Vincent Van Gogh Visionary Landscapes (painters) [Paperback]

VINCENT VAN ?GOGH Few artists command such fervent devotion amongst art lovers and such high prices in the salerooms of the art world. Love him or hate him, Vincent van Gogh is one of a handful of artists who is now a cultural event. Stuart Morris's study concentrates on the paintings first, and employs van Gogh's eloquent letters as an aesthetic reference point. Much of the book is concerned with metacriticism - the way van Gogh has been critically received over the years. Vincent van Gogh is one of the most celebrated of painters. ?It's a bit of a mystery. The mystery (or irony) is that his paintings ?have commanded the highest prices in the auction rooms of the?contemporary art world (88 million dollars, 53 million dollars, and so on), yet he?only managed to sell one painting during his lifetime, and he lived?in poverty (with financial support from his brother Theo). Why is Vincent van Gogh so popular? His legend has developed?relatively rapidly. His art is loved by the critics and public.?The crazy prices paid for single oil paintings are the?manifestations of the fervour that van Gogh seems to generate. He is one of the handful of painters who cause great excitement every time exhibitions of his work are put on. One thinks also of Claude Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonaroti and Pablo Picasso. These are artists that the public go mad for, so that when they are exhibited, there are huge queues trailing around the block. The 1990 centenary celebrations of 'poor Vincent' showed?how much he is exalted. There were films about him, discussions?and conferences, TV documentaries, magazine articles, reviews,?letters, and much merchandize was sold, to the great glee of the?manufacturers: posters, tea towels, calendars, mugs, souvenirs of?all kinds. What would the dishevelled, obsessive man who?painted those small canvases in the years up to 1890 in Southern?France make of the amazing fuss that now surrounds his work??What would van Gogh think of just one ló7