Vincent Van Gogh, Painted with Words: The Letters to Emile Bernard (Hardcover)

by Leo Jansen (Author), Hans Luitjen (Author), Nienke Bakker (Author), The Van Gogh Museum (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Van Gogh's 22 letters to Émile Bernard, a fellow artist whom Van Gogh met in Paris, are significant in helping us understand the great masterpieces he would paint later, after his move to Arles. Since Bernard's side of the correspondence is lost, he plays the foil to the older, more experienced van Gogh, who elaborates on a philosophy of painting (in the end it's a question of expressing oneself powerfully), on the work he hopes to do (A starry sky, for example, well-it's a thing that I should like to try to do, just as in the daytime I'll try to paint a green meadow studded with dandelions) and on the influences of other great painters like Vermeer and Rembrandt. This lavish and complete presentation, published in association with New York's Morgan Library & Museum and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, brings together color facsimiles of the letters, English translations alongside French transcriptions, notes and color reproductions of paintings mentioned in the correspondence and other complementary material. The volume creates an entire and delightful world around this highly readable correspondence-the kind of fine and exhaustive treatment it deserves. (Oct.)
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Review

No one can fail to be totally and completely absorbed by this magnificent book produced by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker, the editors of the Van Gogh Letters project at the Van Gogh Museum, in collaboration with The Morgan Library and Museum in New York...Painted with Words is an exceptional work which brings van Gogh, the painter, writer and human being heart-rendingly close, showing that van Gogh's madness was that of a passionate genius whose paintings did not sell, whose doctors did not understand his illness, and who was insulted and cast out by a society whom he did not flatter. -- culturekiosque.com September 2007

VINCENT VAN GOGH, PAINTED WITH WORDS: THE LETTERS TO ÉMILE BERNARD edited by Leo Jansen, Hans Luitjen and Nienke Bakker (Rizzoli, 384 pages; $50). Much more than a catalog, this book accompanying the Morgan Library & Museum's current exhibition includes lively English translations of van Gogh's spirited correspondence with his younger friend Bernard. While the paintings should be appreciated in person, the letters -- also transcribed in French and reproduced in facsimile -- work best in book form. Adorned with van Gogh's sketches, they begin with his move from Paris to the rural town of Arles in 1887 and end just a few months before his suicide in 1889. In impassioned and often coarse language, he celebrates earthly pleasures, extols Rembrandt, Courbet and Millet, and indulges in ecstasies of color. KAREN ROSENBERG -- New York Times 12/7/07

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli (September 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847829936
• ISBN-13: 978-0847829934
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #357,699 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing peek into van Gogh's world, September 25, 2007

By	PickyProfessor - See all my reviews

Nothing makes one feel closer to Vincent van Gogh than an encounter with one of his original letters, in an exhibition or at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It's all there in the pages he never thought the whole world would see: the tidy (but never perfect) handwriting when he's feeling relaxed, the messy handwriting when he's excited or pressed for time, the words he underlines or enlarges to make a point, the lines he squeezes in the margins as afterthoughts. Even the oftentimes neglectful grammar, as if he can't be bothered to get French accent marks right and couldn't care less about punctuation rules.

This new volume accompanies an exhibition of Vincent's letters to artist friend Émile Bernard at the Pierpont Morgan Library in NYC. It brings together facsimiles of the original manuscripts, transcriptions in the original language (French), new translations into English (revised from earlier translations), and annotations for each letter. Illustrations of van Gogh's paintings mentioned in the letters, as well as relevant artworks by Bernard, are also included, as are reproductions of the sketches van Gogh slipped in the letters to give his friend an idea of what he was working on.

Van Gogh's letters to Bernard are particularly interesting because he let his guard down in ways he tended not to do with his brother Theo. Bernard was much younger, and Vincent's tone is sometimes the helpful mentor, sometimes the bossy older brother, by turns warm, enthused, cranky, or witty. The occasional salty language may surprise as Vincent often abandons decorum with Bernard--makes you wonder what kinds of conversations they shared over absinthes in Paris before Vincent went down south!

Beautifully produced and thoroughly documented, "Painted With Words" is a must for any serious van Gogh library. This volume whets the appetite for the Van Gogh Museum's projected re-publication of van Gogh's complete correspondence in 2009. "Painted With Words" follows the same methodology and format as those volumes will and was compiled by the same curator-scholars. What a fantastic addition to van Gogh scholarship the new edition of the correspondence will be.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A VOLUME TO BE READ, REREAD, AND TREASURED, January 11, 2008

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

A friend of many Impressionists, Vincent van Gogh stands alone among artists, beloved, admired and respected by millions. While many of his paintings are familiar to us, this beautiful volume offers insights into his thinking, his cretaive process, and his life. The letters presented herein were written between December 1887 and November 1889 to his younger friend and colleague, Emile Bernard. These epistles are priceless as they focus to a great extent on artistic questions and, at the same time reveal a man blessed with a unique style and plagued by doubts.

Letters in this volume are numbered from 1 to 22. Facsimiles of all are presented. With these we are privy to the artist's apparent disregard for apostrophes and his cavalier use of capital letters. A joy and privilege to see the writing in his own script, complete with drawings and crossed out words.

Following the facsimiles one finds the letters printed in the original French along with transcriptions. Also included are generous full color reproductions of paintings by van Gogh and Bernard, many of which are discussed in the epistles as van Gogh both criticized and praised the younger artist. What comes through very clearly in the correspondence is the depth of friendship the two men shared.

Van Gogh's last letter was written mere months before he took his own life.
Vincent van Gogh Painted with Words is a volume to be read, reread, studied, and treasured. It contributes immeasurably to our understanding of this troubled genius.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Handshake in Thought, November 10, 2007

By	Christian Schlect (Yakima, Washington/USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

An excellent addition to the library of anyone with a serious interest in Vincent van Gogh, or for that matter Emile Bernard.

In 1996 I enjoyed reading the selected letters of van Gogh, a gifted writer, in a book edited by Ronald De Leeuw. This current effort has a more narrow focus but is greatly enhanced by the fine selection of accompanying artwork. The explanatory chapter notes are superb.

Its editors and the Morgan Library should win prizes for this scholarly work.