num_pages: 976
description: Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith who galvanized readers with their Pulitzer Prizewinning biography of Jackson Pollock have written another tour de forcean exquisitely detailed compellingly readable portrait of Vincent van Gogh. Working with the full cooperation of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam Naifeh and Smith have accessed a wealth of previously untapped materials to bring a crucial understanding to the larger-than-life mythology of this great artist: his early struggles to find his place in the world; his intense relationship with his brother Theo; and his move to Provence where he painted some of the best-loved works in Western art. The authors also shed new light on many unexplored aspects of Van Goghs inner world: his erratic and tumultuous romantic life; his bouts of depression and mental illness; and the cloudy circumstances surrounding his death at the age of thirty-seven. Though countless books have been written about Van Gogh no serious ambitious examination of his life has been attempted in more than seventy years. Naifeh and Smith have re-created Van Goghs life with an astounding vividness and psychological acuity that bring a completely new and sympathetic understanding to this unique artistic genius.
language: English
title: Van Gogh: The Life
publisher: Random House