Tortured talent - The genius and the angst of an Expressionist master
Vincent van Gogh’s story is one of the most tragic in art history. Today, he is celebrated the world over as one of the most important painters of all time, recognized with sell-out shows, feted museums, and record prices of tens of millions of dollars at auction.
Yet as he was painting the canvases that would subsequently become these sell-out modern masterpieces, van Gogh was battling not only the disinterest of his contemporary audiences but also devastating bouts of mental illness, with episodes of depression and paralyzing anxiety which would eventually claim his life in 1890, when he committed suicide shortly after his 37th birthday.
This comprehensive study of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) pairs a detailed monograph on his life and art with a complete catalogue of his 871 paintings. (Verlagstext)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD 7
Deserted
CHAPTER I – THE MAKING OF AN ARTIST 1853–1883
15 The Family 1853–1875
21 Van Gogh’s Other Art: The Letters
31 The Religious Maniac 1874–1880
42 “No beginning but in God”: Van Gogh and Religion
56 First Steps as an Artist 1880–1881
65 Van Gogh’s Early Models
75 Family Life: The Hague 1882–1884
90 Art and Responsibility: Commitments for the Future
99 No Soul, No Self: Drente 1884
CHAPTER II – THE YEARS IN NUENEN 1883–1885
106 An Artist Pure and Simple: The First Year
130 Progress: The Weavers Series
144 “With all my strength”: Winter 1884–1885
159 Painting as Manifesto: The Potato Eaters
178 Understanding and Suspicion: Summer and Autumn 1885
194 Colour and the Finished Work: Evolving a Theory of Art
CHAPTER III – CITY LIFE 1885–1888
208 The Antwerp Interlude: Winter 1885–1886
221 A Dutchman in Paris 1886–1888
241 Through the Window 1886
263 Isms, Isms, Isms: The 1887 Watershed
283 The Far East on His Doorstep: Van Gogh and Japonism
301 The Unity of Art and Life
CHAPTER IV – PAINTING AND UTOPIA
Arles, February 1888 to May 1889
313 Arles: The Heart of Japan
325 Personal Impressionism: Orchards in Blossom
339 Under a Southern Sun: May to August 1888
357 Working without Painting: Van Gogh’s Drawings
375 Enchantment and Affliction: The Night Paintings of September 1888
391 The Dream of an Artists’ Community: September and October 1888
415 Aesthetic Subtlety: Van Gogh and Symbolism
435 Genius and Error: Gauguin in Arles, October to December 1888
459 Art and Madness
479 The Supportive Power of Pictures: January to May 1889
CHAPTER V – “ALMOST A CRY OF FEAR”
Saint-Remy, May 1889 to May 1890
497 The Monastic Life
511 Olives, Cypresses and Hills: Van Gogh’s Compacted Landscape
529 The Portraits
539 Space and Colour: Metaphors of Paradox
557 Exhibitions and Criticism: Van Gogh’s First Successes
569 Selfhood and Otherness: Homage to the Masters
585 Ways of Escape: The Final Months in Saint-Remy
601 Reverence and Awe: Van Gogh and Nature
CHAPTER VI – THE END
Auvers-sur-Oise, May to July 1890
629 On Doctor Gachet’s Territory
647 Frieze Art: Van Gogh’s “Art Nouveau”
663 “I wish it were all over now”: Suicide
689 A Revolution in Art: Modernism
APPENDICES
696 Vincent van Gogh – A Chronology 1853–1890
718 Bibliography
724 Index of Paintings
732 Index of Names
736 Comparative Table of Catalogue Numbers