No comments about Van Gogh Notebook (Decorative Notebooks).

4 comments about Van Gogh: Explore Vincent van Gogh's Life and Art, and the Influences That Shaped His Work (DK Eyewitness Books).

1. For a smaller book designed to give a high level overview of Van Gogh's life and career as an artist, this book is surprisingly informative and well written. Van Gogh's life is covered in a well researched commentary and there are also sub-sections devoted specifically to "Masterpieces". The graphics are excellent and the analysis clear and concise. In terms of a good, brief overview of Vincent van Gogh, this book is first rate.



2. First of all I must say anything DK Publishing touches turns to gold; and the same goes double to infinity for Vincent. You would not believe the information packed into this 64 page carry anywhere book full of photographs of family and places he lived, amazing sketches, personal belongings, influences, quotes, and over 70 of his most popular and beautiful paintings and so much more! This is for everyone! It does not include "Starry Night" however.

   Here are the contents: 1 YOUTH AND FAMILY 2 LIFE IN ENGLAND 3 PREACHING AND POVERTY 4 THE IMAGE OF THE SOWER 5 ETTEN AND THE HAGUE 6 PEASANTS AT WORK 7 A LOVE OF NATURE 8 A MATTER OF FAITH 9 A PEASANT MEAL 10 ARRIVAL IN ANTWERP 11 THE ANTWERP ACADEMY 12 A PARISIAN EXPERIENCE 13 IMAGES OF PARIS 14 THE IMPRESSIONISTS 15 NEW APPROACHES 16 JAPANESE INFLUENCES 17 SUNFLOWERS 18 A STUDY IN YELLOW 19 THE LURE OF THE SOUTH 20 VAN GOGH AND GAUGUIN 21 A HEROIC SELF PORTRAIT 22 THE AFFLICTED ARTIST 23 NATURAL STUDIES 24 COPIES 25 PROVENCAL LANDSCAPE 26 AN ERRATIC RECOVERY 27 A RETURN TO THE NORTH 28 THE FINAL ACT 29 KEY DATES/ VAN GOGH COLLECTIONS 30 GLOSSARY/ WORKS ON EXHIBIT 31 INDEX/ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

   What makes this book so enjoyable is that it has it all. Most books I've seen on Vincent are either loaded with art but the book layout is impossible to read due to lack of organization; or the opposite--books with tons of information but nothing but black and white thumbnail sketches. This book is a gem; extremely colorful plus has some black and white-- but each and every page is fully organized and beautiful to read and look at. Bruce Bernard, you have got to be the most organized man in the universe! WOW!

   A must own for anyone and everyone! Especially the beginner to intermediate van Gogh enthusiast, however; the personal belongings, photographs, quotes and succinctness of this book would be well appreciated by the most acumen of Vincent's studiers/admirers.

   P.S. I highly recommend this book and any other of the series of Eyewitness books that strike your fancy. I also own book #25 Crystal and Gems. There are 110 different books from everything to Music, Fossils, Reptiles, Invention, Weather, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Bible Lands, Volcano and Earthquake, Shark; Aztec, Inca and Maya; Castle, Pyramid, Ancient China, Archeology, North American Indian, Ocean, Battle, Witches and Magic-Makers, Space Exploration, Crime Detection, Force and Motion, Chemistry, Time and Space, Astronomy, Earth, Human Body, Medicine, Technology, Electronics, Renaissance, Impressionism, Goya, Manet, Monet, Leonardo & his times, Future, Mythology, Titanic, Football, Hurricane & Tornado, Presidents, Baseball....on and on! Oh I've got to buy a few more I see!




3. This is an easy to read, summary of his life, with nice pictures and information.



4. Eyewitness Books are filled with wonderful photographs and pictures. They tell great stories and information about a wide number of nonfiction topics. This book is about Vincent Van Gogh. It covers his life and works right up to his death. The book is written for grades 5 and up. I use them for a teaching tool for ESOL students in a middle school setting. The reading can be tough but great for the more advanced kids. The photographs and pictures help a lot in bringing an understanding about a topic to a student who doesn't understand much English. My homeroom kids love these books too. I highly recommend them to teachers and parents alike.

5 comments about Van Gogh's Van Goghs.

1. Interest in Van Gogh heightened with Hollywood movie with Kirk Douglas an Hollywood actor. My mother has a wood painting of sunflowers (l6) and she asked that we research this for her, it has numerous local newspaper clippings taped to the back, which raises even more questions. It is signed Vincent? I saw a one man narrative of Van Gogh's life depicted by his brother Theo, Actor: Jim Jarrett called Vincent. It was much informative of the letters Vincent wrote to Theo. . This enlightened one as to Vincent's odd behavior. Vincent the man. Mr.Kendall, if possible please cooresponde back. My sister is also in contact with you. Thank you for reading this message and any redirect would be appreciated.



2. The next best thing if you weren't able to make it to this record-breaking exhibition in Washington and Los Angeles. This book, an overview of the exhibition, is an extremely thorough and interesting overview of the 70 works on display. But it's more than that. I was very impressed with Richard Kendall's commentary in the book. Not only is this a comprehensive and thoughtful look at the "Van Gogh's Van Goghs" exhibition, it's also an excellent look at Van Gogh's life and career--period. I might have expected this--this major exhibition was superb and this catalogue is a worthy companion. Exhibition or not, this book is first-rate.



3. I have this book and I am so glad ,I discovered it. I am, a painter,and have always been influenced by Van Goghs work. However most of the books I own do not have very good quality , printing .This book however is excellent! It is very close to , standing in front of the original painting. I would recomend this book to anyone that loves Van Gogh. I am so proud to make this book a part of my art library. Get it while you can!!



4. One of the best pieces that I ever read explaining paintings along the different periods which were passed by Van Gogh. Also, it gives a complete ride through his life and personality.



5. Vincent van Gogh is the artist who I feel I relate to most on a personal level. His demons are my demons. His yearning to some day find "the right girl" is my yearning. His spiritual faith in God is my spiritual faith. His weaknesses are my weaknesses. His strengths are my strengths. I'm very fond of van Gogh. He made many mistakes, including getting involved in a doomed love affair with a prostitute, or how he cut off his earlobe in a fit of anguish. Well, okay, I identify with him but that's something I've never been tempted to do haha. Vincent was a troubled and tormented and deeply under-appreciated artist in his day, only managing to sell one or two paintings in his life. Now he is among the very most popular. His works sell for many millions, even minor works.

   David Rehak
   author of "Love and Madness"

1 comments about Van Gogh Stained Glass Coloring Book (Dover Pictorial Archives).

1. THE RECIPIENT OF THIS GIFT LIKED IT VERY MUCH. SHE'S A FAN OF VAN GOGH,
   AND SAID THAT DURING A SLOW MIDNIGHT SHIFT, IT REALLY MADE THE TIME GO BY!
   SO IT WAS A SUCCESSFUL BUY!!

1 comments about Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist.

1. Vincent Van Gogh only painted for ten years of his life but his paintings are still compelling to modern audiences. This biography of the painter is directed to ages 10 and older and provides a discussion of not only his works, but why he went mad and why he cut off his ear. Letters from Vincent to his brother and patron explore his behaviors and thinking.

5 comments about Stranger On The Earth: A Psychological Biography Of Vincent Van Gogh.

1. The elegance with which he, Stone, makes manifest the life of this magnificent artist is breathtaking at times. This is not just the work to which all biographical material on Van Gogh is measured, but one of the biographical novels by which all other biographies and biographical novels should be. It is imposiible to not get sucked into the narrative and feel what it was like to be in the company of men who are poised, with their gifts, to change the way we look at the world and ourselves. Nor is it possible to not come away sympathisizing, or even feeling a kinship with the deeply troubled genius whose art bares witness to the human soul. I suggest you read this book if you are interested in anything regarding creativity. Period.



2. Unlike most any biography out there, this book yeilds new insights to the man and his art.



3. Many biographies and abbreviated collections of Vincent's volumnous and passionate letters to his brother Theo have been published in recent years. The only one that I can recommend though is "Stranger on the Earth : A Psychological Biography of Vincent Van Gogh" by Albert J. Lubin, which provides a fascinating insight into Vincent's life and work. The author examines Vincent's fragile personality with a sensible balance of clinical observation and human compassion. The title "stranger on earth" is an apt description of how Vincent apparently felt about his life. I read this book cover to cover in a few days (a page-turner) and came away with an appreciative sense of Van Gogh as a complex personality driven alternately by great passion and great depression. A tragic yet very human story.



4. I really liked the perspective of looking at Van Gogh from a psychological view point. However, the first chapter is very dense with names of paintings and their deeper meaning. The author does much better in the subsequent chapters trying to discover Vincent the man.
   A must read for anyone trying to understand Van Gogh!



5. Pure, unintentional, Freudian-style hilarity! This book is what happens when modern psychology ignores modern neuropathy. I was laughing until tears streamed down my face when I read the passage that states that Vincent's early work, (i.e. the Potato Eaters) was his superego rebelling against his mother's "Dutch cleanliness" and her refusal to allow the infant Vincent to smear feces on the walls of his nursery which then affected his pallete choice as an adult. Brown, yep. OK, I'm about to start laughing again . . . (whew!)

   Vincent van Gogh was extraordinarily adept at introspection, and through reading his body of correspondence a student of psychology may glean an idea of van Gogh's state of agitation and alienation, and I recommend that a van Gogh scholar, or anyone with a genuine desire to better understand and empathize with van Gogh, read his correspondence instead of this book.

   This book fails to lend any original - or even modern - insights, it is entirely too subjective, mired in neo-Freudian and occasionally, Jungian, conjecture, it lacks Gestalt, and works to distort and narrow the reader's perception of Vincent's gift as it related to his sustained neuropsychiatric state.

   But, if you want to laugh (and laugh and laugh and laugh) at one scholar's attempt at deconstructing art and epileptiform neurological affect via Freud's ridiculous personality-based suppositions, read this book.

5 comments about The Last Van Gogh.

1. I might have had a slight curiosity about the Post Impressionist painter that cut off his ear. But reading this historical novel peaked my interest. Ms. Richman's writing got me so caught up in the story that I found my self looking up every painting mentioned. I even went as far as to try and match specific descriptive passages to specific paintings, drawings, etc. The description of Mr. Van Gogh's suffering and his need to complete each painting was made so real to me. This novel has left a lasting impression.



2. The Last Van Gogh, is a compelling, visually powerful , and beautifully written novel of the last two months of Vincent Van Gogh's life which he spent in Auvers ,while being treated by Dr. Gachet, a homeopathic physician of dubious reputation. It is a work of historical fiction about the strange Gachet household . During this time Van Gogh painted many of his finest paintings and Ms. Richman's vivid description of the brush stokes and colors of these paintings made me want to immediately view them. The doomed short love affair of the very ill artist with Marguerite Gachet is riveting and tragic .. I highly reccomend it.



3. Alyson Richman has clearly figured out what the ideal mixture is for a transcendent book.
   
   Begin with a fascinating historical subject, add equal parts impeccable research and a gorgeous love story, and mix all of that together with brilliant writing and, viola, you will wind up with The Last Van Gogh.
   
   The story details Vincent Van Gogh's days at Auvers while under the care of Dr. Paul Gachet. The tale is told through the eyes of Gachet's daughter, Marguerite, with whom Richman speculates Van Gogh had a love affair with while he was adding the final pieces of art work to his oeuvre.
   
   This clandestine affair is genuinely affecting, as it was deeply passionate and one that gave Margerite her only taste of true love. However, as with anything to do with Van Gogh, it was ultimately doomed. Along the way, Marguerite will experience the joys and sorrows of love and the reader will experience them with her with a great deal of empathy.
   
   The story is narrated in vivid detail, capturing the essence of France in the 19th Century perfectly and making the reader feel not as if he's reading a book, but as if he's actually in Auvers watching the action as it unfolds. The love affair plays out in an extremely suspenseful fashion, allowing for a book that nearly turns its own pages. As I tore through the novel's final 50 pages, feeling as breathless as the story's protagonist, I realized, upon completion, that this was a story which would stay with me for many years to come. I am already looking forward to rereading it.
   
   Truly, this is Richman's best work to date and one of the best books I have read in years. It is a book you can recommend to anyone who can understand the written word and, while I utter this with a bit of hyperbole, is a book worth learning to read for.



4. I came to this book knowing next to nothing about Vincent VanGogh, other than perhaps the severed ear incident, and the well known song, "Vincent." I was totally drawn into the world of the characters as presented by Alyson Richman. The poignancy and intensity of Marguerite's love and longing for Vincent were so real, and deeply affecting, as was the lonliness of her life as practically a servant to her father and brother. It was a book that I did not want to end, especially knowing that Marguerite and Vincent's love was doomed. I don't have a problem knowing that the author's bringing those two together in her novel was purely speculation and not based on anything factual, it was a beautiful story that could have happened. I also, as someone else has commented, found a VanGogh website and looked up the paintings as they were mentioned in the book. That added a lot to the enjoyment of reading. I would definitely recommend The Last Van Gogh.



5. For those interested in some very-informative background information concerning how and why, during the last seventy days of his life, Vincent van Gogh was able to produce over seventy incredibly-beautiful final masterpieces, "The Last Van Gogh," by the internationally-acclaimed author Alyson Richman, provides some amazing insight. The author traveled to the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise on a number of occasions and meticulously researched the period during which Van Gogh lived there, even interviewing a number of the village's elders, who knew his last muse, Magaret Gachet, the daughter of the homeopathic doctor who was treating Van Gogh at the time. It's truly a wonderful novel, beautifully written and I would recommend it highly. For anybody who loves Van Gogh's works, this book should prove unbelievably fascinating. [Incidentally, Ms. Richman is also the author of the highly-reviewed novels "The Mask Carver's Son" (Bloomsbury - 2000) and "Swedish Tango" (Simon & Schuster - 2004).]
   
   The exciting new information about Van Gogh that Ms. Richman researched and incorporated into her fascinating new novel has already generated considerable interest and enthusiasm in lectures and discussion groups at fine art museums around the country, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Dayton Museum of Fine Art, the Heckscher Museum of Art (in Huntington, New York) and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

3 comments about Van Gogh and God: A Creative Spiritual Quest (Campion Book).

1. The author misleads the reader by perpetuating two myths about van Gogh's religious life 1) that he was raised Calvinist and 2) that he was Buddist. If the author had taken the time to research van Gogh's biography, he would have found that van Gogh's family rejected Calvinism entirely, particularly the notions of sin and limited salvation, for a more liberal theology, favoring universal salvation and the belief that God dwells within us all. The author continues his false representation of van Gogh by arguing that he became a Buddist after he left the Christian ministry. This is based on one simple painting that van Gogh made for his friend, Gauguin, with his head shaven like a Buddist monk. Although van Gogh was thoroughly fascinated with Oriental culture, he never visted the Far East, never studied Buddism, nor did he show any real understanding of its basic ideas. In fact, all he learned of Asian culture and religion came from what he saw in the Japanese woodblock prints that came into Europe in the late 19th century and also what he garnered from reading 19th century French novels. Mr. Edwards only clouds our understanding of van Gogh with his own personal interests. For example, his discussion of van Gogh's famous work, "Crows over the Wheatfield," reads "The painting itself enters the mode of being of all things in their impermanence yet transformation, becoming a koan that poses the Zen Master's question: 'If you call this wheat you cling to it; if you do not call it wheat you depart from the facts, so what do you call it then?'" (What does this have to do with van Gogh?) The reader is best to stay away from this book entirely.



2. I recently heard the author of Van Gogh and God, Dr. Cliff Edwards, speak about Vincent. At this particular gathering, he also showed wonderful slides of the artist's work. As a result of that encounter with Dr. Edwards and Vincent Van Gogh, I bought Dr. Edwards' warm and accessible book, Van Gogh and God. While reading it, much like the disciples who spoke to Christ without recognizing him on the road to Emmaus, I felt my heart burn within me while Vincent's life opened up before me like a lotus flower. I especially connected with Van Gogh's insistence that he was "not an admirer" of biblical subjects (to paint). Apparently he felt that paintings such as The Nativity and Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane avoided getting to the "reality of things" and gave him "a powerful feeling of collapse instead of progress." To paint biblical material must have felt inauthentic to Vincent as he journeyed on his spiritual quest. Lois Lowry in her book, The Giver, addresses this very issue of authenticity. Jonas, the hero, lives in a community where sameness and conformity are valued. Jonas sees things differently, though, and is chosen to become the one who acts as receptacle and transmitter of the community's collective memory. Jonas receives these memories/stories from the Giver, someone who currently has the task of holding memory. One of the questions the book raises in the reader's mind is, "When does a story become MY story?" People in Jonas' community lived without authenticity because the locus of memory was institutionalized within an individual. I couldn't help but think that Vincent, striving for authenticity, wanted to show that those sacred memories (institutionalized in the Church and in biblical paintings) gave him "a powerful feeling of collapse instead of progress." For a story (either word or image) to have meaning, it must first connect with an individual's experience. Vincent Van Gogh, like Jonas, saw things differently. Both struggled in a world that would have preferred their acquiesence to the status quo. Dr. Edwards convincingly shows that Vincent imaged God outside the parameters and conventions of the Church. Dr. Edwards suggests that "[p]erhps such profound power revealed through one's life task was a more accurate description of the divine than the word 'God.' " Another powerful image is "the child in a cradle as best evidence for God." As Dr. Edwards points out, "Vincent experiences God in the concreteness of his own most intense and significant personal history." We all do. Vincent found meaning in his life's work, his care and concern for the prostitute Sien, her daughter, and newborn son, and also in nature--wheat, flowers, olive groves, cypress trees. To image and paint a Christ that has no personal connection is, again, to live inauthentically. It would appear that Vincent would have none of that. One of my favorite parts in Dr. Edwards' book is in the Preface. "[M]ost Judeo-Christian scholars...[take] the unyielding position that religion must be expressed primarily as hearing and obeying, and cannot be expressed significantly as seeing and creating. Dr. Edwards shows how Vincent navigated those waters. It gives hope to those of us who have felt stifled by the Church's insistence that memory/story resides within its embrace.



3. Eventhough my studies do not allow me a great deal of time to read books of my choice, I could not deny the work of Dr. "Cliffy-baby" Edwards. His book, "Van Gogh and God: A Creative Spiritual Quest" was just that. It was, in every sense of the phrase, a creatively spiritual page turner. His language and content captures the reader's mind and by doing so, captures the reader's spiritual core. Once mesmerized by the life, work, and creative madness of the artist, the reader becomes smoothly inundated with the thorough biographical information that Dr. Edwards so eloquently puts to page. At the risk of sounding mildly educated, I had never realized the influence Zen Buddhism had on the artist until reading Dr. Edwards' book. I did, of course, realize the "oriental" aspect of Van Gogh's approach to painting but I never knew of his "Zen Buddhist" approach to living. Sometimes the samurai leaves the monarchy and spends his life in caves painting. Congratulations Dr. E. for a fine work indeed.

5 comments about Portrait of Dr. Gachet: The Story of a Van Gogh Masterpiece, Money, Politics, Collectors, Greed, and Loss.

1. The stories of the owners and caretakers of the portrait, from its beginning to present, create a colorful tapestry of their own. For someone who is not intimate with the negotiations of the art world, the book is informative and surprising. It may not have been the author's intention, but I also felt a thread of sadness and melancholy, as though the artist and the subject still have an investment in the future of the canvas. Perhaps it is the awareness that all the owners eventually gave it up and that the current owner has removed it from sight. The author of this book has given us the facts, but has also invested those facts with meaning which speaks clearly about the impact of the artistic process, if one is willing to consider beyond the obvious.



2. The history of a single work of art from conception, several owners, war, and fame as the record-holder for highest price for a painting at auction, this book is nothing short of amazing. Cynthia Saltzman's concept is fresh and her writing ludcid. This is a book you won't be able to put down. It has everything a good story should have; suspense, tragedy, triumph, and action. I found myself holding my breath, though I knew the outcome, as I read about the auction of the Portrait of Dr. Gachet.

   This is a book I heartily recommend, and so far, everyone I've leant it to or purchased it for has loved it just as much as I have.




3. She veers off into things that really don't pertain to the needed info about Vincent V. Too much like a history lesson on WW2! How about some info on other masterpieces and there values like, is Starry night worth more than Dr.Gachet? Some art experts put it over that and the value of the Mona Lisa(125,000,000!)Also where is the painting at now and go into why Saito kept it away from the public!?The book in my opinion was done too early!Hey, why don't I write the sequel I could do alot better job in my opinion!



4. It was very interesting story for me to know this masterpiece's history. However, it was too much skipped the history in Japanese period and sometimes I did feel that she has a prejudice against Japanese culture. She investigated history in Europe very well but less investigation in Japan ! I wanted her to investigate it more. Anyway, it was very interesting and I want to recommend it very much.



5. While reading about the history of the Sotheby's and Christie's Auction Houses the story of the highest priced paid for a painting at auction was quite a tale. I qualify my comment with an auction sale, as the possibility exists that somewhere an individual may have spent more. Based on what I have read I doubt it, for even with all the deception in the art world, secrets are not particularly well kept.

   Ms. Cynthia Saltzman has written a scholarly work that is readable by anyone who enjoys well-written history, or even a novel. The course this painting has taken in a bit more than 110 years is as extraordinary as the price paid when it was last sold.

   Vincent Van Gogh was a troubled man who managed to produce a rather large body or work before tragically taking his own life. There are dozens of speculations as to the manner of disease he suffered, but suffer he did. Van Gogh did not live to see any appreciation of his art, and even for years after his death his work was not of any renown nor sought after. This final portrait that he was to paint did not sell for 7 years after his death, and even then the purchase price was $58 in US currency.

   Over the next 14 years the painting would again change hands 4 more times, and with the last of the 4 sales became a museum piece for the first time. The locale was Frankfurt, the year 1911, and the price $3861. It was this last move that was to place this painting and hundreds of others into a collection of Art deemed "degenerate" by the Nazis of Hitler's Germany. The piece also was in the possession of Herman Goering briefly. Fortunately for the painting it was sold outside of Germany, where a new owner would hold it for the next 52 years. The Germans may have thought it degenerate for propaganda purposes, but money was another matter. While the painting was confiscated, when sold in 1938 the passing 17 years brought the value to $20,000.

   Until the next and final sale the painting would be hung in a home in New York City, the property of private collectors. When the "crazy years" of the art market arrived impressionist work was in great demand, much of which was generated from Japan. For in 1995 Mr. Saito paid $82.5 million, and then 2 days later another $78.5 million was spent by the same man on a Renoir. What has happened since then really has to be read as it would make a great novel were it fiction.

   Ms. Saltzman has done an amazing job of documentary work, and added the history of the times surrounding the work, as well as those who sought the piece, and the personalities of those who came in contact with, or were the temporary custodians of the work, "The Gachet".

   A wonderful read for anyone who enjoys a good story written with consummate skill and style.

2 comments about Painting the Wind.

1. This is a beautiful rendition of a new way of looking at the life of Van Gogh - through the eyes of a child. Truth or fiction? It's certainly possible. Haven't you ever imagined interacting with a legend? It feeds the imagination.



2. The illustrations and story presented by Kevin Hawkes and Michelle Dionetti are an inspiration to the reader. I feel that the central characters of Claudine and Vincent in conjunction with the authenticity of the images and words bring a new life to the myths surrounding Vincent van Gogh. Looking at his life through the eyes of a child we see that his eccentricities are just that and children can understand that characteristic in an adult better than most adults can. Ms. Dionetti has captured Vincent and shines a more sympathetic light on him - as someone who lights a fire in the artistic heart of a young girl from Provence. Kevin Hawkes illustration on the final page of the book speaks volumes.