını kavramayı sağlayacak ayrıntılı ipuçları vermiyor; Paris’te kökleşmekte olan ve onun da içinde yaşadığı avangard sanat akımını da gözler önüne seriyor.
Mektuplara bir genel giriş, geçmişe ait aile fotoğrafları ve özgün mektup sayfalarından seksen yedisinin röprodüksiyonları eşlik ediyor. Bu röprodüksiyonlarda Van Gogh Müzesi’nin 2009’da yayımladığı ve eleştirmenlerden övgü alan altı ciltlik mektuplardan seçilmiş eskizler yer alıyor. Dostlukla Van Gogh’un mektuplarına ilgi duyan her sanat ve edebiyat tutkununun edinmesi gereken temel kitaptır.
Bu yayın Amsterdam’daki Van Gogh Müzesi’nin ve Lahey’deki Huygens ING’nin (Hollanda Kraliyet Sanat ve Bilim Akademisi’nin bir bölümü) desteğiyle yürütülen Van Gogh Mektupları Projesi’nin bir parçasıdır. Editörlüğünü Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten ve Nienke Bakker’in yaptığı Vincent van Gogh - The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition (Brüksel: Mercatorfonds; Londra ve New York; Thames and Hudson) adlı altı ciltlik eksiksiz derlemeden seçilerek hazırlanmış bir baskısıdır.
Mektuplara bir genel giriş, geçmişe ait aile fotoğrafları ve özgün mektup sayfalarından seksen yedisinin röprodüksiyonları eşlik ediyor. Bu röprodüksiyonlarda Van Gogh Müzesi’nin 2009’da yayımladığı ve eleştirmenlerden övgü alan altı ciltlik mektuplardan seçilmiş eskizler yer alıyor. Dostlukla Van Gogh’un mektuplarına ilgi duyan her sanat ve edebiyat tutkununun edinmesi gereken temel kitaptır.
Bu yayın Amsterdam’daki Van Gogh Müzesi’nin ve Lahey’deki Huygens ING’nin (Hollanda Kraliyet Sanat ve Bilim Akademisi’nin bir bölümü) desteğiyle yürütülen Van Gogh Mektupları Projesi’nin bir parçasıdır. Editörlüğünü Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten ve Nienke Bakker’in yaptığı Vincent van Gogh - The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition (Brüksel: Mercatorfonds; Londra ve New York; Thames and Hudson) adlı altı ciltlik eksiksiz derlemeden seçilerek hazırlanmış bir baskısıdır.
900 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
37 people are currently reading
1181 people want to read
About the author
Vincent van Gogh
680 books2,342 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 20, 2009
a treasure. a brilliant mind. a brilliant heartfelt man. big big hero. any weird pop cultural idea you have of this man will be dispelled when you pick up the first volume of his letters. he is smarter and more sensitive than you. and more Calvanistically driven to achieve his vision. his sister politely called him tedious.
half way through volume one i had to put it down, as his small shifts towards mental illness was too close to the hardship of my own brother to read on with. too hard to see the brilliant star become muddled with that blight.
I will have the courage to pick it up and read on. I savor the thought of reading these letters, and am I guess metering them out to fill my life span. I want him to be in the process of always being for me. I guess.
This set of books is one of my treasured possessions. It was gifted to me. A gift I cherish. A reminder of the reasons to strive, and of belief.
half way through volume one i had to put it down, as his small shifts towards mental illness was too close to the hardship of my own brother to read on with. too hard to see the brilliant star become muddled with that blight.
I will have the courage to pick it up and read on. I savor the thought of reading these letters, and am I guess metering them out to fill my life span. I want him to be in the process of always being for me. I guess.
This set of books is one of my treasured possessions. It was gifted to me. A gift I cherish. A reminder of the reasons to strive, and of belief.
Want to read
May 24, 2010After more than 1,500 pages of Vincent van Gogh's letters, most of them addressed to his younger brother, Theo, a reader is exhausted by the struggles, arguments, and ultimate suicide of the creator of some of the most coveted paintings on earth, and yet elated by the triumph of art and family devotion over constant sorrow.
However depressing the life of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), his struggle is continually redeemed by lucid, analytical observations on art and artists as disparate as his black-sheep friend Gauguin, Manet, Degas, Japanese prints, and even the American illustrator Howard Pyle. He retains a touching certainty that his early hero, Millet, whose pictures of peasants so moved him, will prove to be the precursor of all that is progressive in art.
This three-volume, boxed set is a replica of the one originally published in 1958 by the New York Graphic Society, a translation from the Dutch of letters painstakingly ordered and preserved by Theo's young widow, Jo, in the early part of the 20th century. It would have benefited from annotations reflecting recent van Gogh scholarship and theory, but nonetheless it remains a remarkable collection of documents, including Jo's well-known memoir and family history. The early drawings are shockingly clunky, without a hint of grace or confidence. This awkwardness never disappears entirely, but evolves into an aura of hard-won authenticity, as if van Gogh were continually grappling with some fundamental, but ineffable, truth.
The symptoms of madness, "an illness much like any other," alienated Vincent from everyone around him. Even his aging parents, he wrote, "feel the same dread of taking me in ... as they would about taking in a big rough dog."
"How much sadness there is in life," he wrote to Theo. But he found the antidote: "The right thing is to work." Work he did, with astonishing single- mindedness. He mercilessly demanded supplies and continual financial aid from his brother, and although we think of their relationship as a perfect union, Vincent wrote with occasional anger, impatience, or even cruelty, once coldly assessing Theo's personality: "The bright side of your character is your reliability in money matters."
There is a tremendous dramatic tension in the third volume of letters, as we see the artist leap ahead in skill and insight, knowing all the while that this is a life that does not go all the way. This collection requires, and rewards, a devoted reader. ~ Margaret Moorman
However depressing the life of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), his struggle is continually redeemed by lucid, analytical observations on art and artists as disparate as his black-sheep friend Gauguin, Manet, Degas, Japanese prints, and even the American illustrator Howard Pyle. He retains a touching certainty that his early hero, Millet, whose pictures of peasants so moved him, will prove to be the precursor of all that is progressive in art.
This three-volume, boxed set is a replica of the one originally published in 1958 by the New York Graphic Society, a translation from the Dutch of letters painstakingly ordered and preserved by Theo's young widow, Jo, in the early part of the 20th century. It would have benefited from annotations reflecting recent van Gogh scholarship and theory, but nonetheless it remains a remarkable collection of documents, including Jo's well-known memoir and family history. The early drawings are shockingly clunky, without a hint of grace or confidence. This awkwardness never disappears entirely, but evolves into an aura of hard-won authenticity, as if van Gogh were continually grappling with some fundamental, but ineffable, truth.
The symptoms of madness, "an illness much like any other," alienated Vincent from everyone around him. Even his aging parents, he wrote, "feel the same dread of taking me in ... as they would about taking in a big rough dog."
"How much sadness there is in life," he wrote to Theo. But he found the antidote: "The right thing is to work." Work he did, with astonishing single- mindedness. He mercilessly demanded supplies and continual financial aid from his brother, and although we think of their relationship as a perfect union, Vincent wrote with occasional anger, impatience, or even cruelty, once coldly assessing Theo's personality: "The bright side of your character is your reliability in money matters."
There is a tremendous dramatic tension in the third volume of letters, as we see the artist leap ahead in skill and insight, knowing all the while that this is a life that does not go all the way. This collection requires, and rewards, a devoted reader. ~ Margaret Moorman
July 4, 2020
Unutterably tremendous. Van Gogh’s vitality bursts as spectacularly from the page as it does from the canvas. His was a life lived in flaming color - and electrifying tragedy. Here’s to you, Vincent.
December 25, 2021
I started reading Vincent van Gogh's letters when I saw them in my Delphi master art collection of his works, I didn't realise how fascinating this would be and I enjoyed it immensely, deciding that I must make letter reading part of my reading habit. I started in April 2019 & finished early December 2021, so reading a least a letter a day, Vincent and Theo were like friends to me. I had heard the usual that Vincent had mental health issues and cutting off his ear, so I didn't know what to expect from these letters. What I did find the relationship of the van Gogh brothers, sometimes very trying for both but a strong bond that made Theo say to his mother after Vincent's death, "Oh, Mother, he was so very much my own brother." When I think of both brothers, I feel like crying, I am shedding some tears thinking of the pain, suffering and loss. I highlighted and quoted many times but they are too numerous to post. The letters start out with young visit leaving home to start working for his Uncle Vincent's partners art gallery at that time he had no idea he would be an artist. These letters show a coming to age with the angst of troubles which make it hard for Vincent, who has not always conformed with society. He has fallen in love twice to be rejected. His desire to be a man of God but his religious sentiment and actions are questioned by his clergyman father. After his experiences he later didn't like too pious individuals, yet he was a thoughtful and kind, yet honest soul. His helping a pregnant prostitute mother caused him rejection from many, yet he could not let her starve, though he didn't have much himself. His caring for fellow artists, yet being in my mind rebuffed by some, Gauguin. Vincent was looking for a true friend and artist, the two personalities being so different. Vincent would have loved a family and Gauguin had a family he neglected. Vincent had something special, in the way he was something quite human and humble. His observations and his devotion to art are interesting. He was a well read and I especially enjoyed his book recommendations, having read some and looking forward to others in the future. His sizing up Dr. Gauchet, knowing they can be friends but also the doctor is as bad off as himself, mentally speaking, after his loss of his wife. Theo enduring so much to help the family and Vincent, paying the bills. Vincent knowing after his breakdown that he had limits, yet he was able to paint so many magnificent works of art! He told Theo that he was part of the paintings of the artists that he helped. It was a happy time when Theo married and baby, Vincent was born. These letters to me are something that I will never forget and every time I see a Vincent van Gogh, which I can recognize now, I think of the van Gogh brothers and wished they had lived longer! Rest in Peace!
I highly recommend reading and I am grateful that Johanna van Gogh Bonger translated and worked hard on the behalf of Vincent's works.
I highly recommend reading and I am grateful that Johanna van Gogh Bonger translated and worked hard on the behalf of Vincent's works.
January 20, 2021
Maybe that`s why van Ghog is so attractive, because he is the epitome of an oxymoron. He was born in a rich family but lived on the edge of poverty. The artist is an autodidact who did not have an academic education. Uncomfortable and unpleasant in communication, he was compassionate to the point of painful tenderness fo the poor and squalid. Sloppy in everyday life, he wrote letters what were perfect in style and perfection of language.
Ты не раз говорил мне, что я буду одинок...
Когда впоследствии я создам лучшие свои работы, я буду работать не иначе, чем теперь. Это будет то же яблоко, но более спелое. Если я ничего не стою сейчас, то ничего не буду стоить и потом, а если буду стоить потом, то стою чего-то и сейчас. Рожь всегда рожь, хотя бы вначале она и казалась горожанам травой.
Думать о себе, как о художнике, чье творчество непременно (пусть нескоро) найдет признание, а может быть переживет тебя - это нормально. Но мог ли ожидать такого интереса к себе, какой заставит сотни тысяч человек в огромном мире через полтора столетия читать и слушать письма к брату Тео? Наслаждаясь слогом, восхищаясь точными емкими формулировками, находя параллели в собственной жизни. Обретая веру, что все не напрасно.
Про "слушать" сказала неслучайно, не знаю, как обстоит дело с аудиокнигами на других языках, но русскоязычному читателю повезло, обе книги: "Письма к брату Тео" и "Неизвестные письма к брату" есть в формате аудиокниг, прочитанные лучшим, на мой взгляд, чтецом Игорем Князевым. Его сдержанная, интеллигентная, внутренне драматичная исполнительская манера как нельзя лучше отвечает требованиям, предъявляемым этими текстами.
Сегодняшний успех Винсента ван Гога как квинтэссенция судеб прозябавших в нищете и безвестности, непонимаемых и гонимых творцов, которых оценили значительно позже. А все же, что такого в его картинах, с неказистыми людьми и странными пейзажами, что заставляет рафинированных искусствоведов, сплошь юношей и барышень из хороших семей, млеть от восторга? У условного пролетария тоже найдет отклик: "Наш человек, накушался абсента и отрезал себе ухо"
По поводу уха (на самом деле мочки) и абсента, равно как на тему Сотбис с Кристис и "Маков" с "Подсолнухами", которые сегодня продаются за немыслимые деньги - все так. Может потому ван Гог столь притягателен, что он воплощенный оксюморон. Родился в богатой семье, но жил на грани нищеты. Художник самоучка, не имевший академического образования. Неудобный и неприятный в общении, был жалостлив до болезненной нежности к сирым и убогим. Неряшливый в быту, писал идеальные по стилю и отточенности формулировок письма.
Как раз письма могут стать ключом к разгадке личности художника и его успеха. В них маниакальная одержимость работой, постоянные поиски цвета, света, изобразительных средств, эксперименты с живописными техниками, непрерывный автодидакт. В них ужас погружения в чуждую среду, общения с людьми, по определению не умеющими понять тебя, которых учишься любить, зная: не полюбив обстоятельства нынешней своей жизни, не сделаешь того, что должен, да просто свихнешься.
При этом вселенское одиночество, когда никого, с кем мог бы перемолвиться словом на одном с собой языке. Отдушина, единственная связь со своим миром, частично отверженным тобою, большей частью отторгнувшим тебя - эти письма. В них раскрывается душа, а мозг перестает на время функционировать в режиме Гулливера в Лилипутии, им поверяешь надежды, в них прорывается порой отчаяние, но ими же возвращаешь себе внутреннее равновесие.
В сборник вошли письма раннего периода творчества художника, времен"Едоков картофеля" и "Старой церковной башни в Нюэнене", частично захватив период его антверпенского ученичества. В сравнении с каноническими "Письмами к брату Тео", это более личностный, интимный, менее причесанный пласт семейных отношений. Здесь порой проскальзывают упреки и обиды, здесь Винсент позволяет себе укорять Тео в том, что тот мало делает для его продвижения.
Но это исполнено такой трепетной любовью к своему ремеслу, такой немыслимой увлеченностью, в сегодняшних терминах мы назвали бы его гиком, имена Коро, Милле, Лермитта повторяются как заклинание. Такое желанием научиться и стать лучшим, вместе с иррациональной верой, что уже теперь служишь высшему предназначению. Идешь своим, одному тебе назначенным небо�� путем. И да, они прекрасны, эти письма.
Ты не раз говорил мне, что я буду одинок...
Когда впоследствии я создам лучшие свои работы, я буду работать не иначе, чем теперь. Это будет то же яблоко, но более спелое. Если я ничего не стою сейчас, то ничего не буду стоить и потом, а если буду стоить потом, то стою чего-то и сейчас. Рожь всегда рожь, хотя бы вначале она и казалась горожанам травой.
Думать о себе, как о художнике, чье творчество непременно (пусть нескоро) найдет признание, а может быть переживет тебя - это нормально. Но мог ли ожидать такого интереса к себе, какой заставит сотни тысяч человек в огромном мире через полтора столетия читать и слушать письма к брату Тео? Наслаждаясь слогом, восхищаясь точными емкими формулировками, находя параллели в собственной жизни. Обретая веру, что все не напрасно.
Про "слушать" сказала неслучайно, не знаю, как обстоит дело с аудиокнигами на других языках, но русскоязычному читателю повезло, обе книги: "Письма к брату Тео" и "Неизвестные письма к брату" есть в формате аудиокниг, прочитанные лучшим, на мой взгляд, чтецом Игорем Князевым. Его сдержанная, интеллигентная, внутренне драматичная исполнительская манера как нельзя лучше отвечает требованиям, предъявляемым этими текстами.
Сегодняшний успех Винсента ван Гога как квинтэссенция судеб прозябавших в нищете и безвестности, непонимаемых и гонимых творцов, которых оценили значительно позже. А все же, что такого в его картинах, с неказистыми людьми и странными пейзажами, что заставляет рафинированных искусствоведов, сплошь юношей и барышень из хороших семей, млеть от восторга? У условного пролетария тоже найдет отклик: "Наш человек, накушался абсента и отрезал себе ухо"
По поводу уха (на самом деле мочки) и абсента, равно как на тему Сотбис с Кристис и "Маков" с "Подсолнухами", которые сегодня продаются за немыслимые деньги - все так. Может потому ван Гог столь притягателен, что он воплощенный оксюморон. Родился в богатой семье, но жил на грани нищеты. Художник самоучка, не имевший академического образования. Неудобный и неприятный в общении, был жалостлив до болезненной нежности к сирым и убогим. Неряшливый в быту, писал идеальные по стилю и отточенности формулировок письма.
Как раз письма могут стать ключом к разгадке личности художника и его успеха. В них маниакальная одержимость работой, постоянные поиски цвета, света, изобразительных средств, эксперименты с живописными техниками, непрерывный автодидакт. В них ужас погружения в чуждую среду, общения с людьми, по определению не умеющими понять тебя, которых учишься любить, зная: не полюбив обстоятельства нынешней своей жизни, не сделаешь того, что должен, да просто свихнешься.
При этом вселенское одиночество, когда никого, с кем мог бы перемолвиться словом на одном с собой языке. Отдушина, единственная связь со своим миром, частично отверженным тобою, большей частью отторгнувшим тебя - эти письма. В них раскрывается душа, а мозг перестает на время функционировать в режиме Гулливера в Лилипутии, им поверяешь надежды, в них прорывается порой отчаяние, но ими же возвращаешь себе внутреннее равновесие.
В сборник вошли письма раннего периода творчества художника, времен"Едоков картофеля" и "Старой церковной башни в Нюэнене", частично захватив период его антверпенского ученичества. В сравнении с каноническими "Письмами к брату Тео", это более личностный, интимный, менее причесанный пласт семейных отношений. Здесь порой проскальзывают упреки и обиды, здесь Винсент позволяет себе укорять Тео в том, что тот мало делает для его продвижения.
Но это исполнено такой трепетной любовью к своему ремеслу, такой немыслимой увлеченностью, в сегодняшних терминах мы назвали бы его гиком, имена Коро, Милле, Лермитта повторяются как заклинание. Такое желанием научиться и стать лучшим, вместе с иррациональной верой, что уже теперь служишь высшему предназначению. Идешь своим, одному тебе назначенным небо�� путем. И да, они прекрасны, эти письма.
October 30, 2016
Epic, every detail. This Thames & Hudson edition includes a image for every painting, sketch, etc. mentioned by Vincent in his letters whether they be a piece by him or another artist. Hence the 5 volumes. The 6th volume is a brilliant index, cross-referencing at his most obsessed & compulsive. This spectacular edition has without doubts been brought together by some dedicated professionals. A true joy.
August 11, 2011
No other visual artist compares to Vincent in the quality of self-revelation as reflected in his words.
You emerge from the intimate experience of these voluminous letters with an electrified awareness of one of the few human beings who lived every moment of his life absolutely awake.
You emerge from the intimate experience of these voluminous letters with an electrified awareness of one of the few human beings who lived every moment of his life absolutely awake.
April 22, 2018
An illuminating and touching look at the life and soul of Vincent Van Gogh.
November 14, 2012
Vincent Van Gogh wrote hundred of letters to his brother Theo; his main theme, money. Van Gogh was a starving artist, no one appreciated the beauty of his paintings and drawing, so he was broke. He constantly asked or thanked his brother for money, his brother was his main supporter. These stories also also talked about his struggling life, but it was made better from the joy of painting and the occasional times with women. We see how Vincent Van Gogh lived his life, the struggles he faced, and we also saw some of his small sketches that were quite pretty and detailed.
Vincent Van Gogh suffered, and we saw how his slight madness from being broke affected him. He suffered but he used his art to escape. Van Gogh tortured himself so much, he thought a sentimental gift to give to a girl he loved was his ear; so he cut off his ear for her. His occupation affected his lifestyle in poverty, he constantly had to borrow money to survive but his art was his savior.
I really liked that novel because I got to see into Van Gogh's life. We saw how he felt about his loved ones and his art. I really enjoyed looking at all of his sketches, theses are ones that I have never seen before and I they were great. I must admit my favorite part of the novels were the sketches Van Gogh gave to his brother, but his letters were also very compelling, and I enjoyed reading all of the novels.
Vincent Van Gogh suffered, and we saw how his slight madness from being broke affected him. He suffered but he used his art to escape. Van Gogh tortured himself so much, he thought a sentimental gift to give to a girl he loved was his ear; so he cut off his ear for her. His occupation affected his lifestyle in poverty, he constantly had to borrow money to survive but his art was his savior.
I really liked that novel because I got to see into Van Gogh's life. We saw how he felt about his loved ones and his art. I really enjoyed looking at all of his sketches, theses are ones that I have never seen before and I they were great. I must admit my favorite part of the novels were the sketches Van Gogh gave to his brother, but his letters were also very compelling, and I enjoyed reading all of the novels.
September 12, 2015
The Hague, 29 September 1872.
My dear Theo,
Thanks for your letter, I was glad to hear that you got back safely. I missed you the first few days, and it was strange for me not to find you when I came home in the afternoon.
We spent some pleasant days together, and actually did go for some walks and see a thing or two whenever we had the chance.
What terrible weather, you must feel anxious on your walks to Oisterwijk. Yesterday there were trotting races on the occasion of the exhibition,2 but the illumination and fireworks were postponed because of the bad weather, so it’s just as well you didn’t stay to see them. Regards from the Haanebeeks and the Rooses. Ever,
Your loving
Vincent
My dear Theo,
Thanks for your letter, I was glad to hear that you got back safely. I missed you the first few days, and it was strange for me not to find you when I came home in the afternoon.
We spent some pleasant days together, and actually did go for some walks and see a thing or two whenever we had the chance.
What terrible weather, you must feel anxious on your walks to Oisterwijk. Yesterday there were trotting races on the occasion of the exhibition,2 but the illumination and fireworks were postponed because of the bad weather, so it’s just as well you didn’t stay to see them. Regards from the Haanebeeks and the Rooses. Ever,
Your loving
Vincent
March 6, 2014
[image error]
Mark Rylance and Julius D'Silva read from a new edition of Van Gogh's prodigious correspondence.
This selection illustrates the artist's contradictions and complexities: his self-doubt and his passionate ambition; his close bond with his brother Theo; and his sometimes troubled relationships with other family members and fellow artists. What emerges above all is his overriding passion for his art.
Abridged by Doreen Estall.
Broadcast on:
BBC Radio 4, 9:45am Monday 28th December 2009
Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
Mark Rylance and Julius D'Silva read from a new edition of Van Gogh's prodigious correspondence.
This selection illustrates the artist's contradictions and complexities: his self-doubt and his passionate ambition; his close bond with his brother Theo; and his sometimes troubled relationships with other family members and fellow artists. What emerges above all is his overriding passion for his art.
Abridged by Doreen Estall.
Broadcast on:
BBC Radio 4, 9:45am Monday 28th December 2009
Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2010
Mark Rylance and Julius D'Silva read from a new edition of Van Gogh's prodigious correspondence.
This selection illustrates the artist's contradictions and complexities: his self-doubt and his passionate ambition; his close bond with his brother Theo; and his sometimes troubled relationships with other family members and fellow artists. What emerges above all is his overriding passion for his art.
Abridged by Doreen Estall.
Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qftk
This selection illustrates the artist's contradictions and complexities: his self-doubt and his passionate ambition; his close bond with his brother Theo; and his sometimes troubled relationships with other family members and fellow artists. What emerges above all is his overriding passion for his art.
Abridged by Doreen Estall.
Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qftk
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2022
Kniha, která není knihou ale souborem osobních dopisů. Jako literární žánr je to náročné čtení. Van Gogh jako malíř píše lepším způsobem než profesionální spisovatelé. Není to o stylu a formě ale o opravdovosti. Dost autorů by zvládlo takovou knihu vytvořit jako fiktivní román. Pro van Gogha je to ale realita současné situace. Nebojí se o ní psát přímo a otevřeně, protože zrovna tak žije. On je osobnost.
May 31, 2008
I pick this up often and read parts of it. Absolutely love it!
shelved-for-now
March 15, 2009Later I may add some more articulate words. Right now, I am simply drooling over this collection and savoring the letters.
August 4, 2008
if you have the time and the inclination, these letters are desperate, beautiful, and raw.
June 1, 2012
Great painter, great author. Images are too small.
June 5, 2014
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Most endearing letters I've ever read. I'm glad all those individuals saved that print, because it was the most rewarding reading I've done.
March 1, 2016
Epic.
October 25, 2015
Read these a number of years ago and forgot about them; would reread; but remember feeling shortchanged by an artist not destined to be a great writer but felt consoled by his great paintings.
June 30, 2016
The letters of Van Gogh. A real glimpse into who the person behind the artist was.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews