I found this somehow all at once intriguing, perplexing, and saddening. Vincent Van Gogh was supremely talented but also supremely troubled. Other than that I enjoyed his work, knew he'd cut his ear off, and, yes, was troubled, I honestly didn't know much about Van Gogh the man. My first reaction, probably because I was expecting illustrations representative of his well-known art, was to stop, close the ditigal book, and take a virtual step back. Why? At least initially, it was visual. The early illustrations weren't, to be polite, seemingly even particularly well done or informative. They were bland, lacking detail/shading, and seemed to be repetitive. As the book goes along, however, the illustrations, like Vincent himself, become more complex, reflecting where he was artist-wise at the time being discussed. In other words, the early artwork was surely by design, perhaps for reasons unknown to me, but I choose to see them as indicating young Vincent as a blank canvas, one whose ideas and direction were unformed. Knowing others will face the same issue, I'm opting for a 4-star rating although, quite frankly, at various places in the book, I was all over the place rating wise.
His struggles with mental health and depression are well-documented but this does delve into reasons or probably causes. Overall, they might be summed up by he felt too much, too strongly. We're seeing his story through the eyes of his sister-in-law, Joanna, who was actually the one person most responsible for bringing his work to the world after his death. His brother Theo also features prominently and, sadly, died not long after Vincent, leaving Joanna alone to make her own way in the world. Her success in promoting Vincent's works, left to his family at his death, is obvious today. I mean, there are entire museums bearing his name and his Starry Night painting is everywhere. What we get here, however, is the behind-the-scenes story of Van Gogh's troubled life, where feeling ran too strong to control, both drawing him to others and driving others from him, including women he seems to have been almost fixated on.
I won't detail the turmoil of his life. That's better left to the individual reader. I will say his life was definitely turbulent, anguished, and, quite frankly, rather disturbing. Let's just say, mental health care back then wasn't what it is today and it's far from infallible nowadays. Through it all, seeing the still relatively undefined artwork depicting him frequently apparently screaming in anguish, against the visuals of the intriguing, developing style of his artwork, is all the more remarkable for the contrast. His life is the focus, though, and though he gave us the gift of his amazing talent, it wasn't a happy one. It's hard not to feel both sadness and respect for what he accomplished in the face of such turmoil. Joanna, his sister-in-law, does get spotlighted at the end although, you know, she perhaps deserves a book of her own (and I write this without checking to see if one already exists). Thank you #QuartoPublishingGroup - #WhiteLion - #FrancesLincolm for allowing me a sneak peek at this troubling but also interesting life.
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