A carefully selected edition of the letters of Van Gogh. For this great artist it is unusually difficult to separate his life from his work. These letters reveal his inner turmoil and strength of character, and provide an extraordinary insight into the intensity and creativity of his artistic life.

When he died at the age of thirty-seven, Vincent van Gogh left a legacy of over two thousand artworks, for which he was justly famous. But van Gogh was also a prodigious writer of letters—more than eight hundred of them, addressed to his parents, to friends such as Paul Gauguin and, above all, to his brother Theo. His letters have long been admired for their exceptional literary quality, and art historians have sometimes drawn on some of the letters in their analysis of the paintings. And yet, to date, no one has undertaken a critical assessment of this remarkable body of writing—not as a footnote to the paintings but as a highly sophisticated literary achievement in its own right. Patrick Grant’s long-awaited study provides such an assessment and, as such, redresses a significant omission in the field of van Gogh studies. As Grant demonstrates, quite apart from furnishing a highly revealing self-portrait of their author, the letters are compelling for their imaginative and expressive power, as well as for the perceptive commentary they offer on universal human themes. Through a subtle exploration of van Gogh’s contrastive style of thinking and his fascination with the notion of imperfection, Grant illuminates gradual shifts in van Gogh's ideas on religion, ethics, and art. He also analyzes the metaphorical significance of a number of key images in the letters, which prove to yield unexpected psychological and conceptual connections, and probes the relationships that surface when the letters are viewed as a cohesive literary product. The result is a wealth of new insights into van Gogh’s inner landscape.

As a five year old I encountered a picture of a young man in a rakish hat and a yellow coat, on the wall of a large classroom. There was something instantly intriguing about the image, but it was also puzzling because it represented neither politician nor prince, the usual fare for Australian school decorations. I was eventually told that this was a reproduction of a painting, the artist was Vincent van Gogh, and that the subject was some young Frenchman. On special days we assembled in that room and during the next several years I found myself gazing beyond visiting speakers at the fellow in the yellow jacket. It was almost another fifty years before I felt properly conversant with the portrait and realized that van Gogh's subject, Armand Roulin, was seventeen at the time ofthe original painting and had died at seventy-four during my schoolboy contemplations. In the interim my enjoyment of the works of the Impressionists and Post Impressionists had grown and I occasionally ran into the name of Dr. Gachet, Vincent's last attending physician, in books and catalog essays. The doctor was my entree to the overlapping charms of medical and art histories. In 1987 I had the good fortune to participate as a biochemist in the centenary celebration of the Pasteur Institut in Paris.

Little known but no less influential, Jo van Gogh-Bonger (1862-1925) was the wife of Theo and sister-in-law of Vincent van Gogh. When the brothers died soon after each other, she took charge of van Gogh's artistic legacy in 1891 and devoted the rest of her life to disseminating his work. She published his letters, organised exhibitions in the Netherlands and throughout the world, and made strategic sales to private individuals and influential dealers. Her efforts were crucial to the reputation of Van Gogh's art, but she also led an interesting life in other respects. Not only was she friends with eminent writers and artists, she was active within the Social Democratic Workers' Party and closely involved in emerging women's movements. Using rich source material, including unseen diaries, documents and letters, Hans Luijten charts the multi-faceted life of this driven woman who made a bold impact in a male-dominated world at the turn of the 20th century. His lovingly written biography also sheds new light on the complex history of public appreciation for Vincent van Gogh.

Vincent Van Gogh once wrote when his paintings weren't selling; ‘I cannot help it that my paintings do not sell. The time will come when people will see that they are worth more than the price of the paint.’ I wish they would take me as I am. - Vincent Van Gogh. Jean-Paul Sartre voiced, if victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat. What we all want from life! That's the question we should ask ourselves every day as when we earn all the wealth and prosperity of this world then we try focusing on our soul satisfaction but how ravishing it would be if we felt peaceful even in the devastating storm! That even if everything is getting apart and broken around you but a deep solitude is having a permanent home in your soul; and you are so lost that you have no other desires and greed to make you feel satisfied. Vincent William Van Gogh, a Dutch Post-Impressionist Painter, is the most famous and influential figure in the history of modern art but inside he was just a broken artist, combating everything in agony & loneliness but improving himself with his actions. Most people are aware of this genius personality but he held a deep gloominess in his heart. While researching, I asked myself multiple times, Vincent Van Gogh died penniless, in depression, agony, in asylum, & intense loneliness but without any support, food or love, he created the marvellous paintings of all time; so what made him go for so long. Have you ever thought about whether destiny really exists or not? Everything is uncertain then what is fixed. What truly made him Vincent Van Gogh even despite everything that was against him, he created his world's best work even with nothing and we are still complaining because we don't have perfect resources for our work. What made him genius! What fortune he created even with nothing! That's astounding and loving to know! Our research was on Vincent Van Gogh because when everyone is blaming they have less resources, Vincent carved his fortune with nothing and what he weaved in his heart, is a matter of secret to be opened to the entire world and that's a proud moment because if he could accomplish perfection with nothing then why we can’t even with something. Time is an illusion as it makes you realise you have more and you have it but you don't have it until you claim it by utilizing it well. It's damn true and practical that everything is out of control, except your soul. So, if everything around is a mess and you are still at tranquillity then you are with your soul. Your profession is not what brings home your weekly pay check, your profession is. What you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling. - Vincent Van Gogh.

In addition to his many remarkable paintings and drawings, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) left behind a fascinating and voluminous body of correspondence. This highly accessible book includes a broad selection of 265 letters, from a total of 820 in existence, that focus on Van Gogh’s relentless quest to find his destiny, a search that led him to become an artist; the close bond with his brother Theo; his fraught relationship with his father; his innate yearning for recognition; and his great love of art and literature. The correspondence not only offers detailed insights into Van Gogh’s complex inner life, but also re-creates the world in which he lived and the artistic avant-garde that was taking hold in Paris. The letters are accompanied by a general introduction, historic family photographs, and reproductions of 87 actual pages of letters that contain sketches by Van Gogh. Selected from the critically acclaimed 6-volume set of letters published by the Van Gogh Museum in 2009, Ever Yours is the essential book on Van Gogh’s letters, which every art and literature lover needs to own.