“Van Gogh: A Power Seething” By Julian Bell Reviewed by Jonathan Lopez

http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-van-gogh-a-power-seething-by-julian-bell-1421444142

The Starry Messenger Van Gogh failed as an art dealer, dropped out of divinity school and was deemed too zealous to be a missionary. At 27, he took his brother’s advice and became a painter.

“Vincent van Gogh understood his art as nothing less than a lifeline for his immortal soul, the elusive reason for his existence. The continued prominence of his work as a touchstone of cultural achievement may, in part, offer redemption for his struggles. His life is unquestionably art history’s most compelling story of misunderstood genius, and whether told in a book that is too fat or too thin, too speculative or too terse, his story will always be worth reading.”

When he posed for his renowned self-portraits, Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) adopted a variety of guises, thoughtfully assessing the effects of life’s unfolding events on his character. He might wear the straw hat in which he worked, or an overcoat for a day in the city, or a bandage over his wounded ear. But when we see his piercing blue eyes and sober visage staring out from the canvas, we feel sure that this is Vincent, a singular personality who takes his own measure and yearns to find his place in the scheme of things. “My existence is not without reason,” the artist once wrote to his brother Theo. “There is something inside me, what can it be?”

British painter and writer Julian Bell answers that question forcefully in the subtitle of “Van Gogh: A Power Seething,” an impressively concise biography that offers a solid introduction to the troubled artist’s life, paintings and emotional travails. Imagining the interior of Van Gogh’s psyche, Mr. Bell invites us to picture “a frantic internal bubbling, driven by a heat from below, liable to boil and spill beyond the container of personal identity.” Add an ear and a razor to that scenario and there can be little doubt what happens next.

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