Product Description

The complete van Gogh Vincent van Gogh's story is one of the most ironic in art history. He lived an unhappy and difficult life during which his work received almost no appreciation—finally killing himself by a bullet to the chest, so great was his despair—and is now widely considered one of the most important painters of all time, his works fetching record prices of tens of millions of dollars at auction. This comprehensive study of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) represents a rarity in art history: a detailed monograph on his life and art combined with a complete catalogue of his 871 paintings. This volume also reproduces most of van Gogh's paintings in color for the first time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #164364 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 734 pages

Review
'Succeeds in capturing the brutality and magnetism of his works' Art Press, Paris

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

About the Author
Rainer Metzger studied art history, history and German studies in Munich and Augsburg. He received his doctorate in 1994, and has worked as a fine arts journalist for the Viennese newspaper Der Standard. He has written numerous books on art and music, including volumes on van Gogh, Chagall, John Cage, and Erik Satie.

Customer Reviews

To End All Confusion
Please understand, the 1997, hard cover, single volume edition, with ISBN #3-8228-8265-8 is a wonderful book with expert reproductions and a very well written biography. Because of the identical titles and publisher, reviews for the 1993 and 1997 editions are posted under both books, thus causing great confusion. It is the 1993 two volume set which exhibits the horrible, colorless reproductions of Van Gogh's work.

A point of clarification on Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings
Two vastly different volumes exist entitled Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings by Walther/Metzger and Taschen publishing. The 1997 volume - recommended by L.A. County Museum of Art - is a remarkable book with an expertly written bio, thoughtful layout and perfect color reproductions. The 1993 volume exhibits awful, colorless prints and should be recalled as it serves only to confuse the buyer and discourage the purchase of the 1997 volume, a work of art in itself.

Such Picky People Here
I bought this book when I needed to reference Van Gogh's works for a replication project I had back in high school. I found it to be very informative and wonderfully done. I picked it out of a pile of others that I had assembled in Barnes & Noble, finding that this one was the most informative and had the better color variation.

I've noticed that almost every review here complains about the colorings. I think that's extremely ridiculous and should not take away any value from the book overall. You are never going to find a book that has the paintings EXACTLY as they are in real life (which have been faded over the years anyway). I've seen many of Van Gogh's works in person and can assure any potential buyer of this book that the difference is not as great as these other melodramatic reviewers have suggested.

Basically, I strongly recommend this book if you are a lover of Van Gogh, need it for research, or whatever you'd like it for. Don't let the other reviews scare you.