The Essential: Vincent van Gogh

For readers who have little time to spare and are averse to art-world jargon, this series aims to provide an entertaining guide to individual artists and pop culture. Each volume presents an account of the artist’s life, personal and professional anecdotes, concise definitions of cultural and social movements that shaped the artist’s work, and colour reproductions. This book explores how Van Gogh, son of a clergyman, with his own failed dreams of becoming one, emerged as one of the world’s great painters and an art-world icon. It discusses his greatest passions, how he felt about selling only one painting during his lifetime, and why he painted his most beautiful flower pictures during the most anguished period of his life.