Vincent Van Gogh’s life and works are such a rich topic for a graphic novel but this one falls a bit flat. The layout seems more like a picture book than a graphic novel, so it seems juvenile; the story of his brother’s widow bringing his works to the public eye is interesting, but using her as a narrator replete with purple prose is laying it on too thick.

Giving three stars because the art, particularly recreations of Van Gogh’s works, are beautifully done.

I’ve never been that interested in Vincent van Gogh’s life, but I’ve seen enough of his paintings to know who he was and I’m sure we all know about the ear incident. I chose this book because it was a graphic novel and a short read. I’m not going to lie, I was intrigued by his story; this was a man who was extremely depressed, feeling the weight on his shoulders all his life and dying without ever knowing his work would make him famous. This was a nice way to tell his story, sticking to basic facts about his life and torments, keeping me glued to each page.

Super interesting insight into the life of Van Gogh. I knew a little about his life going into it, but I learned a lot from it. The grahic design in the book is interesting and engaging. It at times lends itself well to the way Van Gogh painted and it was an interesting POV as well - seeing his life from the perspective of his sister-in-law who loved him very much and fought to have people pay attention to his art post-mortum. I'd recommned

This graphic novel was amazing. I love Van Gogh and I learned so much from this book. The illustrations were beautiful as well. This would make a really great gift for someone who appreciates art or likes Van Gogh.

This book gives a really good overview of Vincent van Gogh's life, from his late teens until his death and even beyond. The story is told from the perspective of his sister-in-law, the wife of his brother Theo. While I knew a fair amount about van Gogh's life before reading this book, I still learned some new things about his life and also a lot about his sister-in-law. As the book informs us, if not for her we very likely would not know about van Gogh's works today. One thing this book does not do is shy away from the internal struggles that van Gogh dealt with throughout most of his life. His story is hard to read at times, but it gives good insight into him and his art.

I love Van Gogh's art. He has probably been my all time favorite artist since second grade when we did a study on him. I love to learn about his art and his life. Making this book perfect. This is a nice illustrated graphic novel with some of Van Gogh's paintings recreated throughout the pages. I wasn't a huge fan of the art style at first because I thought it was a little simple. But by the time I finished the book, it grew on me.

Simon Elliott's graphic biography 'Vincent' is a colourful and concise introduction to the great painter Vincent van Gogh. Narrated by his sister-in-law we follow Vincent through his life and mental struggles. He was always very close with his brother Theo, an art dealer, who supported his artistic work. We also learn about the origin or location on some of his most famous paintings.
I can see this book being used in an educational setting to give students a better understanding of the artist.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for providing the eARC.

This graphic biography of Vincent Van Gogh is ideal for middle or high school readers who may prefer manga and shy away from non-fiction works.

I have long been an admirer of Van Gogh's paintings and appreciated the accessibility of this biography. The author highlights the importance of his sister-in-law, and the story is told from her perspective.

Many of the drawings in the graphic novel either ape Van Gogh's signature style, or give context to some of his best known works. The illustrator also includes many portraits of Vincent in states of and and distress, which was somewhat distracting.

All in all, a great way for an interested reader to learn more about the artist and get a taste of his artistic style.

An informative look into the famous painters life and his work.

Vincent a graphic biography is a stellar recommendation for younger readers as well as people just starting their non fiction journey, containing loads of well placed and easily understandable
knowledge about the artist. The art is super pretty as well which is always a plus!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion | Frances Lincoln in exchange for a free and honest review.

A beautifully illustrated graphic novel with some of Van Gogh's famous paintings recreated. The story follows Van Gogh and his brother Theodore's relationship through a series of letters they wrote to each other and, his sister-in-laws Jo's efforts to get his work recognised for its genius. The book also covers Van Gogh's mental health issues/ severe depression which led to his suicide aged 37. A short and concise graphic novel, and I would recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about this talented artist.

This was incredibly respectful of the life and legacy of Vincent. It didn't sensationalize or romanticize his mental health struggles but rather treated it with the most perfect love and care it could - which is something many biographies mess up.

Who does not know Vincent van Gogh? I have seen and become familiar his artworks before I even knew they came from the same artist. It is not hard to see why his works stood the test of time. So, it was definitely eye-opening to know that he was not very much appreciated while he was alive.

The book was colourful and full of interesting details, in my opinion. It was written from the point of view of Vincent's sister-in-law, who was the person who fought to get Vincent's works to see the light of day after he died. Although the book did get a bit wordy at times, I appreciated the fact that it was a graphic biography because it made it easier to digest.

If you appreciate Vincent's works or are simply curious about his life, you may want to consider reading this graphic novel. It is a book about a tortured (and let's be honest, trying) artist, whose talent was not seen until after he was gone. "But I could have told you, Vincent. The world was never meant for one as beautiful as you..."

DNFed at around 13 pages in. The book was not for me. Not a graphic novel but more like a picture book, although the text was written like a novel. Very odd combination all around. Not for me.

I enjoyed reading this graphic novel biography about Vincent van Gogh but it wasn'tquite what I expected. I liked the idea that the book is narrated by his sister-in-law, who eventually sold his art and made him the well-known artist he is today. It already starts quite tragic and has a sad undertone throughout the novel, which sets the mood to understand the troubled artist and his life. However, at some parts it seemed too distanced from van Gogh himself just having someone else's point of view. Also I would have liked a little more pictures and less dense text in a graphic novel. I liked the comic renditions of his work but would have liked to see some more of it and not just the text telling me about his paintings. Some of the elements are very suitable to use at school for educational purposes.

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

This was a fine introduction to Van Gogh's life. It touches on all the bullet points, from the perspective of his sister in law. I liked the recreations of his artwork. The other illustrations were hit or miss for me, though. Especially when compared to the detailed paintings, the simple drawings of people with plain backgrounds felt boring. I think the layout design didn't help. It didn't really feel like a comic, and the font made it kinda look like it was done in Word. It just seems like when the subject is an artist, maybe the presentation should look more artistic.

This is the first book I've read about Vincent Van Gogh that gives a good basic biography of him, while showing the importance of his sister in law, Johanna Van Gogh-Bonger. Vincent was very close with his younger brother, Theo, and they regularly corresponded throught their lives. While there are personal details, Vincent often wrote about his art - hi methods, materials, and what he was trying to achieve. Vincent and Theo both died young, and Jo was left with all their letters and Vincent's art. Jo then spent the rest of her life promoting Vincent's art and sharing his letters with the world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC

If you are interested in learning about Van Gogh and don't have much (or any) prior knowledge about him and his life, this book could be a good introduction. This book gave me a rudimentary knowledge about the artist which I appreciate. I also think that this book didn't know what it wanted to be. It was written in simple language, that mirrored that of juvenile non-fiction but it is not meant for children. The art wasn't used to tell the story, at least not effectively, so it was just kind of there. I think this book would be better if the art was incorporated more and the language was more aimed at adults. As it is, it reads as a lengthy museum plaque which is fine but I don't think that was the author's intention.

Publishing date: 06.08.2024

Thank you to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

The book as a meal: I thought I drank from my coffe cup, I drank my paint water instead
The book left me: A little more educated about Vincent Van Gogh's life

Negatives:
Soulless and lackluster art
Narrator often feels intrusive and uneccessary
Misleading and repetitive artwork

Positives:
Would fit well for educational purposes, high-school age group maybe

Features:
Semi-comic style, lots of info, narrated by Van Gogh's sister in Law, adult themes,

Why did I choose this one?
I like art and I like Learning about artists

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
In between. The ratio og text to images is very skewed. The narration also makes understanding who we are talking about a little difficult. As this is an informative text, it will be like an info dump, which slowed my reading pace considerably.

Final ranking and star rating?
Sadly, D tier, 2 stars. I didn't Connect and process this biography like I wanted to. The negatives about it were too negative, and I expected artwork like Van Goghs. It does feature a more comic-like Version of some of his artwork, but it didn't do them justice. I expected more than what this book could give me. The concept it great, but needs to be polished a little more.

As so many of us do, I love van Gogh's artworks and was very excited to read this book. I was anticipating a colorful and jaunty read. What I didn't expect was to learn so many details about Vincent I had never heard of before, to have my heart broken all over again over his difficult life, and to be able to look at his paintings with fresh eyes. A wonderfully crafted, beautifully illustrated, and incredibly educational book. Highly recommended!

This was very interesting. I learned all kinds of facts about this artist that I never knew about. I liked that it had illustrations but I do wish it was more like a graphic novel and less like a novel with illustrations.