Overview

“I believe in the absolute necessity of a new art of colour, of drawing and—of the artistic life,” Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in 1888. “And if we work in that faith, it seems to me that there’s a chance that our hopes won’t be in vain.” His prediction would come true. In his brief and explosively creative life—he committed suicide a few years later at the age of thirty-seven—Van Gogh made us see the world in a new way. His shining landscapes of Provence and somber portraits of workers shattered the relationship between light and dark, and his hallucinatory visions were so bright they nearly blinded the world. He was a great writer as well. In his six hundred–plus letters to Theo he chronicled with heartbreaking urgency his mental breakdowns, acrimonious family relations, and struggles with art dealers, who largely ignored him until the last years of his life. Shading this dark story is the artist’s acquaintance with prostitutes and penury, stormy scenes with his friend Paul Gauguin, and dissipated Parisian nights with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Julian Bell’s passion for his subject brings the painter to life. Bell writes with slashing intensity, at once scholarly and defiantly partisan. “I have written this book out of my love for Vincent van Gogh, the uniquely exciting painter, and Vincent van Gogh, the letter writer of heart-piercing eloquence,” he declares. For Bell, Van Gogh was an artistic genius and more: he was a wonder of the world.

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9781477801291

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Reviews

“What distinguishes Bell’s elegant rendering is an astute perception of his artistic vision and shimmering descriptions of his work…A graceful, empathetic, deeply probing portrait.” —Kirkus Reviews “Bell brings his insight as a fellow artist to the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh in a condensed, accessible primer on the renowned artist.” —Publishers Weekly “Vincent Van Gogh’s life story is almost too well known, but Julian Bell has made it harrowing, urgent, and touching all over again. Bell’s pulsing, immaculately carpentered language is an event in itself. Passage after passage made me stare in wonder (and some jealousy) at his word choices and the never conventional rhythms of his sentences. And how great to have Van Gogh’s story told without heroics or sentimentality—and with the edgy vitality with which it was lived.” —Sanford Schwartz “Van Gogh writes beautifully about his own life and art, but his words don’t always match what he painted or what he did. Bell works the gaps, poring over a drawing, scanning the artistic horizon, backtracking to make a connection, delivering an irreverent aside. Bell interprets; the result is captivating.” —The New York Times Book Review “A splendid new biography.” —The New York Review of Books “An impressively concise biography.” —The Wall Street Journal “[A] short, fervent biography…a respectful portrait of van Gogh.” —The Washington Post “Bell, like van Gogh, writes to explain what painting won’t.” —The Toronto Star

What distinguishes Bell's elegant rendering is an astute perception of his artistic vision and shimmering descriptions of his work...A graceful, empathetic, deeply probing portrait. -Kirkus Reviews Bell brings his insight as a fellow artist to the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh in a condensed, accessible primer on the renowned artist. -Publishers Weekly Vincent Van Gogh's life story is almost too well known, but Julian Bell has made it harrowing, urgent, and touching all over again. Bell's pulsing, immaculately carpentered language is an event in itself. Passage after passage made me stare in wonder (and some jealousy) at his word choices and the never conventional rhythms of his sentences. And how great to have Van Gogh's story told without heroics or sentimentality-and with the edgy vitality with which it was lived. -Sanford Schwartz Van Gogh writes beautifully about his own life and art, but his words don't always match what he painted or what he did. Bell works the gaps, poring over a drawing, scanning the artistic horizon, backtracking to make a connection, delivering an irreverent aside. Bell interprets; the result is captivating. -The New York Times Book Review A splendid new biography. -The New York Review of Books An impressively concise biography. -The Wall Street Journal [A] short, fervent biography...a respectful portrait of van Gogh. -The Washington Post Bell, like van Gogh, writes to explain what painting won't. -The Toronto Star

Author Information

Julian Bell is a painter and writer who lives in Lewes, England. He is the author of Mirror of the World: A New History of Art and What Is Painting? Representation and Modern Art, among other books.

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