Van Gogh

<b><b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER - The definitive biography for decades to come.<b>--Leo Jansen curator the Van Gogh Museum and co-editor of </b><i><b>Vincent van Gogh: The Complete Letters</b></i></b><br></b><br>Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith who galvanized readers with their Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Jackson Pollock have written another tour de force--an 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 Gogh's 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. <p/> 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 Gogh's life with an astounding vividness and psychological acuity that bring a completely new and sympathetic understanding to this unique artistic genius.<br><b><br>NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY <i>The New York Times Book Review </i>- <i>The Washington Post </i>- <i>The Wall Street Journal </i>- <i>San Francisco Chronicle </i>- NPR - <i>The Economist </i>- <i>Newsday </i>- BookReporter </b> <p/>In their magisterial new biography <i>Van Gogh: The Life </i>Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith provide a guided tour through the personal world and work of that Dutch painter shining a bright light on the evolution of his art. . . . What [the authors] capture so powerfully is Van Gogh's extraordinary will to learn to persevere against the odds.<b><i>--</i>Michiko Kakutani </b><i><b>The New York Times</b><br></i><br>Brilliant . . . Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith are the big-game hunters of modern art history. . . . [<i>Van Gogh</i>] rushes along on a tide of research. . . . At once a model of scholarship and an emotive pacy chunk of hagiography.<b>--Martin Herbert <i>The Daily Telegraph </i>(London)</b>