Naifeh Steven - Van Gogh : The Life

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Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc.
Maps copyright 2011 by David Lindroth, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Random House,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

R ANDOM H OUSE and colophon are
registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Published in the United Kingdom by Profile Books, London.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

Ton de Brouwer: Excerpts from Van Gogh en Nuenen, 2nd edition, by
Ton de Brouwer (Venio, Netherlands: Van Spijk, 1998). Reprinted by permission of Ton de Brouwer, founder of Vincente at Nuenen, www.vgvn.nl.

Fuller Technical Publications: Excerpts from Vincent and Theo van Gogh:A Dual Biography by Jan Hulsker, edited by James M. Miller (Ann Arbor, MI: Fuller Technical Publications, 1990). Reprinted by permission of Fuller Technical Publications.

Hachette Book Group: Excerpts from The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, translated by Johanna Bonger, originally published by The New York Graphic Society and subsequently published by Little, Brown & Co. (second edition, 1978, third printing, 1988). Reprinted by permission of Hachette Book Group.

Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.: Excerpts from Van Gogh: A Retrospective, edited by Susan A. Stein (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1986). Reprinted by permission of Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 300 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010, www.rizzoliusa.com.

Thames and Hudson Ltd.: Excerpts from Taines Notes on England by Hippolyte Taine, translated by Edward Hyams (London: Thames and Hudson, 1957). Reprinted by permission of Thames and Hudson Ltd., London.

Ken Wilkie: Excerpts from In Search of Van Gogh by Ken Wilkie (Roseville, CA: Prima Books, 1991). Quotes within the text attributed by Enid Dove-Meadows, Piet van Hoorn, Baroness Bonger, and Madame Baize were made to Ken Wilkie. Reprinted by permission of Ken Wilkie.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Naifeh, Steven (Steven W.)
Van Gogh: The Life/Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith.
pages cm
eISBN: 978-1-58836-047-2
1. Gogh, Vincent van, 18531890. 2. ArtistsNetherlandsBiography. 3. Gogh, Vincent van, 18531890.Psychology.
I. Smith, Gregory White. II. Title.
N6953.G3N35 2011
759.9492dc22
[B] 2010053005

www.atrandom.com

Frontispiece: John Peter Russell, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1886
Endpapers: Vincents Bedroom, October 17, 1888, letter sketch

v3.1_r2

To our mothers,

Marion Naifeh and Kathryn White Smith,

who first showed us the joy of art,

and to all the artists of T HE J UILLIARD S CHOOL ,

who have since brought so much joy into our lives,

this book is gratefully dedicated.

S. N.

G. W. S.

Click on the illustration numbers below to navigate to each illustration. You can then click the illustration number beneath the image to navigate back to this section.

John Peter Russell, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1886

Self-Portraits, 1887

Garden of a Bathhouse, August 1888

Vincent van Gogh, age 13

Anna Carbentus

The Markt in Zundert

Vincents sisters and brothers: Anna, Theo, Lies, Cor, and Wil

Barn and Farmhouse, February 1864

Theo van Gogh, age 13

Vincent van Gogh on the steps of the Tilburg School

Theodorus (Dorus) van Gogh

Uncle Cent van Gogh

The Zundert Church

H. G. Tersteeg

Goupil Gallery, The Hague

Ursula and Eugenie Loyer

Vicarage and Church at Etten, April 1876

Ary Scheffer, Christus Consolator, 183637

Churches at Petersham and Turnham Green, November 1876

Scheffersplein, the market square in Dordrecht

Rear Admiral Johannes van Gogh (Uncle Jan)

The Cave of Machpelah, May 1877

The Au Charbonnage Caf, November 1878

Marcasse Coal Mine, Pit #7

Miners in the Snow at Dawn, August 1880

Vincent van Gogh, age 18

Anthon Ridder van Rappard

Sower (after Millet), April 1881

Anthon van Rappard, The Passievaart Near Seppe (Landscape Near Seppe), June 1881

Marsh with Water Lillies, June 1881

Kee Vos-Stricker and son Jan, c. 1881

Windmills Near Dordrecht, August 1881

Donkey and Cart, October 1881

Anton Mauve, 1878

Torn-Up Street with Diggers, April 1882

Woman Sitting on a Basket with Head in Hands, March 1883

Sorrow, April 1882

Carpenters Yard and Laundry, May 1882

Cradle, July 1882

Luke Fildes, Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward, 1874

Hubert von Herkomer, The Last Muster: Sunday at Chelsea Hospital (detail), 1871

Old Man with a Stick, SeptemberNovember 1882, and Old Man in a Tail-Coat, SeptemberDecember 1882

Worn Out, November 1882

Women Miners, November 1882

Soup Distribution in a Public Soup Kitchen, March 1883

Path to the Beach, July 1883

Landscape with Bog-Oak Trunks, October 1883

Landscape in Drenthe, SeptemberOctober 1883

Man Pulling a Harrow, October 1883

Jean-Lon Grme, The Prisoner, 1861

The parsonage in Nuenen

Weaver, 1884

The Kingfisher, March 1883

Pollard Birches, March 1883

Margot Begemann

Jozef Israls, Peasant Family at Table, 1882

Head of a Woman, 188485

The Potato Eaters, April 1885

Lon Lhermitte, La moisson (The Harvest), 1883

Head of a Woman, March 1885

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, soon after completion in 1885

The Old Church Tower at Nuenen, JuneJuly 1885

Still Life with Bible, October 1885

Couple Dancing, December 1885

Plaster room at the Antwerp Academy

Standing Female Nude (Seen from the Side), January 1886

Head of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette, JanuaryFebruary 1886

Self-Portrait with Straw Hat, 1887

Self-Portrait, 1887; Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, 188687; and Self-Portrait with Straw Hat, 1887

Atelier of Fernand Cormon (c. 1885)

John Peter Russell, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1886

Jean-Baptiste Corot, Agostina, 1866

Johanna Bonger, 1888

Lucien Pissarro, Vincent and Theo van Gogh, 1887

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Portrait of mile Bernard, 1886

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh