IN SEARCH OF VAN GOGH

To search for van Gogh means to retrace his actual physical path to the mental states that inspired his art. It means to take our understanding of art and geography and apply at what we know of Vincent's feelings and musings on life, art, books and authors, or found in the vast collection of letters 820 in all, 658 of which were addressed to his brother Theo, dating between 1872 and 1890. For months two talented photographers retraced van Gogh's path on foot, or by train, following him from Holland to England, and on to Belgium and France. They wanted to use the magic of photography to re-create what Vincent had imagined on canvas, and in this special book, the two are set by side-by-side. One of the photographers died in 2015, and today it would no longer be possible to photograph these places as they did for the book. "I have a larger picture of the village church and effect in which the building appears to be violet-hued against the sky of simple, deep blue colour, pure cobalt. The stained-glass windows appear as ultramarine blotches. The roof is violet, and partly orange in the foreground, some green plants in bloom and sand with the pink flow of sunshine in it." These are van Gogh's own words of his church at Auvers; his painting is reproduced and on the facing page in a colour photograph of the church on a sunny day. Enjoy his visions of the moon and the stars and the nebula, his chair, bed and nightstand, the Bridge of the Englishman, self portraits of the artist as a young man, the Rue de la Gallette and windmills, a room with a view of Paris in the heart of Montmartre, prostitutes and brothels and houses and people and of course, chrome yellow and sunflower orange. Art historian Gloria Fossi examines van Gogh's personal and artistic journey, combining a deep knowledge of place and art with what is known of his feelings in an art volume the like of which we have never seen before. 240 very large pages with colour, reproductions, colour photos, maps, and archive images.
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