The definitive biography for decades to come -- Leo Jansens, curator of the Van Gogh Museum and principal editor of 'Vincent van Gogh: The Letters' (which was described as 'Book of the Decade' in the Guardian last year)
An amazing tour de force -- Ann Dumas, curator, Royal Academy of Arts
In their magisterial new biography, Van Gogh: The Life, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith provide a guided tour through the personal world and the work of that Dutch painter, shining a bright light on the evolution of his art while articulating what is sure to be a controversial theory of his death at the age of 37. ... Mr. Smith and Mr. Naifeh diligently examine the development of his ideas, his techniques, his startling ability to inhale lessons from other painters and transform their innovations into his own. ... What Mr. Naifeh and Mr. Smith capture so powerfully is van Gogh's extraordinary will to learn, to persevere against the odds, to keep painting when early teachers disparaged his work, when a natural facility seemed to elude him, when his canvases failed to sell. -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *
Now, at last, with Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, we have what could very well be the definitive biography... In it we get a much fuller view of van Gogh, owing to the decade Naifeh and Smith spent on research to create this scholarly and spellbinding work. Against all odds the pair, ... have managed to slough off ossified impressions and speculations and gotten into van Gogh's skin, making it possible for us to experience anew his heartbreaking relationships with his family and a much wider circle of friends and acquaintances... When all else failed, van Gogh committed himself to his art, and the last third of this magisterial work details his attempts to find his place in the world. ... How pleased he would be to know how much his art has been admired for more than 100 years. And how pleased we should be that Naifeh and Smith have rendered so exquisitely and respectfully van Gogh's short, intense, and wholly interesting life. -- Roberta Silman * Boston Globe *
Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, whose biography of Jackson Pollock won the Pulitzer Prize, have written this generation's definitive portrait of the great Dutch post-Impressionist. ... Their most important achievement is to produce a reckoning with van Gogh's occasional "madness" that doesn't lose sight of the lucidity and intelligence - the profound sanity - of his art. ... this comprehensive book gives "us the full, ragged glory of his life." -- Richard Lacayo * Time magazine *
Winners of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for their biography of Jackson Pollock, [Naifeh and Smith] bring a booming authorial voice and boundless ingenuity to the task and have written a thoroughly engaging account of the Dutch painter. ... the authors vividly reconstruct the intertwined stories of his life and his art, portraying him as a "victim of his own fanatic heart." Messrs. Naifeh and Smith present Van Gogh's story in such a fluent and captivating manner that ... their fine book has the potential not only to reinvigorate the broad base of popular interest that Van Gogh already enjoys but to introduce a whole new generation to one of art history's most remarkable creative spirits. -- Jonathan Lopez * Wall Street Journal *
Their belt-and braces book is in every sense monumental... the Van Gogh who emerges from this extraordinary marshalling of resources is... a far more comprehensive figure than earlier versions... fascinating and fastidious... -- Michael Prodger * Sunday Times *
The Van Gogh summoned here is hugely detailed and two-dimensional, an intricate cutout... engrossing... a model of scholarship. -- Martin Herbert * Daily Telegraph *
An enormous and engrossing new biography... the story has a momentum that justifies the time it takes to tell it... * Economist *
In terms of scholarship and readability, this hefty tome is impressive. It is rich with detail, while its narrative never flags... a fully rounded figure emerges from the shadows of a myth. -- Fisun Guner * Metro *
This fast-paced, richly rewarding biography rings all the bells and blows all the whistles. -- Iain Finlayson * Times *
The authors of this mammoth new life have done an excellent job, putting together a fast-moving narrative that scarcely slackens as it takes the reader from Vincent's birth in Zundert, a little place in the south of the Netherlands, to his death from a gunshot wound in Auvers, northern France, 37 years later. -- Martin Gayford * Sunday Telegraph *
Compelling... astounding in its thoroughness and range... the authors really come to grips with Van Gogh the man and on every page bring him vividly to life... a remarkable and valuable book. -- Ann Dumas * Royal Academy of Arts Magazine *
Art Book of the Year: A huge achievement... This will surely be the standard biography for years to come. -- Frank Whitford * Sunday Times *
Art Books of the Year: This will surely count (for a few decades at least) as the definitive biography of Van Gogh. Rigorous research and imaginative ingenuity are roped together by a strong strand of authorial conviction to offer a compelling and realistic account -- Rachel Campbell-Johnston * Times *
Meticulously researched -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday *
a sweepingly authoritative, astonishingly textured book. * Chicago Tribune *
the wealth of research here is breathtaking * Herald Sun, Australia *
Their biography enriches the eye. Its insight and vast information vault readers into the work of van Gogh and the artists of his time. It deepens the experience of looking at art. * San Francisco Chronicle *
it is extremely readable, contains new material and is freshly, even startlingly re-interpretative of a life whose bare bones are very familiar. The more one reads, the more absorbing it becomes, both in its breadth of approach and its colossal detail. -- Richard Shone * Spectator *
A superb scholarly account. * Glasgow Herald *
With commendably fluency and certainly more detail than has been available in previous accounts, Van Gogh takes us through... what was to be an all-too-brief artistic career. -- Michael Peppiatt * Literary Review *
It's a tour de force of biography...This is a well-written book, extraordinarily thorough and admirably restrained, even sympathetic to its subject. * USA Today *
They take the reader into the artist's existence, anchoring it in his epoch, its beliefs and principles... A thoughtful and scholarly history... It would be hard to find a page that does not have a surprising fact, a felicitous phrase, or an illuminating point. -- Angus Stewart * Country Life *
A blockbusting biography... there is much to enjoy here. * Apollo *
