Van Gogh: The Life

I’m half way through the book and it is very thoroughly researched. In fact, sometimes I think it offers too much information or background. However, if you want to know Van Gogh, this is a great source. At times, it ruins my idolized image of the painter as it presents him as a demanding, manipulative narcissist. Other times, he is shown as a tender, caring soul. Reading it is painful at times as you feel Van Gogh’s frustration and his family’s angst.

Naifeh and Smith’s biography of Van Gough is one of the best biographies I have ever read. Given that the book is over 1,500 pages (ebook) and Vincent only lived 37 years, I am grateful it was so captivating in its presentation of one of the most wretched souls to ever live. Vincent’s life was unremitting misery, often brought on by his own argumentative, sometimes violent, totally uncompromising, and often self deluded personality. The writing absolutely sparkles like a starry night and provides a strangely satisfying feeling in reading about such a tormented soul. Probably the most groundbreaking aspect of the biography is the authors’ contention that Vincent did not commit suicide (as is often thought but is instead Hollywood hype) but resulted from an accident perpetrated by a rich, spoiled, and totally repugnant teenager (whom Vincent didn’t like) and his sensitive artistic brother (whom Vincent did). The biography gives ample evidence to support this contention. This is a highly readable biography that is thoroughly researched but not bogged down by overwhelming use of notes (they do offer you to see their documentation in a separate online forum but if published with the bio would have swelled the book to over 4,000 pages.) At the end, despite his many, many faults, Vincent is a sympathetic figure tortured by a world that could never satisfy him. Theo was his only support and the two brothers are beautifully portrayed as mutually dependent—bound together by Theo’s generosity and the power of Vincent’s artistic vision.

Confession: I am not a voracious reader. So perhaps this review will target others like me or those simply looking for an introduction to learning more about Vincent Van Gogh. Like many of the reviews here I saw the authors promoting this book on TV. Two issues raised my interest in reading their book: Vincent's Christian upbringing and his personal belief's and the circumstances regarding his death. More on the latter in a moment. I found reading this book to be both fascinating and frustrating. The BAD: First: The authors clearly exhaustively researched his life and present so many details about his life and art, and family and the culture(s) of their times I began to feel like I knew Vincent and his family. I'm sure art historians will add this book to their library but for the casual reader like myself this tended to feel like over-kill at times. For example, at first it was engaging to read Vincent's correspondence with his brother and others about his thoughts on creating his art and his elaborate views on color theory...but after a while it felt like watching hours of a friend's vacation videos. For me, highlights in both cases would be more than enough. :) Second: There is some curious repetition where details are repeated and no reference is made to the earlier mention. This only happens a handful of times but it gives the book an un-edited manuscript feel in places. Third: Along the same lines as my second point, it seemed that the narrative sometimes makes confusing jumps in time, like a bicycle chain slipping between gears. This made me wonder if the book was rushed from the writing stage to publishing, with no time to smooth these areas out. Fourth: I have a fairly large vocabulary. But there were times when the authors used words I not only didn't know...but in many cases had never even heard before. Rather than run to the computer or keep a dictionary handy I chose to just plow through those sections, knowing I was reading for pleasure and "those words wouldn't be on the test!" ;) Fifth: Again on the same lines as number 4, the authors used and re-used foreign language words and phrases repeatedly throughout the book. Although definitions and translations were provided, since I read the book over several weeks I would often forget their meaning. I also think that a few times foreign words and phrases were used without explanation. Perhaps I'm wrong about this...but either way again it meant more plowing through sections without complete understanding. -- Warning: The next paragraph contains a spoiler if you don't know anything about Vincent's life -- Sixth: The narrative is sometimes told very flatly. For example, the horror of Vincent mutilating himself is told very matter-of-factly over a single page. The next chapter then pieces together the details behind that horrifying night. I'm not suggesting that this event should have been exaggerated in any way...but it could have been presented in a more compelling way, building in details and drama. Seventh: Finally to the circumstances of Van Gogh's death. TV interviews were focused in large part around the book's contentions made about Vincent's death. But if you are looking for a "smoking gun" (pun intended :) you won't find it here. The authors do present some interesting theories and possibly fill in some blanks...but they cannot draw any firm, definitive conclusions. In addition some of this is presented in appendix form, which again, gives this section more of a manuscript feel. The GOOD: This book is exhaustive as I mentioned. Some sections are well written and well told and go by very quickly...100 pages at a crack (great when you're dealing with an 800+ page book)! Your heart will break for Vincent and his family as their lives spin out of control from family issues, mental illness and disease, and the strict confines of the Dutch Culture of the time. You can literally feel Vincent's sorrow about his Father and Mother's stern, un-flexible personalities. His inability to win their support and approval is repeated in his desperate attempts to find his place in the world. Vincent's brother Theo comes across like a hero...but both brothers' lives feed off of their need for each other. Vincent's life was both sad and beautiful, and learning more about him really brings his art to life. Even with the negatives I elaborated above...I'm glad I read this book. Perhaps there will be another edition where some of those weaknesses will be addressed (hey...it's my review...I can dream if I want to :) As you see I still gave it 4 of 5 stars...but wanted to add my review to the mix so that others like me would know what they were getting themselves into if they buy this book. Happy reading!

This exceptionally well researched and written biography is an incredible read. I’ve been an admirer of Van Gogh’s work my entire life. Now I understand the man more completely. This amazing read goes into great depth behind Van Gogh’s life, struggles, and work. Just an amazing book to know Van Gogh more completely.

First of all, I purchased the book after hearing that one of my songwriting idols was inspired and somewhat influenced by Vincent's shared witness of imagery throughout his life as an artist. Even though the longest book I have ever read, I stuck with it to the bitter end, and like a great song, it was filled with tension and release. I thought the biographic essence of the book provided helpful information to assist the reader in understanding why Vincent's life was filled with more unescapable doom and melancholy, than a life of peaceful spirit. During the Dutch years, I definitely sympathized with Vincent, and his conviction for dwelling on black and white/ peasant-themed subjects, such as The Potato Eaters and Sorrow. The reader would soon learn that he didn't just see the images, he would inhabit them into his consciousness as effects of what had happened. He would go on to state that he was beginning to see colors never possessed before, and the discovery of hidden harmonies. As the book transitioned into the French years, it was quite apparent that his struggles with melancholic behavior continued, but with a mind that revered art in ways that could lead us all to the creation of a more exalting and consoling nature. During his time in Arles, I began to enjoy and appreciate reading about his continued maturity as a painter. Through metaphoric illustrations, he referenced color as his music and the brush as his instrument. He also compared his life to a one-way journey on a fast-moving train, where the passenger doesn't see the engine. And finally, in reference to "Starry Night"; the figure of Christ represented by the dark blue sky and all the stars symbolizing God's promise to make light out of darkness, and out of a problem will come good. Having a brother myself, I related to the rocky relationship between Vincent and Theo throughout the book. Even though Vincent's life was cut short by the consequences of his actions, and way too soon, I was touched that he died in the arms of Theo, the one he loved most, in his last living moment. Thank you Steven and Gregory for your great research and informative content.

Loving reading this book. Gives so much insight to the life of Van Gogh in all aspects. His childhood and brief adulthood, his family, nomadic lifestyle and familial exile. Highly recommend to anybody interested in him.

My wife and I went to the Van Gogh Museum soon after it opened in 1973. It is still perhaps the most interesting museum we have ever visited. That's because it had--what is today called--a "back story." You can view his paintings in chronological order, against the backdrop of what most would admit is the folklore of Van Gogh. Based on a decade of research and collaboration with the museum, this book fact-checks and synthesizes those stories into a compelling analysis of how Van Gogh 1) failed in every career endeavor, 2) painfully and begrudgingly gained the respect of other Impressionist painters while selling only one painting, 3) could create masterpieces in hours, and 4) left a decade's worth of work that soon became wildly popular and priceless. The other comments focus on the circumstances of his death. True, there is little in the book about that, but really his whole life reflected his inability to get along with local townspeople and how gangs of boys tormented the hobo in their midst. The book is absolutely a psychological study of Van Gogh's fears, motivations, hopes and dreams, but the authors also do a wonderful job of showing how all that lead to bizarre behaviors that turned so many against him. One wonders whether he would have discovered a new kind of art without the mental and physical mockery swirling all around him. This collaboration also suggests the direction that art, history, libraries and museums may be heading in the future. The Van Gogh Museum is now promoting Vincent and Theo's letters on their website so anyone can interpret them and decide for themselves what may have driven such an original artist. With so many resources--drawings, paintings, letters, outside experts--available to them, there's no telling how they may be able to make Van Gogh come to life as new media become available. I can imagine walking past those paintings again with this information projected and playing all around you. In the meantime, Van Gogh: The Life does a wonderful job of suggesting how a sick and obsessed individual could invent a whole new way of seeing the world. Edit - Added June 23, 2012: Since posting my original review above on Amazon, I've gotten into doing more reading and posting reviews. With a broader appreciation of the reviews now, I came back 6 months later to look at what later reviewers have been saying about Van Gogh: The Life. I wanted to add to my original review on the topic so many have raised since -- Why did the authors treat Van Gogh so badly in their interpretations and analysis? I too love Van Gogh's art, the way he saw life, and captured his subjects so quickly in such an original way. Some experts have written that people love Van Gogh because he believed in himself, refused to compromise, and only after death was recognized for his genius ... that so many of us want to have greater success in life and be recognized for it and, thus, Van Gogh becomes a symbol and a role model to so many. It strikes me that when people look to role models with reverence as they do Van Gogh, that he's not allowed to be a person who's just not nice. Some have pointed out that he sounds nice in his letters, so how can he not be a good person? In response to this, I would ask how can someone who has a totally original view, who gets no support except from his brother, who never gets positive feedback, who never (except once apparently) sells a painting NOT be a difficult person to live with? I am also a huge fan of Frank Lloyd Wright for similar reasons. He had an original way of seeing architecture that was organic, growing out of the environment in which it was placed. Wright didn't design buildings and features that looked cool. Rather he came up with treatments that aligned with their surroundings. He simply followed that principle throughout his life to build structures that seem like they just couldn't have been envisioned by anyone at that time. He too never compromised, even though critics and even many of his clients rebelled at his ideas. Unlike Van Gogh, Wright was hugely successful and recognized for his genius probably for 50-60 years of his life. He essentially walked out on his family as he became more successful, he was seen as egomaniacal and his living situation inspired one of his servants to kill a number of people on the compound with an ax. I guess he wasn't such a nice person either. But not being easy to live with doesn't make him any less of a genius. When the authors and the Van Gogh Museum see the conflict that they've stirred up, they must be delighted to have gotten readers to passionately discuss and react to their artist 120 years later. They've gotten people to speculate about how possible psychological afflictions, substance abuse, creative vision, and life experiences all contributed to his work and legacy. I don't see that as character assassination ... they've provided a dialogue to get people thinking.

This is a phenomenal biography of Vincent Van Gogh. I knew very little about him before reading it--now I feel like I know a lot. What a sad life he led, rebelling against his family's values, draining his brother's finances dry and then demanding more, attacked by bouts of severe mental illness. I came to really care about him as a person and wished his life could have been happier. We learn so much about him, and the book is very readable, well-paced, fascinating. Did he cut off his ear to impress a woman? Did he commit suicide? Hm. Better read the book to find out!

Hermoso Libro, muy interesante. Aprendes mucho sobre la vide del artista. Totalmente recomendable.

辞書を引くのももどかしく、夢中になって読んだ。なによりも文章がいい。外連味がなく、ゴッホへの愛情を感じる。なんとしても理解し尽くしたいという情熱を感じた。巧みな文章と熱い情熱が、私を夢中にさせた。

bonsoir je viens d'acheter ce livre pour les fêtes de noel à une amie c'est une biographie compléte de van gogh. avec des photographies de ses oeuvres.il faut aimer la peinture impressionniste.c'est un livre intéressant car il contient des annexes pour comprendre pourquoi Vangogh a voyagé. c'est un livre utile pour un professeur de dessin et intéressant pour faire un exposé ou présenter Van gogh a des enfants en synthétisant l'essentiel.

Un libro excepcional , después de leer otras biografías da Van Gogh ésra me parece la mejor. La recomiendo a toda persona interesada en la cultura , en especial, la pintura.

Very nice book but a little too heavy for my wife to read in bed ;-) Today is Tuesday, thank you