Vincent Van Gogh: Letters from Provence (The Illustrated Letters)

Van Gogh's letters from this, his most creative period, are not possibly a one read collection. Nor, do they necessarily demand an appreciation for his work. Historians of psychiatry and students of creativity and manic depression should not allow this primary source information to be overlooked. Van Gogh's incestuous relationship with his brother, Theo, was covered dramatically in the film 'Vincent and Theo.' These letters are less pathological but certainly prove the interdependency, which no doubt increased unbearably upon Vincent's death. (Theo was dead a year later and had been chained to the wall in an assylum.)But this is equally a series of untoward rapture for the natural world and the ordinary people he encountered there. We are introduced, in story and paintings, to some of the most memorable subjects of Van Gogh's accumulated works, Gaughan, Dr. Gauchet, The Chief Orderly in his assylum, The Postal Worker. There are also self-portraits and their impossibly anguished stories.This is a 5-star work. There is no comparable work for insight into the man and the paintings. It also explains that inescapable discomfort and exaltation felt by studying his work.Short and concise, it covers more than a biography and includes all the Provence masterpieces.