The Letters of a Post-Impressionist: Being the Familiar Correspondence of Vincent Van Gogh by Van Gogh

by Vincent van Gogh, Anthony M. Ludovici (Translator)

The Familiar Correspondence of Vincent Van Gogh. First published in this English translation in 1913.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography

158 pages, Paperback

First published April 13, 2012

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

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion, then I go out and paint the stars.”

My favorite painting. Just put this to full screen (during night time), maximize the brightness and then switch off the lights and you will see what he means. Just try it:

[Auti · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. So much enthusiasm!! I thought Jonathan Richman's song about him must have been as idealized as Don McLean's, but it conveys the vibe of these letters really well. "The man loved life, folks, and he let it show" etc.
2. I'm not including the introduction in my rating because it's just hot garbage.
3. I'm into how much he was trying to get artists to make collectives to look out for each other and how he was all about taking care of people rather than extracting art from them.
4. He exoticizes just about everyone south of the bourgeoisie, including victims of colonialism. On the other hand, the way he talks about colonization shows how much of an excuse it is to say "they didnt know any better." He doesn't have any special insight on the subject and still understands that it's deplorable.
5. He often offers to drop painting entirely so he can take some of the money-making burden off his brother. They're really supportive of each other in general.
6. When people talk about Van Gogh as a tormented artist, I feel like they're ignoring the fact that pretty much all of the problems he talks about are from not having money. Painting itself does make him happy. He wouldnt have to burn himself out and exacerbate his mental condition repeatedly if he wasnt continually too broke to eat. The ""tragedy of van gogh"" isnt that the art world didnt reward how good he was before being too good at art got to him, it's that having enough to live on was the reward that was withheld. Plenty of everyday, mediocre, and maybe-someday artists die(d) from poverty, and they deserve to live longer too.

"When our relations with a painter are so strained as to make us say: “If that fellow exhibits any of his pictures by the side of mine, I shall withdraw mine,” and then proceed to abuse him, it seems to me that this is not the proper way to act; for, previous to arriving at such drastic conclusions one should make quite sure, and give the matter careful thought. After due reflection we are almost sure to find—particularly when we happen to be at loggerheads with the artist—that there is as much to criticize in our own work as in the other man’s. He has as much right to exist as we have. When it is remembered that this man or that—be he a pointilliste or a member of another school—has often done good work, instead of disparaging him, we should speak of him with respect and sympathy, more particularly if he happen to be in disagreement with us. Otherwise we become too narrow-minded and are no better than those who can say no good of others and regard themselves alone as right. The observance of this principle ought even to be extended to the academicians. Take one of Fantin-Latour’s pictures, for instance, or even the whole of his life-work! In any case he is not a revolutionary, and yet there is something restful and confident in his work, which elevates him to the rank of the most independent characters. For the good of all concerned, it is worth while abandoning the selfish principle: “Everyone for himself.”"

[Riham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yesterday I just finished the book "Letters of a post-impressionist: being the familiar correspondance of Vincent Van Gogh...
All I knew of Van Gogh was his tragic life story of failures and insanity and his success, almost unmatched, later on after his death...The Starry Night and The Potato Eaters...The Orchards blossoming...Through the letters you get to know the real Van Gogh...the one infatuated by the beauty of nature and insisting on investing his whole life to bring that beauty into an Art work...
Art is not the extraordinary...art is giving "life" to the ordinary...Van Gogh believed that art work done with real love of nature and of men will be more beautiful and lively that just wanting to do something extreme...That being famous and wealthy isn't the aim of the artist..but conveying beauty and art itself is his aim...
That art is a perspective "to see" and the artist is the one whose duty is to work on making what is obviously invisible visible to people...
A very impressive part of the book of Vincent drawing from the asylum window telling his brother that when the artist is in melanchony he can show it in his art...and if peaceful he can...
A man who spent days only drinking coffee out if poverty just to save money for working...A man who believed in the supremity of Art and the importance of investing a life ,a soul, a whole in one's work is worth every respect...
Somehow Van Gogh's work carried his soul with flowers, peasants, faces telling what he wanted to tell..
In the end when Vincent felt he's heading towards insanity he said that he chose to end his life whike he still knows who he is..
May Allah bless every soul who shared in showing the beauty of creation and spread seeds of beauty through our lives...God bless them....

[Skrivena stranica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vrlo lijepo i u mnogim stvarima se divim Vincentovoj viziji umjetnosti i što bi ona trebala biti makar u nekim stvarima idem u suprotnom smjeru. Ali ipak, u različitim smo granama umjetnosti. Ovo izdanje izdvojilo je njegova pisma koja govore o slikarstvu, što je lijepo, ali nedostaju mi i neka druga promišljanja i svakodnevica. Svakako vrijedi pročitati, pogotovo ako ste ljubitelji van Gogha i/ili impresionizma u slikarstvu.

[Amle · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has never understood art in the "correct" way of doing so, and as someone who has never before felt any interest for impressionist styles of painting, this really affected me.
I had beforehand a rather basic understanding of the life and troubles of Van Gogh but I had never read anything straight from his lips, straight from his mind. I knew he had suffered greatly from both physical and psychological ailments, I knew that he had been rejected romantically and by people he called friends and from some even in his family. I knew about the great dramatic incident of the cutting off of his ear and the departure of his friend, I had heard that he had taken his own life but I was not sure how.
To read how he ignored and trivialised the pain he was in and to see how swiftly all of that faded when he dug into his passion, it forces you to understand that he had a marvelous mind.
The letters he writes to his brother are the greatest joy to read. Their closeness and the visible dedication Theo has for Vincent shines through in the replies.
I wish there had been more letters, I wish more personal things had been allowed to be published but the little we are given here have already touched me deeply. At times I felt almost emotionally drained by the intensity of it all.
I would have wished a large printed edition of this that included a huge print of whatever image, painting, sketch he would be describing at that moment but in my case I did an Internet search for the images and it helped me see what he meant.
I can now say that I look at his paintings in a different way, in a way that would hopefully please the artist. I'm pretty sure that I'll pick up something biographical with Vincent as the subject, quite soon again.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely Vincent. Inspirational and a nice insight, but lacking in explanation/context of each letter. It was free to download though, so can't complain! Hope to read 'The Letters of Vincent van Gogh' for more letters and info.

[Laura]

Free download available at Project Gutenberg.

[Manar Awad · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a reader who did not know much about impressionists and post impressionists, but yet a fan of Gogh's works, I was really interested by these letters and the essay represented as a whole. Luckily, It is really crazy that we at our own time are able to savor his time through his vivid letters.
I'd like to review chronologically throughout my reading.
I was really into reading something that can describe art in the eyes of the artists themselves and to have a better look into what can be seen in the eyes of the beholder.
And as the writer said in his introductory essay :

“For art is always the expression of the most sensitive men of an age”

And that is clearly, undeniably true.
Vincent was one of the most sensitive men of his age, he painted his soul, thoughts, passion and sensitivity into his work.
And there was a sensitive part of Vincent that was invoking sympathy by people, and a certain criticism about publishing his letters, that it is his privacy, and I liked when the writer described the letters and denied the buzz of those thoughts- that publishing Vincent's letters was an act of none-sense and inhuman- when he said :
“They simply took shape quite naturally in his moments of respite, when he felt the need of unburdening his heart to some sympathetic listener; and in writing them he was as ingenuous and as unembarrassed as a child.”

Starting with Vincent letter I was fascinated by every detail, details that specifically meant to him.

“The highest art, then, must be the art that seeks its meaning in the highest form of life.”
That is what art meant to Vincent, and he started searching for his aim, he started seeking the highest form of life.

I was stopped by numerous quotes when I was reading his letters to his brother Theo. I sensed the strong bond between them, and the trust as well.
The enthusiasm of Vincent when he started to recognize where he's going and what he wants to achieve.
And how art was his beautiful lover.
And he describes it as follows :
“Art is jealous; she will not allow illness to take precedence of her. And I give in to her.” Said Vincent to his brother Theo.
I could not stop diving into his letters, i felt the meaning, it had that aroma, not because of its intimacy only, but because of the devotion in his words and his love to his art, and his love to life.
And I quote again :
“it is my most fervent desire to know how one can achieve such deviations from reality, such inaccuracies and such transfigurations, that come about by chance.”
He wanted to be divergent. No matter how criticized he was. Painting wasn't for him a covered canvas waiting for embracement by others, it was putting his soul into a portrait, or a drawing. He wanted to paint infinity, and the highest form of life.
Gogh was still optimistic, or lets say a very big dreamer, and a believer as well.
I was drowning into his words and his colors, the feeling of how much passion he had for painting is very vigorous and alive!

“I am thinking of decorating my studio with half a dozen sunflowers. It will be a decorative effect in which the glaring or broken tones of chromes will stand out vividly against a background of variegated blue, ranging from the most delicate emerald green to royal blue, enclosed in narrow strips of golden yellow. It will produce the sort of effect that Gothic church-windows do.”
I couldn't help stop quoting scenes that made me IMAGINE.

Im gonna name what Im about to quote and review as the second phase of his letters or the transmission in his life.
He started thinking about future, what future holds, and what should the ideal future artist be ?
He expresses to his brother in his later letters, as follows : “there is an art of the future, and it must be so beautiful and so young that even if we now sacrifice our own youth to it, we must make up our loss in the joy of living and in peace.”
And adds : “I do not see the future black, but full of difficulties, and often I ask myself whether these will not prove stronger than I”
I guess that is where he started to actually think more of difficulties in his life, and in life overall. He was trying, hardly, but trying.
Throughout all financial, physical exhaustion he was into -and hiding it-.

Through his long journey, he kept fighting for his love to art.
“He fired a bullet at himself, and, a few hours later, while lying in bed smoking his pipe, with all his wits about him, full of passionate love for his art, and without any feelings of resentment towards humanity, he quietly passed away.”
This was a pleasant read for me.💚

[Serhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

vincent van gogh, sanata merakı olmayanların dahi ilgisini çekmeyi başarabilmiş bir sanatçı. resim dünyasında neredeyse incil kadar popüler tablolardan biri olan “yıldızlı gece”nin sahibi. kulağını kesmiş, akıl hastanesinde kalmış ve kendini vurarak intihar etmiş olduğunu; biraz sanata ilgisi olan herkes bilir. vincent van gogh’u bu kadar özel yapan şey nedir, ben de isimlendiremiyorum açıkçası; ama günümüzde resim dendiği zaman akla gelen 3-5 isimden birisi, özellikle de türkiye’de. empresyonizm akımındaki öncülerinden çok daha tanınır olmasını trajik hayat öyküsüne ya da pazarlama başarısına bağlayanlar da vardır muhakkak. bana kalırsa van gogh’un adı konulmayan bir alametifarikası bulunuyor, mektuplarını okurken bunun farkına daha fazla vardım.

kardeşine yazdığı mektuplarda resim konusunda ne kadar tutkulu olduğunu detaylarıyla anlatırken, hayatından ne kadar ödün verdiğini de okuyoruz. hem rahatsızlıkları hem maddi durumu sebebiyle zorlandığı bir hayata tutunmak için sanatta kendisini bulmuş ve bu yolda azimle çaba göstermiş. sadece teknik olarak değil, teorik olarak da harcadığı eforu mektuplarında görüyoruz. resme dair bilgi seviyesini artırmak için müzelerde bulunan resimlerden tutun da, kendi çağdaşlarının çalışmalarına bile hakim olmaya çalıştığını mektuplarından anlaşılıyor. kendisinin de farkında. hem mevcut durumunda iyileştirilmesi gereken özelliklerinden sürekli bahsediyor, hem de eserlerinin ne kadar değerli olduğunun bilincinde. resim sanatına dair bilgisi eserleri tanımaktan ibaret değil, ayrıca benzerliklerin ve farklılıkların da farkında. iyi resim yapmanın yanında bu eserlerini mektuplarında mükemmel şekilde tasvir etmiş.

kitabın başında anthony ludovici’nin van gogh hakkındaki yazısını okuyoruz. yine bu mektuplardan yola çıkarak, van gogh’a dair fikirlerini aktarmış. bu kısım o kadar iyi şekilde her şeyi özetlemiş ki, review yazmaya bile gerek olmadığını düşünüyordum. van gogh’un yazdığı mektuplardan nasıl bir çıkarım yapmamız gerekiyorsa, her şeyi yazmış.

gerçek bir dahinin mektuplarını okumak farklı bir deneyim. bu mektupları bir gün herkesin okuyacağını bilmeden yazmış, bu sebeple herhangi bir gösteriş olmadan tamamen samimi şekilde kendisini görüyoruz. kardeşine ve arkadaşlarına bağlılığından da dersler çıkarılabilir, bugün böyle gerçek ilişkiler yaşamıyoruz. sanata ilgisi olan herkesin mutlaka okuması gerektiğini düşünüyorum.

[iba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concerning the last days of his friend, Gauguin writes as follows: “In his last letter from Auvers, near Pontoise, he said that he had always hoped that his health might so far improve as to permit him to paint with me in Brittany, but that he was then convinced that recovery was out of the question.

‘My dear master, after having known you and grieved you, it is more dignified to die while I am fully conscious of what I am doing, than to take leave of this world in a state which degrades me.’

He fired a bullet at himself, and, a few hours later, while lying in bed smoking his pipe, with all his wits about him, full of passionate love for his art, and without any feelings of resentment towards humanity, he quietly passed away.”

[Avery M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Van Gogh's letters are beautifully written, and it was wonderful hearing his descriptions of his art, the art of his friends and peers, and what inspired him. This is not a full collection of his letters and definitely focuses mostly on his descriptions of artworks or studies, and his relationship with other impressionists at the time. I plan to eventually read a more complete collection of his letters, because beyond these descriptions you also get a glimpse of an incredibly loving man full of passion and a steadfast belief in his art.

Would have been 4 stars but I got bored with the intro and skipped like half of it...

[Jordi Polo Carres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los pensamientos y las preocupaciones diarias de Van Gogh.
Lo que me ha sorprendido es que se preocupaba mucho sobre dinero, ya que era pobre, apenas podia pagarse comida y pasa dias enteros sin comer a veces, no me extraña.
Y le preocupaba el arte, pero no le preocupaba no triunfar, sino no hacerlo lo suficientemente pronto como para poder dejar de tener esas preocupaciones de dinero.

Yo creo que sabia que lo que hacia tenia valor pero le preocupaba no poder demostrarlo.

En todo caso, una gran ventana a los pensamientos de una persona muy influyente en arte. Interesantisimo.

[allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me so long to finish it, because I wanted to take his sentiments to heart. I had to deal with a lot of technical, artistic terms, but seeing how Vincent was truly filled with so much passion, tenacity, and empathy made me want to get to know him more. Oh, to be in love with beauty and art.

[Pam Strachan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had really looked forward to this book, but found it frustrating as often I didn’t know the references of the letters.
Apart from his enthusiasm, I didn’t feel I learnt anymore about him.
His final letter to Gauguin is devastating.

[ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

you can feel his passion and his love for what he does, and rarely have i witnessed someone so willing to give up everything for every little thing he adores

[Shelby Nower · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how Vincent describes his paintings to his brother Theo. If it was modern times, he could just take a quick photo, but, unless he wants to repaint the piece and send a copy, he has to be as descriptive as possible. He mentions the light on the water looked like an Emile Breton painting, and I had to Google what his work looked like. Breton has some of the moodiest pieces I've ever seen. Truly a master of the light peeking through the barren winter trees.

If you look back at Van Gogh's early work, you can see he took a lot of inspiration from Emile. He tries to use that same moody lighting in his art, giving everything a very dark atmosphere. They're not bad paintings, but they're so different from what we know he is capable of later. Had he stuck with this style, I don't think he'd be the great artist we all know today. Van Gogh's name is practically synonymous with color, if something is described as being reminiscent of a Van Gogh, you probably picture a vibrant image with decisive brushstrokes. "But what I wanted to say is that when I am painting things present themselves to me in color, which formally I never used to see--things full of breadth and vigor."

Love this quote from him, reminds me of myself: "I literally cannot stand, and yet I can neither forsake my work nor take a rest. [....] For a while you are utterly exhausted, but you soon get right again: and then at least you are the richer for having garnered a number of studies, as the peasant garners a load of hay."

Vincent discusses creating vs philosophizing, saying "The busier I am, the better; I prefer a piece of work that is a failure to inactivity." Basically, he's saying that sitting around talking philosophy is not near as important as creating something lasting, and I agree. I hate when people only sit and discuss things, never actually doing the things themselves.

He talks about how unknown painters are just as important (or even more so) than famous ones. "And in the presence of a number of pictures by almost unknown painters, one is conscious of the great energy, feeling, passion, and love with which they are painted." He comments on how every day workmen are everywhere, but they are hardly painted compared to all the models at the art academy who pose for mythical paintings.

He laments that most painters have studios in town and only paint in the same hours, between 11-3, resulting in the same lighting.

When Van Gogh talks about painting his bedroom, he says it "shall suggest absolute peace and slumber to the spectator". And I guess it does. To me, the room has always looked a little bare, but I guess it's just not my style.

He remarks on Gauguin's painting of him painting sunflowers, saying "My expression has certainly grown more cheerful since then, but at that time I looked just like that--absolutely exhausted and charged with electricity."

"Painting studies is simply a taking of herbs to calm one, and when one is calm, well....then one does what one is fitted for."

Found out St. Luke is the patron saint of painting and his symbol is an ox. Nice.

"I want to paint humanity, humanity, and again humanity."

I find it interesting that Van Gogh is already seeing the limits of paint over time, saying "You were right to order from the colorman's the geranium lake which I have just received. All the colors that Impressionism has brought into fashion are rather prone to lose some of their strength. That is why they should be laid on boldly and glaringly; for time will be sure to deaden them more than necessary. "

He also it constantly asking for more money to live, saying once that he hasn't had a real meal for quite some time, and that "During these four days I have lived principally upon 23 cups of coffee and the bread I ate with them."

[Ryan Watkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Listened to the LibriVox version which has many issues. Some quotes are read in different languages with no English translation. Two chapters are read by a women with such a strong accent that it is difficult to understand.

The book consists of a variety of letters Van Gogh had written to his brother, Theodore, and his friend and portrait painter, E. Bernard, within the last few years of his life. In most of the letters he talks about what he is painting or about other artists like the Dutch Masters, Rembrandt, Gogan, Japanese artists, etc. Other topics Van Gogh discusses are his love of color and nature, and his personal life like his poverty and depression.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing. I ordered his full set of letters after dipping into this. Not just a painter (whom I'm not really that fond of), but an amazing, soulful writer as well. A delight to read.

[Akhil Raveendran · Rating 5 out of 5]

it remain incomplete.