Vincent Van Gogh : The Drawings

by Colta Ives, Susan Alyson Stein, Sjraar van Heugten, and Marije Vellekoop

• ISBN13: 9780300107203
• ISBN10: 030010720X
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2005-10-01
• Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Summary

Vincent van Gogh (18531890) believed that drawing was "the root of everything." A self-taught artist, he succeeded, between 1881 and 1890, in developing an inimitable graphic style. This book traces the artist's successive triumphs as a draftsman, first in the Netherlands and later in France, highlighting the diversity of his technical invention and the striking continuity of his vision. Given the pivotal role drawings played in Van Gogh's artistic conception and the rich dialectic they enjoyed with his oil paintings, a small selection of related canvases by the artist is also featured. This beautiful book presents approximately 120 works in charcoal, ink, graphite, watercolor, and diluted oils. The authors explore enduring questions that surround Van Gogh's drawings, including their manufacture, artistic precedents, and contribution to Modernism. In addition, the text discusses the significance of the artist's drawing practice to his development as a painter. The essays and entries feature the most current research on Van Gogh's drawings and provide fresh interpretations of the motivating influences that shaped the artist's contributions to the history of drawing.

Author Biography

Marije Vellekoop Curator of Drawings, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Table of Contents

Out of line : how Van Gogh made his mark	p. 3
The paper trail : from portfolios to posterity	p. 21
Metamorphoses : Van Gogh's drawings then and now	p. 41
The Dutch years, 1880-85	p. 56
Antwerp and Paris, 1885-88 : the academy and the avant-garde	p. 122
Arles, 1888-89 : the synthesis	p. 144
First encounters	p. 147
A visit to the sea	p. 164
Summer harvest	p. 189
Figure and portrait drawings	p. 222
The heights of Montmojour	p. 236
Gardens, parks, and byways	p. 248
Repetitions : drawings after paintings	p. 266
Drawing to a close	p. 278
Saint-Remy, 1889-90 : taking asylum	p. 294
Auvers, 1890 : return to the north	p. 330
Infrared reflectography : the drawings under the drawings	p. 338
Technical studies : observations on the drawing materials used by Van Gogh in provence	p. 348
Summaries of scientific analyses of drawing materials	p. 356
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