As I started reading “Vincent and Theo”, I was expecting several dates, locations and names; an exhausting biographical piece of writing. Instead, I shortly found myself in the middle of a modern synthesis of life, art, emotion and madness.
Is the painful and naked truth acceptable when it’s on the point of breaking a heart? Sometimes love is the one breaking two people apart, not the lies.
Genre: Biography Page Count: 464 Age Rating: +16 Star Rating: 5/5 Author’s official website: https://deborahheiligman.com/
Table of Contents
Synopsis
Vincent Van Gogh lived not for art, but through it. Colors, or… the lack of colors… guided him through madness and passion. To try and summarize his life in words would be impossible, his career… a long-lost battle. But, until you finish reading this book, let yourself “live” Vincent’s story through colors and symbols. It’s the only chance to understand his tragedy.
Theo might’ve not been a scandalous lover or a secret muse, but, for Vincent, he meant even more: a loving brother, one who cared more about him than about his own feelings. He represented the painter’s anchor and a long-life oath.
“The world would not have Vincent without Theo.”
Deborah Heiligman, “Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers”
Story-telling
The biographical novel starts in a rising tension style: revealing the storm of one decisional scandal, which turned Vincent’s life upside down, and changed his art unmistakably. It was never going to be the same ever again. Who was the one who made his sufferance unbearable, but his art irreplaceable for us today?
“Success is sometimes the outcome of a whole string of failures.”
Deborah Heiligman, “Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers”
The 3rd person story-telling begins therefore with the very ending of the protagonist’s story. The narration is suggestive along the whole novel, not telling, but “showing” the impact of each one of Vincent’s relationships – platonic or romantic – upon his “journey” and art. For him, life was color itself, or lacking it.
The book is split in several parts which try to entitle the main stages of his life, each surrounded by what existence meant to Vincent: art and emotion. The omniscient narrator addresses, here and there, to the reader, making the novel an interesting experience, and, surely, more engaging.
Beside being impressed by the excruciating side of Vincent’s story, I got to understand a small part of the way in which he saw the world: colors, passion and symbols. They, in the painter’s life, composed together the great sketch for his final masterpiece. The artistic terminology played itself a crucial role in the book; moments and emotions were transmitted through words, their intensity and effects continuously escalating.
A role model
There was a key point in which I knew I chose the right biography to read. Coming home once in his early childhood, an older friend offered to carry his ragbag for him. Vincent politely refused and loudly affirmed that everyone needs to carry its own. Was the discussion actually about the ragbag?
No other way would’ve been better to start the book in. I’ve always known Vincent Van Gogh was a misunderstood presence in the history of art, but, to my shame, I’ve never paid him enough attention to try and find out his life story. He might’ve been sick for such many reasons, but he was still an emotional touch on the journey of the history of art.
“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.”
Vincent Van Gogh – French Riviera Guide
Always coming back home
Theo’s importance for Vincent was highlighted very nicely through the place on which family was situated in their lives. They were educated to value the love which only family could offer and to acknowledge that it was one of the few places where they could return anytime – unjudged or pushed away. The Van Gogh family nurtured in their children, most of all, the moral and Christian values, making a long-lasting family tradition out of a prayer which became specific for their family. It was supposed to always bring and keep them all together emotionally. Therefore, the two brothers were built a healthy moral “base” for becoming successful and happy adults later on. The roots were promising, so… what happened then?
An outstanding biography
One detail which I especially enjoyed was the typical fictional story-telling which conducted the biography. The genre of the book and the narration style – dramatic, fascinating and full of emotion – were in complete contradiction, but, honestly, nothing has ever intrigued and made me more passionate than this combination.
“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.”
Vincent Van Gogh – French Riviera Guide
It is a biography focused more on the essence and less on dates and enumerating names. As there existed an oath between Theo and Vincent, made in their teenage years, it sealed not only their brotherhood, but also their lives. It remains unexplained, a secret between the two, but it is reminded on several occasions along the story, changing the brothers’ thoughts or actions. While the oath was made in their teenage years, its ghost kept haunting the two for the rest of their lives.
It got me curious and intrigued. For me, there’s nothing more enchanting than a great biography of a remarkable existence. At that point, I knew that this book was only going to get better and better.
“I put my heart and soul into my work, and I have lost my mind in the process.”
Vincent Van Gogh – French Riviera Guide
Between faith and art
Vincent van Gogh’s life was surrounded by desperation, confusion and drama. He suffered of several emotional disorders which not only marked his moral portray, but also had a word in each stage of his life. Vincent found himself, on many occasions, in the middle of a nowhere – no direction, no motivation, no guideline. Only him… and Theo.
Embodying a source of motivation, not socially, but morally, he got up and continued trying: pursuing a dream in spite of the public opinion. He preferred the “blindness” offered by an egocentric and stubborn perspective to listening to the nosy and mischievous voice of society.
In his cloudy existence, the priest’s son lost his faith only to regain it afterwards. He was grown up to live for God, but would that be complementary to living through art? Vincent often found himself between faith and art, between credence and disbelief.
“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.”
Vincent Van Gogh – French Riviera Guide
This biography was one of the few I enjoyed reading. Moreover, its “protagonist” and close-up surprised me for the best. The details which got me the most impassionate about this book were, clearly, the descriptions not only of the paintings, but of their real-life backstories.
“How much there is in art that is beautiful, if only one can remember what one has seen, one is never empty or truly lonely, and never alone.”
Deborah Heiligman, “Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers”
Two sons, one name
As the painter was named after his oldest and long-lost brother, I have a strong feeling that his life was dedicated to both of them: himself and his brother as well. From treating ill’s wounds to healing people’s souls through art, Vincent has always helped society one way or another. He felt like he needed to do so; to give God a reason for his detrimental existence to the first Vincent.
The two haven’t ever met, but they still were two hearts in one body. I highly appreciated this sequence; it offered a special context to his later actions. It often seemed that, through the emotional disorders he was suffering of, two kinds of emotions, thoughts and rationality were hiding in him. Maybe they were two in the end: one physically, and one emotionally. It could’ve been that the famous painter, known today as “Vincent van Gogh”, was a merging of two natures, both impetuous and sentimental.
Contemplating a painting without “seeing” its story is no better than listening to music without hearing its melody.
Read more book reviews from Books Goals By Lexy
Additionally
Vincent Van Gogh Quotes
- https://www.vincentvangogh.org/quotes.jsp
- https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/34583.Vincent_van_Gogh
- https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/vincent-van-gogh-quotes
Vincent Van Gogh – information & work
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vincent-van-Gogh
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vincent-van-Gogh
- https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection
- https://www.vincentvangogh.org/
Other reviews of the book
- https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/deborah-heiligman/vincent-and-theo/
- https://www.kimminichiello.com/kim-minichiello/2019/7/28/commemorating-the-death-of-vincent-van-gogh-with-a-book-review-vincent-and-theo-the-van-gogh-brothers
- https://www.readingforsanity.com/2018/02/vincent-and-theo-deborah-heiligman.html
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