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The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

Author Vincent Van Gogh
Edited by Ronald de Leeuw
Translated by Arnold J. Pomerans
Paperback
$20.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Classics
5.1"W x 7.75"H x 1"D  
On sale Mar 01, 1998 | 560 Pages | 9780140446746
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
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"If ever there was any doubt that Van Gogh's letters belong beside those great classics of artistic self-revelation, Cellini's autobiography and Delacroix's journal, this excellent edition dispels it." 
—The Times (London)

"Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all."

Few artists' letters are as self-revelatory as Vincent Van Gogh's, and the selection included here, spanning the whole of his artistic career, sheds light on every facet of the life and work of this complex and tortured man. Engaging candidly and movingly with his religious struggles, his ill-fated search for love, his intense relationship with his brother Theo and his attacks of mental illness, the letters contradict the popular image of Van Gogh as an anti-social madman and a martyr to art, showing instead that he was capable of great emotional and spiritual depths. Above all, they stand as an intense personal narrative of artistic development and a unique account of the process of creation.
The letters are linked by explanatory biographical passages, revealing Van Gogh's inner journey as well as the outer facts of his life. This edition includes the drawings that originally illustrated the letters.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853. 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. View titles by Vincent Van Gogh
The Letters of Vincent van GoghAbout This Edition
Translator's Note
Introduction
Biographical Outline

Early Letters
Ramsgate and Isleworth
Dordrecht
Amsterdam
The Borinage
Etten
The Hague
The Hague, Drenthe and Nuenen
From Nuenen to Antwerp
Paris
Arles
Saint-Rémy
Auvers-sur-Oise

Bibliography
Index

About

"If ever there was any doubt that Van Gogh's letters belong beside those great classics of artistic self-revelation, Cellini's autobiography and Delacroix's journal, this excellent edition dispels it." 
—The Times (London)

"Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all."

Few artists' letters are as self-revelatory as Vincent Van Gogh's, and the selection included here, spanning the whole of his artistic career, sheds light on every facet of the life and work of this complex and tortured man. Engaging candidly and movingly with his religious struggles, his ill-fated search for love, his intense relationship with his brother Theo and his attacks of mental illness, the letters contradict the popular image of Van Gogh as an anti-social madman and a martyr to art, showing instead that he was capable of great emotional and spiritual depths. Above all, they stand as an intense personal narrative of artistic development and a unique account of the process of creation.
The letters are linked by explanatory biographical passages, revealing Van Gogh's inner journey as well as the outer facts of his life. This edition includes the drawings that originally illustrated the letters.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Author

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853. 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. View titles by Vincent Van Gogh

Table of Contents

The Letters of Vincent van GoghAbout This Edition
Translator's Note
Introduction
Biographical Outline

Early Letters
Ramsgate and Isleworth
Dordrecht
Amsterdam
The Borinage
Etten
The Hague
The Hague, Drenthe and Nuenen
From Nuenen to Antwerp
Paris
Arles
Saint-Rémy
Auvers-sur-Oise

Bibliography
Index

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