Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most well known artists today in the Post-Impressionistic field of painting. However, he was not given his due recognition during his lifetime and had an extremely disturbing and sometimes violent life. Irving Stone attempts to reconstruct the life and times of this talented artist and uncover the man behind the artistic masterpieces like 'Starry Nights' and 'The Potato Eaters'. Written on similar lines as Stone's other works, this fictionalized biography is based on Van Gogh's letters written to his brother Theo (who was one of his major support systems) and chronicles his life - from his beginnings as an assistant to an art dealer, his subsequent transition towards religion and becoming a missionary in a mining town, his inspirations that propelled him towards a new form of expression through a radical new form of painting, the interactions with equally famous contemporaries like Cezzane and Monet, his attempts to create a place for himself in the then rigidly conservative art world and his final self destructive years when he veered towards insanity. Also, similar to the 'The Agony and the Ecstasy', the most engrossing parts of the book are the ones describing the creation of his most famous works and we get a clear picture of the process of the transference of the inherent emotions and feelings of an artist from his mind to his canvas.
It must be clear at this point that this book is definitely not a fun read. Given the bleak and dark nature of Van Goghs life, this reconstruction of his life is also an extremely dark and sometimes severely depressing read. However, I would still encourage people interested in European art to give this one a shot for it paints a rather engrossing picture of Van Gogh's life and is a tribute to one of the most influential persons in the art world who sadly never lived to see the fame he enjoys now.
