An End to the Myth of the Tortured Soul

January/February 2010

The letters reveal that Van Gogh was not altogether the sensitive dreamer of popular myth. There was certainly something of the innocent soul about him, but he was also clearly irascible, brusque and plainly irritating. This is one side of Van Gogh that dedicated readers of the letters will always have known about, of course, but with the new translation we get closer to Van Gogh's real voice and tone and to his sometimes more meandering thought processes: the new translations don't finish off his sentences, or they include previously censored material.

But on only one occasion does the intermittent mental instability really show itself. In the last letter before that ear-cutting crisis at the end of 1888, Van Gogh describes a visit with Gauguin to a gallery at Montpellier: "Gauguin and I talk a lot about Delacroix, Rembrandt & c. The discussion is excessively electric. We sometimes emerge from it with tired minds, like an electric battery after it's run down." Two lines down he continues: "Rembrandt is above all a magician and Delacroix a man of God, of God's thunder and bugger off in the name of God."

This nonsensical description of Delacroix has been reinstated in the new translation. But these glimpses into a mind that is clearly deranged are rare. The letters on the whole reveal a lucidity and rationality that show us the diligent and productive artist he remained for much of his life.

This is the premise of the Royal Academy's exhibition, and it goes far to remedy the myth of the mad genius known, for many, only for the cutting-off of his earlobe and a vase full of sunflowers. Upon such things are entire reputations built.

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Pat Brien

February 18th, 2010
2:02 PM

I'm seeing a lot of plugs for a movie, 'The Eyes Of Van Gogh,'going on here. I don't mind, personally. Maybe StandPoint should make up for alleged article errors by reviewing it. Anything that's new and meaningful on Vincent Van Gogh is welcome; and Vincent's paintings look so good on big, glossy pages! C'mon StandPoint, review the guy's movie! I have no connection to it, by the way, but I'd like to know if it's worth seeing.

chris

February 1st, 2010
5:02 PM

Seems to me anybody that cuts off his ear, enters an asylum, and utlitmately kills himself is tortured; however, he was a genius unequaled by most, and surpassed by few......if any!

Althea

January 27th, 2010
9:01 AM

It is highly likely that Vincent van Gogh was a womb twin survivor. He was very taken up with the cycle of life: he painted the sower, and the reaper. He painted wheat fields and connected the fruitfulness of the wheat grain to death. He sat in a wheatfield in full fruit and shot himself - he was himself at his most fruitful and then he died at his own hand. It is common among womb twin survivors to think about death a lot, even from a young age, and suicidal feelings in young womb twin survivors are also common. A womb twin survivor is the survivor of a twin pregnancy but one twin dies in the womb, leaving a sole survivor, who is fuelled with grief and pain which has something to do with loneliness and death but defies explanation. Such feelings haunt womb twin survivors, until they can at last find an explanation for their feelings and begin to come to terms with this loss. It is interesting that Vincent had such a close relationship with his brother Theo, whom he treated just like a twin, and it is also interesting that the method of suicide he chose was to shoot himself in the stomach not the head, so he was able to walk home and let everybody know that he would die soon, and then Theo could be there. To die in the arms of his brother would be like his Dream of the Womb revisited - here was unity and death, closeness and love and dying. Even to be alive was painful for Vincent. A tortured genius indeed.

Anonymous

January 17th, 2010
2:01 AM

" Many of them open and conclude with pleas to Théo for money " Edgar Allen Poe's letters to his stepfather do the same, often insulting him, and then asking for money. Reading both sets of letters is an intriguing exercise.

andrew

January 15th, 2010
2:01 AM

all the self righteous prim litle norms so PROUD of the mental mediocracy that passes for stability! van goghs description of Delacroix is apposite and not nonsensical but the medicore you know are that way because.......................

Alexander Barnett

January 14th, 2010
4:01 AM

Overall a well written and intelligent article. However there are several errors." His best paintings were produced in the last 15 months of his life which he spent in Arles where he went to live in 1888...and at nearby St. Remy where he spent a year at a mental institution." He spent 15 months in Arles[2/88 to 5/89] where he did indeed produce most of his best paintings, but the last 15 months of his life was spent at St.Remy[12 months] and Auvers sur Oise,[2 and a half months]. Vincent did some excellent work at St. Remy and nothing exceptional at auvers, so he did not produce his best work in his final 15 months. "Italian art didn't get a look-in' Not true.He referred several times to Raphael and several others whom he didn't care for, primarily because he found their work rather cold and because they were totally unable to depict workers who really worked. However, he absolutely adored Michaelangelo, because his figures depicted, not reality, but hyper reality. Regarding Theo's support of Vincent, I agree that vincent would never have been able to achieve what he did without his support, however, Vincent and Theo came to an agreement in 1882 whereby Theo would send Vincent money and in return he would get to keep all of Vincent's work and and do with it what he pleased. Certainly this was not a handout but reasonable recompense. Finally, the title of this article is totally misleading since there is nothing in it that indicates that Van Gogh was not a tortured soul.I invite anyone who has any doubts to see my just released film,'THE EYES OF VAN GOGH'.

Steve

January 13th, 2010
10:01 PM

All artists in any field have been exposed to influences, and we know what Van Gogh's were: Japan, art nouveau, impressionism, etc. But was there ever such a surprisingly original painter as Vincent?

AvenGrr

January 13th, 2010
9:01 PM

CaRteR is absolutely right. Mental illness does not preclude the ability to reason and create.

keith

January 13th, 2010
8:01 PM

as the previous respondent implies- it is rash to claim VVG wasn't a tortured soul- it's no casual thing to sever one's earlobe- nor is suicide- you also touch on his loneliness- it must've been incredibly intense- and he seemed too intense a character for most people to have patience with- people like small talk- that loneliness must've been agony

Ashley March

January 13th, 2010
6:01 PM

The author's observation that The letters reveal that "Van Gogh was not altogether the sensitive dreamer of popular myth. There was certainly something of the innocent soul about him, but he was also clearly irascible, brusque and plainly irritating" is certainly true. There is nothing in that statement, however, that contradicts or denies the intensity of his torment over the attacks he suffered and his despair over the failure of his work to sell. There is a film - The Eyes of Van Gogh - written and directed by Alexander Barnett, that precisely captures this duality. The official site for the film is www.theeyesofvangogh.com.

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