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Vincent van Gogh

A Biography

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About this listen

The lives of many famous artists have been shrouded in mystery and conjecture, but none have been more controversial than the life of Vincent van Gogh.

Remembered for his swirling brushstrokes and burning colors, Vincent van Gogh is today one of the best-known painters. Though his career as a painter spanned less than ten years, he produced a body of work that remains one of the most enduring in all of modern art. In his lifetime, however, he received little recognition. Today his paintings sell for countless millions, yet during his lifetime, van Gogh managed to sell just one painting.

Van Gogh’s road to be becoming a painter took a circuitous, often troublesome path. In his twenties, van Gogh served as a lay minister in a Belgian mining district. He practiced Christian virtues with such outward zeal that he found himself ostracized from society, which prompted him to set off for Brussels to study art. His religious zeal, his belief in the unimpeachable nature of man and his struggle, and his many tumultuous inner-turmoil’s all resonate through his extraordinary body of paintings.

Public Domain (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Art Art & Literature Artists, Architects & Photographers
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I really was looking forward to this book. The writing is good but I found the narration dull and uninteresting.

Having seen the Van Gogh Alive exhibition I was interested in finding out more about the man. I wanted to like it but I just didn't. Maybe you will have better luck with it.

I gave up on this book 4 hours in.

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I chose this book as I love the painting and wanted to learn more about the great man. He was a very complex character and suffered greatly both mentally and physically for his art. This art was greatly under appreciate when he was alive and us now priceless after death. Avoid story a bit waffle at times but interesting.

Troubled genius

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There's varying accounts of the smaller details of Vincent's life out there, this book has a lovely soft approach that's not too harrowing, while still recognising the tragic torment. I really enjoyed it, the narrator was great though I can't shake that a male narrator might have been better suited and possibly better conveyed the more specifically masculine elements that he struggled with in life. I feel it would have given more acutely hitting reactions in absorbing the story. For the most part though, she was terrific and matched the tone of this book.

lovely

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Insightful and intriguing, lovely to be read the story, the narrators voice is eloquent and flows very well.

Loved it…

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I loved it because I learned a lot more about Vincent van Gogh's life. The narrator really brought the story to life. I would recommend this for anyone who loves Vincent van Gogh.

Loved it!

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