My initial review of this book was scarred by being based on an incomplete copy of this reproduction of an early 20th c. book. Once things were clarified with NetGalley and the publisher, I read the book again. The introduction on Van Gogh in his time, theory, use of light, etc, remains. In addition, there are the author's memories from childhood and beyond of her older brother, the one who never fit in in the family, but who her parents supported as he sought a path. Her reminiscences appear colored by family lore and sentiment but are also a bridge to a distant past.

I believe this would be an interesting addition to the collection of any art lover who particularly admires or is fascinated by Van Gogh and his work. It is a personal, at times perhaps sentimental, story of his youth, family life, the area in which he lived, his successes and failures.; a sister's loving biography. There are also details of his life up to his death but these are dealt with gently, with no specifics re precise cause of death. I also think many others would simply enjoy reading this book for the historical sense of it.

There are also several reproductions of Van Gogh's work included in this Dover Publications Edition. While they are provided in black and white, not the color one expects from this artist, they do reveal much of his technique, his subjects (people, places) and they do relay a sense of his power and strength. For an artist so unloved in his own time, Van Gogh has certainly moved into an entirely other realm today. I wonder whether acceptance would have changed his life at all or if he would have continued just as tortured, as he appears to have been driven totally by his need to paint and to paint as he wanted.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This compilation was a quite a bit shorter than I expected. I was hoping for more insight from Van Gogh himself, maybe from journals or thoughts he had shared with his sister. I was still happy to see his work here, but as I big fan I just wanted more.

This book gives thorough insight into Vince Van Gogh's masterpieces and into his life. It's a superb book to give people a bigger respect love and understanding for an amazing artist.
Certainly and most definitely a must read. I would highly recommend this book strongly.

I would like to thank the publisher for affording me this opportunity to read and review such an wonderful book of insight.

Happy Reading..

This is a reproduction from a book from 1923, this means there's no new info on van Gogh. The text, although short, is a good read.
There's some, rather badly printed, earlier works added which is mostly from van Gogh's Dutch period. If you're looking for his more famous works from the French period you'll need to look somewhere else.

To me, as a van Gogh lover, this book was a bit disappointing but it can be a stepping stone to others into the life and work of van Gogh.

A very short biography about Vincent Van Gogh. This one like many older books has a flare for the more dramatic but it worked well. I learned more from this biography than other books so it was wonderful learning more about such a tragic figure

Excellent! Would be a great book to read before attending an exhibition of Van Gogh's works!

Beautifully written and very descriptive. The author really gets you involved and transports you into the book.

Hmm… This is a worthwhile book, in that it's from the horse's mouth, if you deign to call Vincent van Gogh's sister Elisabeth a horse. It certainly covers the artist's life story – the work in an art shop, the religious temperament, the slow build to the genius creations he's held in such esteem for, and perhaps surprisingly it doesn't shirk much in the way of his latter illness. But from the remove of 2017 it's in such a very flowery style (the first foreword here, for one, is so pretentious it might as well live in Pseud's Corner) that it isn't the most approachable text. This wouldn't be a major problem were it not for better, more readable biographies since, that cover pretty much the same ground, and which the casual browser would be much more eager to read than these stilted pages, which remain as a result more of academic interest. Still, it's probably a very good thing that this unique manuscript has been republished – although the same cannot be said of the accompanying artworks, which have never deserved to be in black and white, as they are here.

Thank you, Houghton-Mifflin and Elisabeth Duquesne Van Gogh for the opportunity to read this book and offer an unbiased review.

Perhaps there was a glitch in the download? Because all I had was samples of his artwork, which of course are superb. But what I wanted was his sister's memories. I had none of that. I cannot write a review of a book on paintings alone.

The man behind the paintings. One of the best, if not the best, and complicated painters of the past centuries. This is by far one of the most wonderful books to come out about him. It's more than his art that define him and this little gem gives us a glimpse to who he truly was.

This book was something I had never read anything like before. As I have been trying to branch out to different genres this year, I think,this was a good start. I thought it was so interesting and definitely a lot more in depth than the usual art class lecture. It was really awesome to get the story from Van Gogh's sister.

This book is definitely not for the casual observer of Van Gogh's work, however if you are truly interested in his life and works, you will completely enjoy this book.
It also included several reprints of his work that I have not seen before.

I loved Personal Recollections of Vincent Van Gogh by Elisabeth Huberta Du Quesna-Van Gogh so much that I have already read it two times. I have been a fan of Van Gogh and was required to study him in college, as an art student. I was lucky enough to see many of his original pieces that were displayed at galleries across the USA a few years ago. I became interested in why he chose to paint differently than the other artists of his time.

This book goes more into who Van Gogh was as a person and discussed his personal experiences that influenced his artwork. There is little talk if line quality, nor color, but more talk about who Van Gogh was as a person, which I find most interesting. His travels and the poor people he met along the way had a huge effect on him and therefore on his artwork.

This book is a good read about Vincent as a person and how he translated his feelings for the poor and unfortunate people he lived with and among during his many travels. I love his artwork, but anyone who also wants a glimpse at Vincent Van Gogh as a person and to understand him, who he was, and how that came across in his work, should definitely read this book.

I'm a van Gogh devotee, so I will read any book about him. This one is a reprint of a pamphlet from before the 1920s. It's interesting to see how he was perceived then and how our ideas about van Gogh have changed over time. While this doesn't really bring any new information, it does have some paintings and drawings that I haven't seen before. Overall, this probably isn't for casual fans of van Gogh, but if you are very interested in him like me, you will be interested.