Items related to Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Letters of Vincent Van Gogh - Softcover

  • 4.1 out of 5 stars
    101,460 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780684843001: Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Synopsis

Most unusually among major painters, Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) was also an accomplished writer. His letters provide both a unique self-portrait and a vivid picture of the contemporary cultural scene. Van Gogh emerges as a complex but captivating personality, struggling with utter integrity to fulfil his artistic destiny. This major new edition, which is based on an entirely new translation, reinstating a large number of passages omitted from earlier editions, is expressly designed to reveal his inner journey as much as the outward facts of his life. It includes complete letters wherever possible, linked with brief passages of connecting narrative and showing all the pen-and-ink sketches that originally went with them. Despite the familiar image of Van Gogh as an antisocial madman who died a martyr to his art, his troubled life was rich in friendships and generous passions. In his letters we discover the humanitarian and religious causes he embraced, his fascination with the French Revolution, his striving for God and for ethical ideals, his desperate courtship of his cousin, Kee Vos, and his largely unsuccessful search for love. All of this, suggests De Leeuw, demolishes some of the myths surrounding Van Gogh and his career but brings hint before us as a flesh-and-blood human being, an individual of immense pathos and spiritual depth. Perhaps even more moving, these letters illuminate his constant conflicts as a painter, torn between realism, symbolism and abstraction; between landscape and portraiture; between his desire to depict peasant life and the exciting diversions of the city; between his uncanny versatility as a sketcher and his ideal of the full-scale finished tableau. SinceVan Gogh received little feedback from the public, he wrote at length to friends, fellow artists and his family, above all to his brother Theo, the Parisian art dealer, who was his confidant and mainstay. Along with his intense powers of visual imagination, Vincent brought to the

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review

This thorough collection of van Gogh's letters has been assembled with an artful eye and sensitivity to the artist's thinking. The result is an atypical take on Vincent van Gogh that avoids putting too much stress on his troubled mental state and too much straining by the editor to shape a narrative out of van Gogh's epistolary clues. Instead, we see the thoughtful and contemplative side of this creative genius, as well as his concern for the impact his art and life had on those people closest to him.

About the Author

Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) was born in Holland. He became an assistant with an international firm of art-dealers and in 1881 he went to Brussels to study art. After an unsuccessful love affair with his cousin he returned to Holland and in 1885 he painted his first masterpiece, The Potato Eaters, a haunting scene of domestic poverty. A year later his brother Theo, an art dealer, enabled him to study in Paris, where he met Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Seurat, who became very important influences on his work.

In 1888 he left Paris for the Provençal landscape at Arles, the subject of many of his best works, including "Sunflowers" and "The Chair and the Pipe." It was here Van Gogh cut off his ear, in remorse for threatening Gauguin with a razor during a quarrel, and he was placed in an asylum for a year. On July 7, 1890 Van Gogh shot himself at the scene of his last painting, the foreboding "Cornfields with Flight of Birds," and he died two days later.

Ronald de Leeuw has been the director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam since 1986. He trained as an art historian at the universities of Los Angeles, California, and of Leiden, The Netherlands. As a specialist in nineteenth-century painting, he has been responsible for numerous exhibitions in The Netherlands and abroad, including the 1990 Vincent Van Gogh Centennial retrospective in Amsterdam. Since 1990 Ronald de Leeuw has also directed the Museum Mesdag in The Hague, known for its fine Barbizon and Hague School holdings. In 1994 he was appointed professor extraordinary in the history of collecting at the Free University of Amsterdam.

Arnold Pomerans was born in 1920 and was educated in South Africa. He emigrated to England in 1948, and from 1948 to 1955 taught physics in London. In 1955 he became a full-time translator and has had just under two hundred major works issued by leading British and US publishers. Among the authors translated by him are Louis de Broglie, Anne Frank, Sigmund Freud, George Grosz, Jan Huizinga, Jean Piaget and Jules Romain.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherTouchstone
  • Publication date1997
  • ISBN 10 0684843005
  • ISBN 13 9780684843001
  • BindingPaperback
  • LanguageEnglish
  • Edition number4
  • Number of pages368
  • EditorMark Roskill
  • Rating
    • 4.1 out of 5 stars
      101,460 ratings by Goodreads

Buy Used

Condition: Fair
Item in good condition. Textbooks... Learn more about this copy

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.

Destination, rates & speeds

Add to basket

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Vincent Van Gogh
Published by Touchstone, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Softcover

Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.

Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Condition: Acceptable. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00071650646

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 7.24
Convert currency
Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Stock Image

Vincent Van Gogh
Published by Touchstone, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Paperback

Seller: HPB Inc., Dallas, TX, U.S.A.

Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_386711892

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 3.50
Convert currency
Shipping: US$ 3.75
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Stock Image

Roskill, Mark
Published by Touchstone Books, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Paperback

Seller: ThriftBooks-Reno, Reno, NV, U.S.A.

Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.7. Seller Inventory # G0684843005I3N00

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 7.28
Convert currency
Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Stock Image

Roskill, Mark
Published by Touchstone Books, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Paperback

Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.

Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.7. Seller Inventory # G0684843005I3N00

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 7.31
Convert currency
Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Stock Image

Roskill, Mark
Published by Touchstone Books, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Paperback

Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.

Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Paperback. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.7. Seller Inventory # G0684843005I5N00

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 7.31
Convert currency
Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Stock Image

Roskill, Mark
Published by Touchstone Books, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Paperback

Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.

Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Paperback. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.7. Seller Inventory # G0684843005I5N00

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 7.31
Convert currency
Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Stock Image

Roskill, Mark
Published by Touchstone Books, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Paperback

Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.

Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.7. Seller Inventory # G0684843005I3N00

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 7.31
Convert currency
Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Stock Image

Vincent Van Gogh
Published by Touchstone, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Paperback

Seller: HPB-Diamond, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.

Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_414485983

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 5.19
Convert currency
Shipping: US$ 3.75
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Stock Image

Vincent Van Gogh
Published by Touchstone, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Softcover

Seller: vladimir belskiy, Alexandria, VA, U.S.A.

Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars 4-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Condition: Used: Very Good. some light underlinings. Seller Inventory # 4C-L59S-230F

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 5.00
Convert currency
Shipping: US$ 4.80
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Stock Image

Van Gogh, Vincent
Published by Touchstone, 1997
ISBN 10: 0684843005 ISBN 13: 9780684843001
Used Paperback First Edition

Seller: Vashon Island Books, Vashon, WA, U.S.A.

Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars 4-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. First Thus. Size: Mass Market. Book. Seller Inventory # 0841367

Contact seller

Buy Used

US$ 4.95
Convert currency
Shipping: US$ 5.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

There are 6 more copies of this book

View all search results for this book