Complete Collection of World-Famous Painters Van Gogh

Author: Van Gogh
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: Background: Van Gogh was an incredibly nostalgic and moving painter; his tragic life has been written about in novels and adapted into films. G. de Groot wrote Van Gogh in 1899, and Edna Ferber's novel The Star (also known as The Life of a Man) was published in 1934. The film Lust for Life, based on The Star, starred Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh and Anthony Quinn as Gauguin, and was highly acclaimed worldwide. In 1972, the Dutch government established the Van Gogh Museum, a supreme honor for this artist who lived a life of poverty and tragedy. His paintings, much like his vibrant life, have sparked interest and admiration, earning him great respect. Van Gogh (1853–1890) was a genius, like Raphael, who died at the age of 37. Van Gogh's painterly career lasted less than a decade, but this extremely lonely and passionate artist left behind approximately 850 oil paintings, nearly as many sketches, and a vast collection of letters—his personal correspondence with his brother Theo. The doctor who appeared in Van Gogh's paintings once said, "Van Gogh's love, Van Gogh's genius, the great beauty he created will forever exist, enriching our world." Van Gogh wrote in his letters, "The image of a laborer, the furrows of a field, a stretch of sand, ocean, and sky—these are all important subjects to depict. They are not easy to paint, but they are all beautiful. It is truly worthwhile to devote a lifetime to expressing the poetry hidden within them." His paintings bring us the feeling of witnessing a fresh, more beautiful, and meaningful world with our own eyes. I have visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam twice, and I have also seen over a dozen of his famous oil paintings at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and the Hermitage Museum in Russia. His paintings are indeed worth pondering and moving. This book selects his important works from different periods of his life, recreating the places he visited and the scenes he witnessed, allowing us to experience and understand the artistic soul of this great tragic figure of the 19th century. Van Gogh was a genius, a madman, and also the protagonist of a tragedy. His paintings were once shunned during his lifetime, with only one oil painting and two sketches sold throughout his life. Yet after his death, they fetched astronomical prices in the art market, a phenomenon worth pondering. No matter which part of Van Gogh's life you examine, you will find a serious and concrete aspect of his character, revealing a brave, passionate, and life-struggling individual who burned himself completely in the pursuit of art. This book tells his "life and art" through over 200 representative oil paintings, along with over 100 sketches and watercolor works. "His Words" are his letters, which reveal Van Gogh's beliefs about life and his views on death.