--- product_id: 6357435 title: "Van Gogh: The Life" price: "€ 49.56" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/6357435-van-gogh-the-life store_origin: AT region: Austria --- # Exclusive Van Gogh Museum access Pulitzer-winning authors 1500+ pages of deep research Van Gogh: The Life **Price:** € 49.56 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🎨 Dive deep into the mind of a legend — don’t just admire Van Gogh, understand him. ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Van Gogh: The Life - **How much does it cost?** € 49.56 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.at](https://www.desertcart.at/products/6357435-van-gogh-the-life) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Unrivaled Depth:** Over 1,500 pages of meticulously researched biography that redefines Van Gogh’s legacy. - • **Museum-Backed Insights:** Access to exclusive, previously untapped materials from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. - • **Myth-Busting Revelations:** Challenges long-held beliefs about Van Gogh’s death with groundbreaking new evidence. - • **Pulitzer-Winning Expertise:** Crafted by the acclaimed authors behind a Pulitzer Prize-winning art biography. - • **Emotional & Psychological Acuity:** A vivid, empathetic portrait that captures the complexity of Van Gogh’s tortured genius. ## Overview Van Gogh: The Life is a definitive, Pulitzer-winning biography offering an unprecedented, museum-backed exploration of Vincent Van Gogh’s turbulent life and artistic genius. Spanning over 1,500 pages, it delivers groundbreaking insights and myth-busting revelations that transform how we see one of history’s most iconic painters. ## Description NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The definitive biography for decades to come.” —Leo Jansen, curator, the Van Gogh Museum, and co-editor of Vincent van Gogh: The Complete Letters Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, who galvanized readers with their Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Jackson Pollock, have written another tour de force—an exquisitely detailed, compellingly readable portrait of Vincent van Gogh. Working with the full cooperation of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Naifeh and Smith have accessed a wealth of previously untapped materials to bring a crucial understanding to the larger-than-life mythology of this great artist: his early struggles to find his place in the world; his intense relationship with his brother Theo; and his move to Provence, where he painted some of the best-loved works in Western art. The authors also shed new light on many unexplored aspects of Van Gogh’s inner world: his erratic and tumultuous romantic life; his bouts of depression and mental illness; and the cloudy circumstances surrounding his death at the age of thirty-seven. Though countless books have been written about Van Gogh, no serious, ambitious examination of his life has been attempted in more than seventy years. Naifeh and Smith have re-created Van Gogh’s life with an astounding vividness and psychological acuity that bring a completely new and sympathetic understanding to this unique artistic genius. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Washington Post • The Wall Street Journal • San Francisco Chronicle • NPR • The Economist • Newsday • BookReporter “In their magisterial new biography, Van Gogh: The Life, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith provide a guided tour through the personal world and work of that Dutch painter, shining a bright light on the evolution of his art. . . . What [the authors] capture so powerfully is Van Gogh’s extraordinary will to learn, to persevere against the odds.” — Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “Brilliant . . . Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith are the big-game hunters of modern art history. . . . [ Van Gogh ] rushes along on a tide of research. . . . At once a model of scholarship and an emotive, pacy chunk of hagiography.” —Martin Herbert, The Daily Telegraph (London) Review: Thorough bio - I’m half way through the book and it is very thoroughly researched. In fact, sometimes I think it offers too much information or background. However, if you want to know Van Gogh, this is a great source. At times, it ruins my idolized image of the painter as it presents him as a demanding, manipulative narcissist. Other times, he is shown as a tender, caring soul. Reading it is painful at times as you feel Van Gogh’s frustration and his family’s angst. Review: A tortured Soul - Naifeh and Smith’s biography of Van Gough is one of the best biographies I have ever read. Given that the book is over 1,500 pages (ebook) and Vincent only lived 37 years, I am grateful it was so captivating in its presentation of one of the most wretched souls to ever live. Vincent’s life was unremitting misery, often brought on by his own argumentative, sometimes violent, totally uncompromising, and often self deluded personality. The writing absolutely sparkles like a starry night and provides a strangely satisfying feeling in reading about such a tormented soul. Probably the most groundbreaking aspect of the biography is the authors’ contention that Vincent did not commit suicide (as is often thought but is instead Hollywood hype) but resulted from an accident perpetrated by a rich, spoiled, and totally repugnant teenager (whom Vincent didn’t like) and his sensitive artistic brother (whom Vincent did). The biography gives ample evidence to support this contention. This is a highly readable biography that is thoroughly researched but not bogged down by overwhelming use of notes (they do offer you to see their documentation in a separate online forum but if published with the bio would have swelled the book to over 4,000 pages.) At the end, despite his many, many faults, Vincent is a sympathetic figure tortured by a world that could never satisfy him. Theo was his only support and the two brothers are beautifully portrayed as mutually dependent—bound together by Theo’s generosity and the power of Vincent’s artistic vision. ## Features - life and times of Vincent Van Gogh ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #45,731 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #21 in Biographies of Artists, Architects & Photographers (Books) #46 in Individual Artists (Books) #52 in Painting (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,802 Reviews | ## Images ![Van Gogh: The Life - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91xQOeC8TBL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thorough bio *by A***R on April 22, 2026* I’m half way through the book and it is very thoroughly researched. In fact, sometimes I think it offers too much information or background. However, if you want to know Van Gogh, this is a great source. At times, it ruins my idolized image of the painter as it presents him as a demanding, manipulative narcissist. Other times, he is shown as a tender, caring soul. Reading it is painful at times as you feel Van Gogh’s frustration and his family’s angst. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A tortured Soul *by D***N on May 4, 2023* Naifeh and Smith’s biography of Van Gough is one of the best biographies I have ever read. Given that the book is over 1,500 pages (ebook) and Vincent only lived 37 years, I am grateful it was so captivating in its presentation of one of the most wretched souls to ever live. Vincent’s life was unremitting misery, often brought on by his own argumentative, sometimes violent, totally uncompromising, and often self deluded personality. The writing absolutely sparkles like a starry night and provides a strangely satisfying feeling in reading about such a tormented soul. Probably the most groundbreaking aspect of the biography is the authors’ contention that Vincent did not commit suicide (as is often thought but is instead Hollywood hype) but resulted from an accident perpetrated by a rich, spoiled, and totally repugnant teenager (whom Vincent didn’t like) and his sensitive artistic brother (whom Vincent did). The biography gives ample evidence to support this contention. This is a highly readable biography that is thoroughly researched but not bogged down by overwhelming use of notes (they do offer you to see their documentation in a separate online forum but if published with the bio would have swelled the book to over 4,000 pages.) At the end, despite his many, many faults, Vincent is a sympathetic figure tortured by a world that could never satisfy him. Theo was his only support and the two brothers are beautifully portrayed as mutually dependent—bound together by Theo’s generosity and the power of Vincent’s artistic vision. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Sad, Exuberant, Interesting, Flawed, *by J***R on February 26, 2012* Confession: I am not a voracious reader. So perhaps this review will target others like me or those simply looking for an introduction to learning more about Vincent Van Gogh. Like many of the reviews here I saw the authors promoting this book on TV. Two issues raised my interest in reading their book: Vincent's Christian upbringing and his personal belief's and the circumstances regarding his death. More on the latter in a moment. I found reading this book to be both fascinating and frustrating. The BAD: First: The authors clearly exhaustively researched his life and present so many details about his life and art, and family and the culture(s) of their times I began to feel like I knew Vincent and his family. I'm sure art historians will add this book to their library but for the casual reader like myself this tended to feel like over-kill at times. For example, at first it was engaging to read Vincent's correspondence with his brother and others about his thoughts on creating his art and his elaborate views on color theory...but after a while it felt like watching hours of a friend's vacation videos. For me, highlights in both cases would be more than enough. :) Second: There is some curious repetition where details are repeated and no reference is made to the earlier mention. This only happens a handful of times but it gives the book an un-edited manuscript feel in places. Third: Along the same lines as my second point, it seemed that the narrative sometimes makes confusing jumps in time, like a bicycle chain slipping between gears. This made me wonder if the book was rushed from the writing stage to publishing, with no time to smooth these areas out. Fourth: I have a fairly large vocabulary. But there were times when the authors used words I not only didn't know...but in many cases had never even heard before. Rather than run to the computer or keep a dictionary handy I chose to just plow through those sections, knowing I was reading for pleasure and "those words wouldn't be on the test!" ;) Fifth: Again on the same lines as number 4, the authors used and re-used foreign language words and phrases repeatedly throughout the book. Although definitions and translations were provided, since I read the book over several weeks I would often forget their meaning. I also think that a few times foreign words and phrases were used without explanation. Perhaps I'm wrong about this...but either way again it meant more plowing through sections without complete understanding. -- Warning: The next paragraph contains a spoiler if you don't know anything about Vincent's life -- Sixth: The narrative is sometimes told very flatly. For example, the horror of Vincent mutilating himself is told very matter-of-factly over a single page. The next chapter then pieces together the details behind that horrifying night. I'm not suggesting that this event should have been exaggerated in any way...but it could have been presented in a more compelling way, building in details and drama. Seventh: Finally to the circumstances of Van Gogh's death. TV interviews were focused in large part around the book's contentions made about Vincent's death. But if you are looking for a "smoking gun" (pun intended :) you won't find it here. The authors do present some interesting theories and possibly fill in some blanks...but they cannot draw any firm, definitive conclusions. In addition some of this is presented in appendix form, which again, gives this section more of a manuscript feel. The GOOD: This book is exhaustive as I mentioned. Some sections are well written and well told and go by very quickly...100 pages at a crack (great when you're dealing with an 800+ page book)! Your heart will break for Vincent and his family as their lives spin out of control from family issues, mental illness and disease, and the strict confines of the Dutch Culture of the time. You can literally feel Vincent's sorrow about his Father and Mother's stern, un-flexible personalities. His inability to win their support and approval is repeated in his desperate attempts to find his place in the world. Vincent's brother Theo comes across like a hero...but both brothers' lives feed off of their need for each other. Vincent's life was both sad and beautiful, and learning more about him really brings his art to life. Even with the negatives I elaborated above...I'm glad I read this book. Perhaps there will be another edition where some of those weaknesses will be addressed (hey...it's my review...I can dream if I want to :) As you see I still gave it 4 of 5 stars...but wanted to add my review to the mix so that others like me would know what they were getting themselves into if they buy this book. Happy reading! ## Frequently Bought Together - Van Gogh: The Life - Vincent Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.at/products/6357435-van-gogh-the-life](https://www.desertcart.at/products/6357435-van-gogh-the-life) --- *Product available on Desertcart Austria* *Store origin: AT* *Last updated: 2026-07-16*