- The Lives of Vincent van Gogh

Catalog description

Explores the career phases and legacies of an artist whose name and artworks are widely recognized yet often reduced to stereotypes about genius, mental illness, and marginality. Students examine varied, sometimes contradictory conceptions of Vincent van Gogh’s historical context, lived experiences, artistic practices, and cultural significance as understood by the artist, his contemporaries, different generations of scholars and museum curators, and members of the general public. Students work closely with the online scholarly edition of van Gogh’s correspondence, numerous examples of his art, and popular visual culture such as children’s books and films. These investigations yield a nuanced understanding of a complicated person who simultaneously embodied and resisted norms and has had a lasting impact on ideas about artmaking.