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A review by jrayereads
Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman
5.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars.
I listened to the audiobook edition of this book over the course of several months and when I finally got around to finishing it, I knew that it was a new favorite.
This book does what a biography on Van Gogh should do. Deborah Heilgman’s treatment of Van Gogh depicts him as wholly human. He was stubborn, bold, opinionated, and argumentative. But he was also kind, generous, creative, thoughtful, and loyal. And at the core of this book is Vincent’s relationship with his brother, Theo. We get to see their relationship through the hundreds of letters written between them. We get Van Gogh family drama, a look into the impressionist’s art world, and Vincent’s mental health struggles. The writing was simple but effective and this book does an excellent job of taking the information in those letters into a compelling narrative.
Art history is my absolute favorite topic, but even if you know nothing about the subject, this is a great entry into biographies on artists lives.
I listened to the audiobook edition of this book over the course of several months and when I finally got around to finishing it, I knew that it was a new favorite.
This book does what a biography on Van Gogh should do. Deborah Heilgman’s treatment of Van Gogh depicts him as wholly human. He was stubborn, bold, opinionated, and argumentative. But he was also kind, generous, creative, thoughtful, and loyal. And at the core of this book is Vincent’s relationship with his brother, Theo. We get to see their relationship through the hundreds of letters written between them. We get Van Gogh family drama, a look into the impressionist’s art world, and Vincent’s mental health struggles. The writing was simple but effective and this book does an excellent job of taking the information in those letters into a compelling narrative.
Art history is my absolute favorite topic, but even if you know nothing about the subject, this is a great entry into biographies on artists lives.