cover image Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh

Johannes Van Der Wolk, Johannes Van Der Wolk, Vincent Van Gogh. Rizzoli International Publications, $90 (2pp) ISBN 978-0-8478-1288-2

A man possessed, van Gogh transformed himself over a 10-year period from a somewhat awkward, overwrought sketcher into a master painter. His best work in both media is abundantly sampled in this magnificent set, the catalogue of a large retrospective held concurrently at two museums in the Netherlands on the centenary of the artist's death. Essays provide insight into how this dissatisfied experimenter viewed his own output ( The Starry Night ``said nothing'' to him). We are also able to situate the paintings in a biographical context. The color reproductions--hundreds of them--are glorious, the commentaries consistently interesting. The volume devoted to drawing rescues a body of work from undeserved, comparative obscurity; here we see van Gogh the doer and pragmatist, using charcoal, pencil, chalk, ink, watercolor, in whatever combinations needed, to penetrate the secrets of what he was observing. (Sept.)