23.05.12
"Van Gogh: The Vital spark"
By Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith
Random Descendants; 953 pages; $40
Vincent van Gogh's autobiography is painted in understandable, powerful brush strokes, the supreme portrait of the artist. "As my drudgery is," he said, "so am I."
"Van Gogh: The Life," the intricate and panoramic biography by Steven Naifeh and Gregory Snowy Smith, is a provocative work about the volcanic man and his art.
Van Gogh's story has been romanticized and mythologized, markedly in fiction and on film. For decades, his image has been fashioned as much from Irving Stone's customary novel, "Lust for Life," and the Oscar-winning 1956 talkie starring Kirk Douglas, as it has been from scholars and historians.
As much as any artist, he's now part of all the rage culture. He's everywhere, from posters and address books to song and music, boob tube to Legos, Christmas ornaments to puppets -- including at least one with a detachable ear.
Source: GoErie.com