Vincent Van Gogh Masterpieces of Art

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Vincent Van Gogh Masterpieces of Art by Stephanie Cotela Tanner.
Hardcover Art Book
Page count:128
Published:June 12, 2014
Contributor:Susie Hodge
… Read more Vincent Van Gogh Masterpieces of Art by Stephanie Cotela Tanner.
Hardcover Art Book
Page count:128
Published:June 12, 2014
Contributor:Susie Hodge
Format:Hardcover
Publisher:Flame Tree Publishing
Language:English
Author:Stephanie Cotela Tanner
Part of a new series of beautiful gift art books, Van Gogh Masterpieces of Art features all of the best-known works of one of the most famous artists in the world, preceded by a fresh and thoughtful introduction providing lively commentary on his life, society, places and style and techniques, including the powerful animation of his strident brushwork.


"He did not paint his pictures; it was like he exhaled them in a gasping, boiling breath," one German critic aptly wrote of Van Gogh. Reminiscences of the artist by friends and passing acquaintances, letters from his brother Theo and appreciations by critics and artists make up the text of this handsomely packaged potpourri. For Margritte, the blind force of Van Gogh's obsessions made the tortured artist an unfree man. To Kokoschka, the tension in the painter's famous sunflowers and undulating cypresses speak of the fragility of an easygoing lifestyle in a mechanized age. Each artist seems to confront his or her own concerns when analyzing Van Gogh. Jean Renoir, Francoise Gilot, Gauguin and Klee are among the commentators. One hundred twenty-five superior color reproductions and 103 halftones remind us that Van Gogh could do a very formal Still Life with Coffeepot, a street scene ablaze with fauve-like color or the solemn, biblical Raising of Lazarus. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləm vɑn ˈɣɔx] ( listen);[note 1] (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work had far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. His paintings include portraits, self portraits, landscapes, still lifes, olive trees and cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers. He was largely ignored by critics until after his early death in 1890. The only substantial exhibitions held during his lifetime were showcases in Paris and Brussels. The first published full-length article came in 1890, when Albert Aurier described him as a Symbolist. The widespread and popular realisation of his significance in the history of modern art did not begin until his adoption by the Fauves and German Expressionists in the mid-1910s. Vincent van Gogh was born to upper middle class parents and spent his early adulthood working for a firm of art dealers before travelling to The Hague, London and Paris, after which he taught in England at Isleworth and Ramsgate. Although he drew as a child, he did not paint until his late twenties; most of his best-known works were completed during the last two years of his life. He was deeply religious as a younger man and aspired to be a pastor and from 1879 worked as a missionary in a mining region in Belgium where he sketched people from the local community. His first major work was 1885's The Potato Eaters, from a time when his palette mainly consisted of sombre earth tones and showed no sign of the vivid colouration that distinguished his later paintings. In March 1886, he relocated to Paris and discovered the French Impressionists. Later, he moved to the south of France and was influenced by the region's strong sunlight. His paintings grew brighter in colour, and he developed the unique and highly recognizable style that became fully realized during his stay in Arles in 1888. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolours, drawings, sketches and prints. After years of anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness he died aged 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The extent to which his mental health affected his painting has been widely debated. Despite a widespread tendency to romanticize his ill health, art historians see an artist deeply frustrated by the inactivity and incoherence wrought through illness. His late paintings show an artist at the height of his abilities, completely in control, and according to art critic Robert Hughes, "longing for concision and grace".


Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. See less