Van Gogh, Julian Bell
Van Gogh, Julian Bell
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Van Gogh
A Power Seething

Author: Julian Bell

Series: Icons

Narrator: Julian Bell

Unabridged: 5 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 01/06/2015


Synopsis

“I believe in the absolute necessity of a new art of colour, of drawing and—of the artistic life,” Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in 1888. “And if we work in that faith, it seems to me that there’s a chance that our hopes won’t be in vain.” His prediction would come true. In his brief and explosively creative life—he committed suicide a few years later at the age of thirty-seven—Van Gogh made us see the world in a new way. His shining landscapes of Provence and somber portraits of workers shattered the relationship between light and dark, and his hallucinatory visions were so bright they nearly blinded the world.He was a great writer as well. In his six hundred–plus letters to Theo he chronicled with heartbreaking urgency his mental breakdowns, acrimonious family relations, and struggles with art dealers, who largely ignored him until the last years of his life. Shading this dark story is the artist’s acquaintance with prostitutes and penury, stormy scenes with his friend Paul Gauguin, and dissipated Parisian nights with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Julian Bell’s passion for his subject brings the painter to life. Bell writes with slashing intensity, at once scholarly and defiantly partisan. “I have written this book out of my love for Vincent van Gogh, the uniquely exciting painter, and Vincent van Gogh, the letter writer of heart-piercing eloquence,” he declares. For Bell, Van Gogh was an artistic genius and more: he was a wonder of the world.

About Julian Bell

Julian Bell is a painter and writer who lives in Lewes, England. He is the author of Mirror of the World: A New History of Art and What Is Painting? Representation and Modern Art, among other books.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Noah on July 01, 2018

This is a short little biography of Vincent Van Gogh, but it was enough for me. Such a sad, miserable life. Dealing constantly with poverty and mental illness. Almost no appreciation of his talents. Being a genius at such a cost doesn’t seem worth it. At only 150 pages or so, this biography doesn’t......more

Goodreads review by Patti on March 19, 2016

My lovely niece gave me this book as a present; she knows me so well! I enjoyed traveling through the Netherlands and France with my good friend Vincent. This well written and highly foot noted book is only for the truest of fans.......more

Goodreads review by DeadWeight on July 25, 2018

Beautiful read. Ultimately learned (through this and associated readings) that what prompted my charge to re-read and finish this book — Hannah Gadsby's narrative in Nanette, particularly the way that Van Gogh's work was influenced by his taking of the medication "digitalis" — was largely untrue,......more

Goodreads review by Jackie on February 04, 2025

Very small information dense biography of Vincent Van Gogh that can be read in a day or so. Whilst the wording used is a bit lyrical and poetic at times, it does make the dense information it contains a comfortable and fast read. It also speaks much more to the mind than flat biographies you might be......more

Goodreads review by Conor Sweetman on February 12, 2020

Gritty with a deep discontent at its heart, this book displays a hard to admire portrait of Van Gogh. The yawning gap between art and its makers can be discouraging, and Bell's book does much to depict that.......more


Quotes

“What distinguishes Bell’s elegant rendering is an astute perception of his artistic vision and shimmering descriptions of his work…A graceful, empathetic, deeply probing portrait.” Kirkus Reviews“Bell brings his insight as a fellow artist to the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh in a condensed, accessible primer on the renowned artist.” Publishers Weekly “Vincent Van Gogh’s life story is almost too well known, but Julian Bell has made it harrowing, urgent, and touching all over again. Bell’s pulsing, immaculately carpentered language is an event in itself. Passage after passage made me stare in wonder (and some jealousy) at his word choices and the never conventional rhythms of his sentences. And how great to have Van Gogh’s story told without heroics or sentimentality—and with the edgy vitality with which it was lived.” —Sanford Schwartz