Van Gogh

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"Through ordinary things God teaches us about higher ones." Working in this conviction, van Gogh considered no object too humble to serve as the subject of his painting. His religíous devotion to the seemingly insignificant, his extraordinary combina-tions of colour and his passionate, "primitive" language of form rendered hím an outsider amongst the artists of his day - and a pioneer of the art of the 20th century.
When van Gogh died in 1890 at the age of 37, he left behind several hundred paintings, of which he sold only a handful during his lifetime. His lack of financial success - in comparison to the record-breaking prices paid for his paintings today - has given rise to numerous myths, including the suggestion that he deliberately turnéd his back on the art markét. This and many other of the traits which apparently set hím aside as an extreme eccentric - in particular his religiosity, his asceticism, his selfless kindness, his sometimes offensive curtness, his mented... Tovább

Fülszöveg

"Through ordinary things God teaches us about higher ones." Working in this conviction, van Gogh considered no object too humble to serve as the subject of his painting. His religíous devotion to the seemingly insignificant, his extraordinary combina-tions of colour and his passionate, "primitive" language of form rendered hím an outsider amongst the artists of his day - and a pioneer of the art of the 20th century.
When van Gogh died in 1890 at the age of 37, he left behind several hundred paintings, of which he sold only a handful during his lifetime. His lack of financial success - in comparison to the record-breaking prices paid for his paintings today - has given rise to numerous myths, including the suggestion that he deliberately turnéd his back on the art markét. This and many other of the traits which apparently set hím aside as an extreme eccentric - in particular his religiosity, his asceticism, his selfless kindness, his sometimes offensive curtness, his mented illness and finally his suicide -are examined in this book from a fresh angle. We hear from many of the people who knew van Gogh at first hand and learn their impressions and experiences of both the person and the artist. The result is a multi-faceted portrait of the man and a detailed picture of the life of the artist, allowing us to form a rounded opinion of van Gogh's character and achievements.
At the core of this study of van Gogh, however, is his oeuvre. As testified by friends, colleagues, and the critics and art historians of his day, van Gogh's work was greeted with incomprehension and rejection -and yet alsó, on occasions, with wonder and enthusiasm. Whatever the reaction, it was rarely one of indifference - something which comes as no surprise in view of the passión which the artist expresses in his pictures.
With 125 colour illustrations, including six fold-out plates, and 104 black-and-white illustrations.
The present book, a fornpilation of pictures and texts which draws on an in-depth knowledge of van Gogh's oeuvre and a comprehensive overview of the liter-ature, has been put together by Susan Alyson Stein. As a speciálist in European painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, she has lectured on van Gogh, organized t\vo van Gogh exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum and published articles on Kandinsky and the art of the 20th century.
In this series:
V
Gauguin Impressionism Matisse Monet Vissza