Customer Reviews

Stranger On The Earth: A Psychological Biography Of Vincent Van Gogh

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Pure, unintentional, Freudian-style hilarity! This book is what happens when modern psychology ignores modern neuropathy. I was laughing until tears streamed down my face when I read the passage that states that Vincent's early work, (i.e. the Potato Eaters) was his superego rebelling against his mother's "Dutch cleanliness" and her refusal to allow the infant Vincent to smear feces on the walls of his nursery which then affected his pallete choice as an adult. Brown, yep. OK, I'm about to start laughing again . . . (whew!)

Vincent van Gogh was extraordinarily adept at introspection, and through reading his body of correspondence a student of psychology may glean an idea of van Gogh's state of agitation and alienation, and I recommend that a van Gogh scholar, or anyone with a genuine desire to better understand and empathize with van Gogh, read his correspondence instead of this book.

This book fails to lend any original - or even modern - insights, it is entirely too subjective, mired in neo-Freudian and occasionally, Jungian, conjecture, it lacks Gestalt, and works to distort and narrow the reader's perception of Vincent's gift as it related to his sustained neuropsychiatric state.

But, if you want to laugh (and laugh and laugh and laugh) at one scholar's attempt at deconstructing art and epileptiform neurological affect via Freud's ridiculous personality-based suppositions, read this book.

Many biographies and abbreviated collections of Vincent's volumnous and passionate letters to his brother Theo have been published in recent years. The only one that I can recommend though is "Stranger on the Earth : A Psychological Biography of Vincent Van Gogh" by Albert J. Lubin, which provides a fascinating insight into Vincent's life and work. The author examines Vincent's fragile personality with a sensible balance of clinical observation and human compassion. The title "stranger on earth" is an apt description of how Vincent apparently felt about his life. I read this book cover to cover in a few days (a page-turner) and came away with an appreciative sense of Van Gogh as a complex personality driven alternately by great passion and great depression. A tragic yet very human story.

I really liked the perspective of looking at Van Gogh from a psychological view point. However, the first chapter is very dense with names of paintings and their deeper meaning. The author does much better in the subsequent chapters trying to discover Vincent the man.
A must read for anyone trying to understand Van Gogh!

As I am writing a thesis on van Gogh, Lubin has been my savior. He is the only author to focus on the brother Vincent born exactly one year to the day before the famous artist. This brother greatly influenced the works of van Gogh. You learn a lot about Vincent van Gogh by reading this psychologists point of view.

I have read countless biographies on Van Gogh in the last few decades. None captures the complexity of the man and his art anywhere near as well, or as in depth, as "Stranger on the Earth." Dr. Lubin enlightens the reader about the artist's life and emotions with his psychological expertise. He is also immensely knowledgeable about art. That combination is illuminating and unique in biographies. He is a good writer as well, expressing his ideas with clarity. I promise you, once you read what the author says about "The Potato Eaters," you will never look at the painting the same way again.
Throughout the book the author comments on Van Gogh's fascination with the earth, attributing it to his endless curiosity about the dead brother he never knew (lying forever in a grave underground) who shared his name and his birthday. Look at the painting of "The Yellow House." Did you ever notice that Van Gogh chose to paint it at a time when the street in front was being dug up? Why did Vincent choose to include that part in his painting? Dr. Lubin makes the reader aware that subconsciously Vincent's choice for subjects and colors have a lot to do with events that shaped him and the lack of love in his life. He gives new insight into the artist's self-mutilation. He explains the doomed to fail relationships with women that Van Gogh was drawn to and why. For example, Dr. Lubin feels that Vincent's obsession with his widowed cousin Kee was because she was related on his mother's side. If he could not have his mother's love, he would win Kee's love, and unconsciously, that would be the next best thing. One feels as if Vincent is in Dr. Lubin's chair in his office, pouring out his soul and the good doctor is analyzing him. All the while, the reader is a fly on the wall in the room. Therefore, one gains an intimate portrait of the complexities of the man, as well as his work.
When I teach my French students about Van Gogh's art, I always reference Dr. Lubin's observations as I show Van Gogh's paintings to my classes. I couldn't love Vincent's work more. He has always been my favorite artist. Yet, Dr. Lubin makes me feel as if I know and understand the artist in a way I never experienced through other books I have read. In short, it is one of the best books I have ever read about any subject. Period.

The elegance with which he, Stone, makes manifest the life of this magnificent artist is breathtaking at times. This is not just the work to which all biographical material on Van Gogh is measured, but one of the biographical novels by which all other biographies and biographical novels should be. It is imposiible to not get sucked into the narrative and feel what it was like to be in the company of men who are poised, with their gifts, to change the way we look at the world and ourselves. Nor is it possible to not come away sympathisizing, or even feeling a kinship with the deeply troubled genius whose art bares witness to the human soul. I suggest you read this book if you are interested in anything regarding creativity. Period.

Unlike most any biography out there, this book yeilds new insights to the man and his art.