Vincent van Gogh - The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition

This is a wonderful read,illustrated with excellent reproductions of drawings and paintings, many of which I have never seen before. The writing reveals a sensitive man who is well-read and careful not to offend his recipients. The set of six books is very expensive but it will take many weeks to finish it and no doubt dip into it for ever.

This is a beautiful set of books, that I will treasure - particularly because every time Vincent mentions a painting in his letters, his own or somebody else's, that painting is reproduced in thumbnail on the same page. How frustrating it is usually, when artbooks mention something and you're not sure what it is - or else you're flicking back to illustrations elsewhere in the book. This is a masterpiece of book design and you can see why it is so expensive.However, it is expensive ... and you might like to know that all the letters can be read in English on the Van Gogh Museum's free website (Vangoghletters dot org).Vincent wasn't just a painter, he was a vivid and expressive writer. His letters, mostly to his brother Theo, were frequently embellished with sketches giving progress reports on his work. They bring his paintings vividly alive. On October 16, 1888, he encloses a pen and ink sketch of his bedroom in the yellow house at Arles. `Looking at the painting should rest the mind, or rather, the imagination,' he says.`The walls are of a pale violet. The floor - is of red tiles.`The bedstead and the chairs are fresh butter yellow.`The sheet and the pillows very bright lemon green.`The bedspread scarlet red.`The window green.`The dressing table orange, the basin blue.`The doors lilac.`And that's all - nothing in this bedroom, with its shutters closed.`The solidity of the furniture should also now express unshakeable repose ... This to take my revenge for the enforced rest that I was obliged to take. I'll work on it again all day tomorrow but you can see how simple the idea is.'You can just imagine Theo opening the envelope and reading that and seeing that painting of Vincent's bedroom as clearly as if he were there.And then again: `I'm painting with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which won't surprise you when it's a question of painting large SUNFLOWERS ... I'd like to do a decoration for the studio. Nothing but large Sunflowers ... a symphony in blue and yellow. I work on it all these mornings, from sunrise. Because the flowers wilt quickly.'`One of these days,' he writes to his brother, `You'll see a painting of the little house itself, in full sunshine or else with the window lit and the starry sky.'This set of books is the culmination of 15 years work, re-translating this vast correspondence in its entirety. Expensive, like I said - but probably one of the art books of the century.

One of the most interesting and original publications in the art field of recent years - decades, in fact. It helps 'makes sense' of pictures that are well-known by themselves, by placing them in the context of van Gogh's life and thought.A big splurge, but I have no regrets at all.