Vincent van Gogh was a viracious reader. In his letters he mentions more than one hundred and fifty authors from some ten countries, at least two hundred works in four languages, and almost three thousand years of literary history. From Homer to Zola, Van Gogh read, copied, rejected, adored, quoted, distorted, re-read, condemned and recommended countless books and articles. This second volume of Van Gogh Studies examines Van Gogh's literary journey as it emerges through the 1100 references found in his correspondence. It is an exploration of the literary universe of a passionate reader, in constant search of texts that could be applied to his own reality. Having worked on the Van Gogh Letters Project, Wouter van der Veen has made a close study of the most important texts referred to in Van Gogh's correspondence, and has come to the suprising conclusion that Van Gogh was seldom influenced, in the sense that many art historians have argued, by what he read but rather regarded literature as a mirror that reflected and confirmed his own views. Contents: 1. Early Letters 2. Body and Soul 3. The Imitation of Jesus Christ 4. Rebellion, suffering and sentiment 5. Strategic reading 6. The Hague: Realism and reality 7. Nuenen: The painter of peasants 8. Paris 9. Last letters AUTHOR: Wouter van der Veen gained a PhD from the University of Utrecht in 2007 for his doctoral dissertation on Literature in Vincent van Gogh's correspondence, on which this publication is based. He is currently working as an author, editor and publisher. ILLUSTRATIONS 17 colour e10 b/w illustrations
