Van Gogh (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: David Sweetman
- First Published: 1990
- Type of Work: Historical biography
- Time of Work: c. 1853-1890
- Setting: The Netherlands, France, and England
- Principal Characters: Vincent van Gogh, Theodorus van Gogh, Anna Cornelia (nee Careentus) van Gogh, Theodorus (theo) van Gogh, Vincent Willem (Uncle Cent) van Gogh, Paul Gauguin
- Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography
- Subjects: Culture, Suicide, Nineteenth century, Art or artists, Missions or missionaries, Religion, Mental illness, Painting or painters, Bible, biblical imagery, or biblical symbolism
- Locales: France, England, Netherlands
According to David Sweetman, gloom and depression are not the primary characteristics found in the paintings of Vincent van Gogh. Nor does Sweetman believe, despite the fact that van Gogh committed suicide, that despair was a dominant element in the artist’s thoughts. Sweetman portrays van Gogh as an intense lover of life, growth, change, and renewal. Whatever aberrant behavior or mental disturbances he exhibited resulted from his family’s long history of mental illness, epilepsy, and nervous breakdowns or from alcoholism, digitalis poisoning from an excessive consumption of...
[The entire page is 1682 words long]
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