Taschen, 1994, two volumes in slipcase, hardcovers , illustrated, 19.8 cms x 25 cms x 6.6 cms, condition: as new.
A complete catalogue of the 871 paintings and a detailed monograph on his life and art This study of Vincent van Gogh represents a rare and happy chance in art history, combining a detailed monograph on his life and art with a complete catalogue of the 871 paintings by one of the greatest modern artists. The volumes also reproduces most of van Gogh's paintings in colour for the first time.
These books are an invaluable resource to anyone studying Van Gogh, because they truly carry every painting and many of the sketches and drawings that the prolific Van Gogh did in his brief career. They are arranged in chronological order and that made them very useful as I was reading The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, which are fascinating. The writing is useful, though I took some of their thinking about Van Gogh as just one opinion. A lot of what's said about the work of any artist, or any novelist for that matter, is just guesswork and informed opinion - but some of the insights in it were very useful. I read the second volume more carefully than the first and found their theory about the factors contributing to Van Gogh's suicide very interesting. They present the possibility that one of the factors was raising the value of his own work in order to help his beloved brother Theo in a tough financial time just after his child, named after Vincent, was born. He wrote a letter to Theo just before his death about how the value of an artist's work goes up so significantly after he dies and he had been very troubled by his dependence on Theo's generous support throughout his artistic life. Given Van Gogh's romantic nature, it's an interesting possibility, along with all the more familiar factors, like the pain and humiliation of his previous "attacks." So, interesting ideas and a comprehensive collection of Van Gogh's works - I'd recommend the set.
