Vincent van Gogh – 100 of his most famous and beautiful paintings along with numerous letters, quotes and sketches

By Simon Mayer

This book contains:

 

• 100 of the most beautiful and famous paintings by Vincent van Gogh
• numerous letters, quotes, and sketches
• a short and entertaining biography
• a personal letter to Vincent

Vincent van Gogh, who was he really?

So much has been said about one of the greatest artists in world history, Vincent van Gogh. In part, quite different views regarding his person have been represented by various historians, who have even often completely contradicted each other.

But who was Vincent really? What kind of person was he? What kind of dreams and visions did he have? What were his fears and his worries? How did he see the world he painted? What kind of painting techniques did he prefer? How did he relate to other painters and styles? What did he want to express through his paintings?

The answers to these questions are provided by his letters (which are considered a masterpiece of art literature), quotes, and the paintings he left us. These are his words and deeds, which reflect his true nature and give us a glimpse into his inner life.

In this book, 100 of his most beautiful and famous paintings have been printed along with his numerous quotes, letters and sketches, which should allow the reader to get to know Vincent personally and form his own opinion about him and his art.

A short and entertaining biography focusing on the investigation of the scandalous and controversial incident in which Vincent lost a part of his ear, as well as on the investigation of the mysterious circumstances of his death, about which new findings have been made in each case, is also included in the book. 

 

 

About Simon Mayer

Simon Mayer is an author, art and literature researcher, and independent journalist. He studied history and law. His goal is to make classical literature and art more attractive and bring them closer to people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon Mayer
• Release date: Sep 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223583103

Book preview

Preface

So much has been said about one of the greatest artists in world history, Vincent van Gogh. In part, very different views regarding his person have been represented by various historians and art researchers, who have even often completely contradicted each other.

But who was Vincent really? What kind of person was he? What kind of dreams and visions did he have? What were his fears and worries? How did he see the world he painted? What kind of painting techniques did he prefer? What was his attitude towards other painters and styles? What did he want to express through his paintings?

The answers to these questions are provided by his letters (which are considered a masterpiece of art literature), quotations and the paintings he left us. These are his words and deeds, which reflect his true nature and give us a glimpse into his inner life.

In this book, 100 of his most beautiful and famous paintings have been printed together with his numerous quotes, letters and sketches, which are intended to allow the reader to get to know Vincent personally and to form an independent opinion about him and his art.

A short and entertaining biography will also serve this purpose, focusing on the investigation of the scandalous and controversial incident in which Vincent lost part of his ear, as well as on the investigation of the mysterious circumstances of his death, about which there are new findings in each case.

Self-portrait with light felt hat 1887

Biography of Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in Groot-Zundert, a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant, as the son of a priest. He was to become an art dealer, like two of his uncles, and worked in The Hague, in London and Paris in Goupil's store until he was 23. From Paris he went back to England and was a school teacher in the country for a short time. But even this did not satisfy him; he now wanted to study theology in Amsterdam. When this study also did not offer him what he was looking for, he moved to Belgium, where he appeared as an evangelist among the mine workers.

There in the Borinage he began to draw. He went to Brussels and returned to the family home in 1881, where he studied on his own until he moved to The Hague, where he first became involved with painters. In 1883 he moved to the province of Drenthe and soon after again to Brabant, where he worked vigorously until 1881. The things he drew and painted there in Zundert already had a strong personal character, but were still quite different from the pictures from his later French period, for which he later became famous after his death. In 1885 he attended the academy in Antwerp for a few months and was in Paris in the spring of 1886, where he became acquainted with the art of the Impressionists through his brother, the fine art dealer Theodor (Theo) van Gogh, with whom he had a very close relationship, and came into personal contact with some of them.

Shortly thereafter, he moved south and worked in Arles, where his depressive mood, with which he struggled throughout, improved considerably, but he continued to be plagued by financial worries. In his achievements from this period, he aligned himself much more with modern French art than with the art of his homeland.

Self-portrait with bandaged ear, Arles, 1889

Vincent dreamed of a community of painters in which he would live and paint together with his friends Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard.

Gauguin followed the call of his friend and came to work together in the sunny, colorful Provence, where they began to paint together, although they sometimes had different views on painting, which is why they often came into conflict. Van Gogh pleaded for painting according to actual life, Gauguin for painting according to his own imagination.

Up to now it was assumed that an insanity attack in December 1888 finally destroyed Van Gogh's cohabitation with the two artists, during which Vincent allegedly mutilated himself and cut off a part of his left ear. The two art historians Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans of the University of Hamburg, however, have another theory in this regard, which is based on a renewed examination of contemporary police reports and surviving witness statements and seems quite plausible. ¹

According to this theory, Gauguin, an enthusiastic amateur fencer, in a drunken argument about a woman named Rachel and about the true nature of art, accidentally cut off part of Vincent's ear with his rapier while trying to hold him at bay with it.

Regarding the incident, Gauguin is said to have contradicted himself several times, claiming to have seen events that he could not have seen. Other witnesses are said to have claimed that Van Gogh provoked Gauguin and that Gauguin attacked Van Gogh. Vincent, however, did not accuse Gauguin or himself. Perhaps he wanted to cover up for his friend and did not want Gauguin to get into trouble with the law. It is also possible that he had hoped that this would allow him to reconcile with him and continue to work together.

Self-portrait with straw hat, Paris, 1887

The day after the incident, Vincent was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he suffered a seizure so severe that the doctors admitted him to a ward for the violent, with a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. Gauguin, on the other hand, left Arles in a hurry without visiting his friend in the hospital.

During remission, van Gogh asked to be allowed to return to the studio to continue working, but the people of Arles wrote to the mayor of Arles demanding that the artist should be isolated from the rest of the population. Vincent was offered to go to the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, near Arles, where he arrived on May 3, 1889, and where he continued to create beautiful paintings in his lighter hours.

In the spring of 1890, the artist moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, a small town outside Paris. He continued to paint, but the style of his last works changed definitively and became even more nervous and depressing.

On July 27, while walking with painting utensils, the artist is said to have shot himself in the region of the heart with a revolver, where, the bullet went deeper. He then went to the hotel room where he was staying. The innkeeper called a doctor, who examined the wound and informed his brother Theodor (Theo), who arrived the next day and spent the whole time with Vincent until he died of blood loss 29 hours after the injury on July 29, 1890.

Gauguin wrote about the end of his friend:

In his last letter from Auvers near Pontoise, he wrote me that he had still hoped to recover enough to paint with me in Brittany, but that he must now be convinced of the impossibility of recovery. My dear master, it is more dignified, after having known and offended you, to die with full clarity of mind, than to die in a degraded condition. - He shot himself in the body and died a few hours later, in bed smoking his pipe, with clear consciousness in hot love for his art and without resentment against people.

Dedicated to my friend Paul Gauguin, Arles, 1888

However, according to newer research results, there are divergent views concerning his death.

For example, the two American art historians and Pulitzer Prize winners Stephen Naifeh and Gregory White Smith suspect that a local youth group, which was known to be trigger-happy, could have been involved in Vincent's death and that it was probably an accident. ² ³ ⁴

Van Gogh's own statement to the innkeeper and his daughter after returning to the inn, as well as to two police officers the morning after the incident, that he had tried to kill himself of his own free will, speaks for a suicide. René Secretan, a member of this youth group, later admitted that the revolver used belonged to him and that Vincent had taken it. However, a forensic expert hired by Naifeh and Smith in 2013 stated in an expert report that Vincent could not have self-inflicted the wound.

The angle of entry for a suicide was unusual and none of the doctors present had ever reported anything about gunpowder residue, which would have been visible if van Gogh had fired the gun in direct contact with his body, or at least not far from it.

It is also interesting that Vincent did not leave a suicide note and that he had condemned suicide all his life.

Perhaps his death was nothing more than a tragic accident, and perhaps Vincent wanted to cover up for the young man who fatally injured him, just as, according to the art historians of the University of Hamburg, he wanted to cover up for Gauguin, who, in a conflict, unfortunately cut off a part of Vincent's left ear.

Self-portrait with straw hat, Paris, 1887/88

In any case, there are indications that at that time Vincent was at least not averse to death, as he was tired and exhausted from the constant struggle with his illness and the lack of money.

According to his brother Theo, the artist's last words were: La tristesse durera toujours (Sadness will last forever).

Vincent's art was appreciated by very few during his life. After his death, however, it has found an increasing number of enthusiastic followers worldwide and has been sold or auctioned off for record sums.

However, his letters have also attracted a great deal of attention. They are not considered a masterpiece of art literature for nothing, as they show Vincent's remarkable literary and pictorial culture and express his linguistic talents, which were lyrical and colorful.

Self-portrait in front of an easel, Paris, 1888

Letter to Vincent van Gogh

Dear Vincent,

I am writing this letter to you, knowing full well that you will never read it. Nevertheless, I would like to express my gratitude to you.

You once wrote to your brother Theodor:

I want to make drawings that will amaze some people. In short, I want to make it so far that one says of my work: The man feels deeply and the man feels finely.

What can I say? You have done it. Thanks