Van Gogh's 'Diary': The Artist's Life in His Own Words and Art

by Vincent van Gogh

The books spine is in bad shape with a piece missing from the top part and bottom. The pages are not loose and are in great condition.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1971

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

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book/diary provide a lot of information. I learned a lot about Van Gogh and his life. I appreciated the extra info provided by the editor, Jan Hulsker. It definitely made the letters make more sense to someone who hasn't followed Van Gogh's life. The drawings/painting of course were wonderful and it was neat to see the time in Van Gogh's life and what was occuring when they were created.

This "diary" led me to think a couple of things and have numerous questions:
- God forbid anyone ever read my letters I wrote as a juvenile to my camp buddies or e-mails or texts as a adult to my friends to assess my life and state of mind.
- The judgement that Van Gogh felt for his lack of direction in life hasn't changed much at all in the last 100 years but yet has changed completely. How many struggling artists are accepted as "normal" in today's culture? How many self-reflect the same judgement? How many are still supported by family? How many don't have family to support them?
- What was the criteria for institutionalization in the late 1800's? If we would use that same criteria today would there be anyone living in freedom?

[Catherine Valentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read.

[Suzan Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Changed my mind completely about how Vincent Van Gogh had to live and how he died. Clearer picture of the negative political atmosphere around the creative art world at that time.