Mysterious Van Gogh. Art, madness and genius of the Dutch artist - D'Orazio Costantino (9789669937360)

Van Gogh lived his paintings before painting them. To create The Potato Eaters, he spent three months in a peasant family, made fifty studies of faces, ate with them, and breathed the same air. Looking at Van Gogh's paintings, we are not limited to watching a family meal, we are eating it with them. With Van Gogh, painting becomes living matter.

And with Costantino d'Orazio, Van Gogh's life turns into a masterfully composed story. The author will reveal the most fascinating secrets hidden in Van Gogh's hallucinated nightscapes and vibrant fields. We will penetrate among the branches of olive trees and meet the views of the inhabitants of Provence at the end of the nineteenth century. This investigation will challenge the image of a mad genius, restore Vincent's vision of the world and shed bright light on his secrets. The diaries of Vincent the Younger will become the basis of the plot, and through his eyes we will visit the places that Vincent painted: from the Borinage to the Hague, from Paris to Provence and back. This journey lasted for years, and it is in these places and in family memories that the artist’s secret lurks.

This book is highly recommended for anyone who would like to learn more about one of the most interesting artists of all time. This reading will give you a new perspective on Van Gogh's life and work.

Van Gogh's work and fate are complex and ambiguous: using bright colors, expressive brushwork and defined forms, Van Gogh fought not only with the disinterest of his contemporaries, but also with a devastating mental illness.

This book will tell about the life and work of the artist, but in a completely new form for the reader. The diaries of Van Gogh's nephew, Vincent the Younger, will form the basis of the plot, and through them, Costantino d'Orazio will provide information that will answer the most difficult questions. Vincent the Younger would travel to Brabant, Belgium, Paris and Provence to see with his own eyes what was left of the landscapes depicted in his uncle's paintings. He will talk to those few who knew the artist, question them, observe them. The flashes of color, discussions with family, affection and friendship that illuminate this hectic journey are masterfully conveyed by the author on the pages of this book.