I should like to show by my work that the heart of such a nonentity, such an insignificant man, conceals.

Most of all, however, these letters are immensely valuable for they give a good insight into the artistic view of the painter. The only two periods when the public is relatively uninformed are the Parisian period, during which they shared an apartment and had no need to correspond, and a one-year gap in the correspondence from 1879 to 1880, when they had temporarily fallen out over Vincent's career choice. Yet, it was his sister in law’s persistence that has turned Van Gogh from a shunned artist into one of the greatest painters of the 19th Century. Edited by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker The letters are the window to Van Gogh's universe. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art.The biggest disappointment was that they failed to provide as much insight into Van Gogh's working process and aesthetic ideas than I hoped. I feel a greater appreciation for Vincent’s work and am grateful for the opportunity to get to know an artist whose work has touched countless lives long after he walked this earth.

I want to be careful in writing this review because I want to do what I can to urge you to put this book in your list of Books I Should Read During my Lifetime. Another thing that I noticed was that most of his famous paintings are actually in the major galleries around the world, including the MOMA and the d’Orsay (I would love to see Starry Night, but I doubt I will ever make it to New York to do so). Nhiều trang thư miên man sự miêu tả sống động những thứ mà Vincent nắm bắt được, cách dùng từ gợi cảm luôn phiên nhau như những cơn sóng từ ngữ uyển chuyển ập vào tâm trí người đọc.

He was a highly intelligent, sensitive man who read deeply and poured all his emotions into the letters. It is working through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do. Many of us know Vincent the artist, but there are more facets to his life than the works that hang in many of the galleries around the world. So instead of giving in to despair I chose active melancholy, in so far as I was capable of activity, in other words I chose the kind of melancholy that hopes, that strives and that seeks, in preference to the melancholy that despairs numbly and in distress. Others in history have felt the same way and have gazed upon the same skies in awe and wonder, and that reminder alone will comfort me for a lifetime.

A year later he began studying in Paris, where he met Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Seurat, who became very important influences on his work. Even when institutionalized and hospitalized he thinks of nothing but when, how, where, and what he can paint next. Not only do they throw light on Van Gogh's own complex and intriguing character, they enlighten the whole creative process as seen through his eyes. Van Gogh never really had any money, which meant that he rarely, if ever, had the opportunity to paint people (you needed money, and friends, to paint portraits). Something has happened, Theo, which most of the people here know or suspect nothing about — nor may ever know, so keep as silent as the grave about it — but which is terrible.I came to understand his selections based on these letters explaining in great detail why he chose specific colors to use in his paintings. Starry Night hangs, in poster form, in dorm rooms and offices; it is used in commercials and as desktop backgrounds. Not to mention the glimpse these letters give you of true friendship and devotion between Vincent and Theo. For great things do not just happen by impulse but are a succession of small things linked together.

And indeed he kept the blaze of that power throughout his short life even when gloominess was all there was.Not long after that he takes in a woman named Sien, a former prostitute, and his letters are filled with his dreams of family life. Van Gogh himself had, however, quite a different opinion, seeing his suffering and illness as a distraction or an obstacle, something to be endured but not sought.