Member Reviews
Due to a passing in the family a few years ago and my subsequent health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for years after the bereavement. Thank you for the opportunity.
I was for a long time interested in Van Gogh, i liked his art but my knowledge of his life was limited to the basics we learned about in art classes.
This book gave me the opportunity to learn more about him.
I think it was in a rather special way that the author approached the life and art of Van Gogh, from the perspective of his different homes. I had no idea that this amazing artist was a sort of a wanderer, that he was forever looking for the right place and right landscape to paint.
I was also fascinated by the way he developed his art and technics.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I only wished to have it in my hands rather than as an ebook, one can't really feel the beauty of the Van Gogh's tableaux through a screen. However, i think this book would make a perfect gift for any art lover.
The book Living with Vincent Van Gogh was wonderfully done. It made you feel you were living along side the artist. This book was provided to me for free in exchange for my honest opinion And, I am so greatelful for the opportunity because I highly recommend you add this book to your collection.
I give this a 5 start ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is my second book on Van Gogh from Martin Bailey, the first being Starry Night. While that book concentrated on the artistically creative year spent at the asylum near St. Remy, this book has a larger biographical and educational goal. Here we learn about the places Van Gogh lived during his 37 years and of many of the major people he interacted with during that time.
Along the way, Living with Van Gogh is illustrated with the his art at various stages allowing an excellent view of his evolution. There are also old and contemporary photographs of many of his subjects, human, structural and landscape. There are clear indications of Van Gogh’s evolving techniques which I enjoyed. They likely wouldn’t be as surprising or new for someone more well versed in art. But for someone with much interest but less knowledge, like myself, There is much new to find.. Another plus—finding examples of art that I have never seen before. Also, Bailey’s style is conversational and comfortable reading.
All in all, I found this to be a very successful book that meets its goal of presenting Van Gogh in his various home and natural settings, the settings that inspired creations known around the world.
P.S. I neglected to mention that there are ample endnotes to document the author’s writing. There is also a lengthy bibliography of sources for further investigation of Van Gogh and his art.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I have to admit, I usually find art books a little dull. I think they are more or less the same in terms of style and content, full of paintings and some background information of the artist; and sometimes, if the author is a little more competitive, s/he includes a personal interpretation of the art in question. However, Martin Bailey came through with flying colors (pun intended).
This book tells the story of Vincent Van Gogh through places, which had a serious impact on his life and art. It aims to help readers experience the moving and changing life of the famous artist with real-life visuals of the related places and the reflections of those places in the painter's canvas. We see how environments shaped the life and perception of Van Gogh, be it a room of his own at his uncle's house, his beloved yellow house or in a chamber of an insane asylum.
If you are familiar with the work of Van Gogh, you may well have noticed the impact of the places in his artwork. If you wish to know where those places are and how they may have affected the mind of a genius, this beautifully decorated book with unique storytelling is the right address.
I loved learning more about Van Gogh than I previously knew. I am sorry to say the book read more like one long book report or school assignment than it did biography.
This advanced copy was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
Really fantastic book on one of my favourite artists. It is very eye opening and really makes you think about art and the artist, not only was this man talented but he was also deeply complex. If you are interested in art or just in interesting people this is one to read!
I've read a handful of other Vincent van Gogh biographies so a lot of this was "yeah, I'm well aware of that" or "that's the how I heard it goes." But besides that, it is a great look at his life and the places he lived. Not only that but what he did in those places and what led him to become the man and artist that everyone knows.
As an artist myself, Van Gogh has always been a huge inspiration for me, and when I saw that Living With Vincent Van Gogh was available for request on NetGalley, how could I resist?! When my request was approved, I was naturally extremely excited. Getting such an in depth look into the life of one of my biggest inspirations, and to see into his world is something extremely special to me, and Martin Bailey has written it perfectly!
Before beginning this book, I would have said that I already had a large amount of knowledge in terms of Van Gogh's work, and life, and I didn't really expect to learn anything new. Having said that, I was still looking forward to reading about him, and seeing how Bailey would present Van Gogh's life story. However, after reading the first chapter, I was pleasantly surprised. It became apparent that I was going to learn a lot more from this book than I had expected, and that I didn't know as much about Van Gogh's life as I had initially thought.
I particularly enjoyed reading about his time in London, as until now, it was a part of his life I knew very little about. Having lived in London myself, learning that some of Van Gogh's favourite places to visit were the same as some of my own brings me a happiness that I can't explain.
Another amazing aspect of this book is the imagery. It features many of Van Gogh's artworks, contemporary landscape photography, and previously unpublished archival documents.
Living with Vincent Van Gogh taught me more than I could have imagined, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. His life is such a sad story, but such a powerful one. No matter how many times he failed, he never gave up on the thing he loved the most, and we could all learn something from him, and his life. I will definitely be reading all of the books that Martin Bailey has written on Van Gogh, and I highly recommend this one to anyone who is interested in art or Van Gogh.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, and White Lion Publishing for my copy. I give it a 5/5 rating.
I would like to thank Netgalley and White Lion Publishing for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Interesting look at the places van Gogh lived. shorter than I was expecting.
Seemingly the first in an occasional series with the same mission, this gives us a biography of van Gogh through the places he lived and worked. What I found was just as much confident portrayal of the facts and easy description of the art as the author provided only a year ago in "Starry Night", his book about van Gogh's final years in institutes. What you don't get is some psuedo Pseud's Corner look at the man, assuming every bedroom wall, every studio vista and so on affected the art. This does show how his time in amongst impoverished miners, and with dodgy London mistresses, etc, had some formative bearing, but it's not overladen and putting things onto the interpretation of the canvasses that simply aren't there. It's another wonderful, and supremely illustrated, book.
This book blew my expectations away! It was amazing. Very interesting and I learned a ton. The only downside was not being able to read it in the kindle app the text was tiny and I had to zoom in on every single page.
A great insightful book for art lovers. I always want to know more about Van Gogh. Got to know more about the artist. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc.
A wonderful guide to Vincent Van Goghs life through his homes his work his life,So well written so informative for all Van Gogh's fans or for anyone curious about him this is the book for you.#netgalley #quartobooks.