Van Gogh in Provence and Auvers Book

Having read the full length biography of Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, about which I have already posted, I recently began reading Van Gogh in Provence and Auvers by Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov. Published by Hugh Lauter Levin, this is a lavish, large format volume I purchased several years ago at the Metropolitan Museum. So much care was put into the production of this book that it was clearly intended as a work of art in its own right. In fact, the dedication was to the memory of Philip Grushkin, the famous book designer whose last project this represented.

The text of the book is intelligent and insightful, though necessarily less detailed than Naifeh and Smith's exhaustive study. In general, I found no discrepancies between the two accounts of the artist's life. In most cases, Ms. Welsh-Ovcharov can be said to have taken a less judgmental view of the tumultuous incidents that made up Van Gogh's career. The dysfunctional painter's inability to lead a normal life, his failure at almost every career he attempted and the flaws in his incorrigible personality that brought an abrupt end to every professional, social and familial relationship (other than with his brother Theo) are largely glossed over. There are no sensational claims and very little that can be considered controversial.

The book's greatest value lies in its excellent reproductions of almost all Van Gogh's major paintings and drawings. It was during the three years the artist spent in Provence and later Auvers that he created the body of work that we now associate with him. Though it seems inconceivable that anyone could accomplish so much in so short a time, it was during this brief period that Van Gogh, working literally around the clock, finally found his style and devoted all his resources to perfecting it. Prior to that, he had labored for several years in the Netherlands, Belgium and finally Paris but had succeeded in producing only one work that could truly be called a masterpiece. That was the bleak but powerful group portrait entitled The Potato Eaters (1885) that is reproduced in this volume's introduction.

This book should perhaps be best thought of as an illustrated companion volume to Naifeh and Smith's biography. Taken together, the two books provide as full a study of Van Gogh and his oeuvre as we are ever likely to encounter.