Vincent van Gogh
L. Jansen, H. Luijten, N. Bakker
Vincent van Gogh - De Brieven
De volledige, geïllustreerde en geannoteerde uitgave
Vincent van Gogh's letters have long been prized as some of the most valuable documents in the world of art. Not only do they throw light on Van Gogh's own complex and intriguing character, they enlighten the whole creative process through his eyes. Van Gogh's entire existing correspondence has been newly transcribed and translated, correcting previous mistranscriptions, and is now to be published in the most complete edition ever produced, illustrated extensively throughout, and drawing on fifteen years of scholarship and dedicated research. For the first time, all the works to which Van Gogh refers will be shown alongside the letters - not only the paintings and drawings that he himself was working on at the time, but also the works by other artists that he saw and about which he writes so passionately. Sketches that Van Gogh made throughout the letters themselves are all reproduced here at actual size.
In over 900 letters we can observe Van Gogh's thoughts and opinions at first hand, as well as his close ties with his brother Theo, his sometimes troubled relationships with friends and fellow artists, his personal doubts and fears, and above all his overriding passion for his art. This ediotion is not only an exemplar of scholarly endeavour at its highest level, it also provides a lasting pleasure as a personal written testimony to a life consecrated to art.
Hans Luijten (1961) studied Dutch Language and Literature at the University of Utrecht and was a teacher in Literature of the Renaissance and Classicism for ten years at the same university. His 3-volume dissertation on the emblem book Sinne- en minnebeelden by the famous poet Jacob Cats (1577-1660) was published in 1996 and was awarded the Kruyskamp Prize in 2000 by The Society of Dutch Literature at Leiden. He has written several articles on seventeenth-century literature and on Vincent van Gogh, published an anthology of Dutch emblems, and worked as an editor of illustrations for several books. He has been one of the editors of the Van Gogh Letters Project since 1994.
Leo Jansen (1960) studied Dutch Language and Literature at the University of Utrecht, specialising in nineteenth and twentieth-century literature and in scholarly editing. His dissertation was the edition of the manuscripts of the Flemish Symbolist poet Karel van de Woestijne (Wiekslag om de kim, 1996). Since 1994 he has been one of the editors of the Van Gogh Letters Project and also (co-)edited several other correspondences, including Brief happiness. The correspondence of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger (1999). He lectures and publishes frequently on Van de Woestijne and Vincent van Gogh, and is a member of the editorial board of the Van Gogh Museum Journal. He was appointed the Van Gogh Museum’s curator of paintings on 1 December 2005.
Nienke Bakker (1972) studied History of Art and French Language and Literature at Utrecht University. She then followed an advanced Master’s course in French Studies at Leiden University and the Université Charles de Gaulle-Lille. She has worked at the Van Gogh Museum since 2000, where she helped curate the exhibition Vincent’s choice (2003) and conducted research in preparation for the cataloguing of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings in the museum’s collection. She has been working on the Van Gogh Letters Project as a researcher since 2002.
Design
Wim Crouwel (1928) is one of the most distinguished Dutch graphic designers and a former Professor of Industrial Design at Delft University of Technology. He was one of the founders of the design studio Total Design. Since 1956 he has designed posters, catalogues and exhibitions for the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, and the Stedelijk Museum and Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, among others. In his varied career he designed the experimental New Alphabet font and the well-known Dutch number postage stamps that were in use from 1976 to 2002. He has received many national and international awards for his graphic oeuvre.
Wim Crouwel was director of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam from 1985 to 1993.
Reviews
"Deze uitgave in zes delen is subliem, en volgens mij toch nog veel te weinig lovend toe-gezongen. Het is een encyclopedie van de laat negentiende-eeuwse schilderkunst. [...] Zet al je vooroordelen over deze schilder overboord, stop dat gezeur over de prijs en lees dit boek." -- Kees 't Hart in de Groene Amsterdammer
"Nog nooit zijn de brieven van Vincent van Gogh zo volledig, zo grondig geannoteerd en zo onbekrompen geïllustreerd uitgegeven."
-- Vrij Nederland
"...verbluffend mooi." -- NRC Handelsblad
"Net als in zijn schilderijen weet Van Gogh buitengewoon bekwaam en uiterst gedreven lucht te geven aan wat hem dreef.[...] Dat is nu eindelijk te lezen, brief voor brief en woord voor woord; wetende dat alles klopt." -- Rob Schoonen, GPD.
"De schetsjes waarmee hij dikwijls zijn ontboezemin-gen onderbreekt [...] maken van die brieven, voornamelijk gericht aan zijn vier jaar jongere broer Theo [...] een ongeevenaard kunsthistorisch document. Dat wordt nog eens versterkt doordat in deze editie (zes delen in een cassette) ook alle schilderijen, etsen en tekeningen waar hij in de brieven naar verwijst, naast de tekst zijn afgedrukt." -- De Volkskrant
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