Desperately Seeking Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh's life is full of surprises, not least where and how he spent his time before his tragic death. Desperately Seeking Van Gogh adopts a novel and wonderfully accessible and friendly approach into understanding this most brilliant and complex of artists. From his early years of emotionally stifling bourgeois privilege in The Netherlands, the boarding schools which he hated, to his mysterious death (was it suicide? Was he murdered?), we follow in his footsteps to The Hague, London, Paris, Antwerp, Brussels and then to the many locations in Provence in the south of France, where he was one of an informal colony of significant artists. On the way we learn of his time as an apprentice art dealer, a school teacher, a fanatical religious preacher and finally, rather late in the day, a painter who would be recognised after his death as the creator of some of the world's most loved paintings. Each spread has a brilliant commentary and is accompanied by great images ? both photographic and of Vincent's works. In its lovely compact format, this makes a great gift for the student or enthusiast of Van Gogh, and is also the perfect impulse buy item for gallery and museum bookshops.