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Lettere a un amico pittore
Le ventidue lettere scritte da van Gogh all'amico pittore Émile Bernard tra il 1888 e il 1889 sono un dialogo aperto e disteso sui massimi temi dell'arte. L'arte come vita: le difficoltà del mestiere, la miopia del mercato, le tentazioni delle grandi città. L'arte come tradizione: la folgorante sicurezza di Rembrandt, l'umile realtà di Millet, la sacralità esplosa di Delacroix. L'arte come scelta sociale; un modo di esserci, di essere uomo dei proprio tempo, fino alle soglie dell'utopia. Le lettere vengono qui proposte in una nuova traduzione, che restituisce il ritmo barbaro, l'immediatezza del parlato, le invenzioni sintattiche e ortografiche del francese di van Gogh, spesso modulato sulla lingua olandese materna. Completa il volume un ricchissimo apparato di note a cura di Maria Mimita Lamberti, che contestualizzano, circoscrivono, restituiscono spessore storico a una figura ormai leggendaria.
- GenresArtNonfictionArt History
152 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2013
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42 people want to read
About the author
Vincent van Gogh
709 books2,358 followersVincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art.
Van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence.
Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885). In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. In a fit of epilepsy, van Gogh pursued his friend with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.
Van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence.
Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885). In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. In a fit of epilepsy, van Gogh pursued his friend with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 7, 2021
«La vita ci trascina così rapida che non ci resta il tempo di discutere e contemporaneamente di agire. Ragione per cui, visto che attualmente l'unione non esiste che in modo molto incompleto, navighiamo in alto mare sulle nostre malandate barchette, isolati sulle grandi onde del nostro tempo.
Si tratta di una rinascita? Si tratta di una decadenza? Noi non sapremmo esserne giudici, essendo troppo vicini per non essere indotti in errore dalle deformazioni della prospettiva. Perché gli avvenimenti contemporanei assumono al nostro occhio delle proporzioni eccessive probabilmente per quanto concerne nostri guai e inostri meriti.»
V.V.G. a Bernard - B11 - Luglio 1888
Dipinto: Barche da pesca nei pressi di Saintes-Maries, giugno 1888
January 12, 2022
Davvero una bel libro introduttivo per chi voglia andare oltre ciò che si studia su Van Gogh alle superiori. Queste lettere scritte all'amico Bernard mostrano il cuore e la personalità di Van Gogh, mentre le note a pié di pagina si snodano tra le varie citazioni di opere e artisti per aiutare la comprensione.
La traduzione, in questa particolare edizione, è stata particolarmente studiata, la traduttrice infatti ha voluto spiegare in una nota il motivo dello stile di scrittura adottato, diverso dalle precedenti edizioni.
Ora ho voglia di leggere tutta la raccolta epistolare di Van Gogh. T U T T A.
La traduzione, in questa particolare edizione, è stata particolarmente studiata, la traduttrice infatti ha voluto spiegare in una nota il motivo dello stile di scrittura adottato, diverso dalle precedenti edizioni.
Ora ho voglia di leggere tutta la raccolta epistolare di Van Gogh. T U T T A.
January 23, 2026
Entusiasmante!
Perché è dalla viva descrizione di Vincent che possiamo contemplare gli studi (alias dipinti) pienamente connessi alla sua intimità: immersi nel colore e nello stato d'animo di un uomo attaccato al vero e all'infinito percepiamo fin da subito l'umore e la fatica d'esser pittore, la sofferenza e la gioia di chi vive assaporando la natura e le cose del mondo in una continua ed appassionata ricerca di sé e di stelle troppo grandi da acchiappare!!!
Perché è dalla viva descrizione di Vincent che possiamo contemplare gli studi (alias dipinti) pienamente connessi alla sua intimità: immersi nel colore e nello stato d'animo di un uomo attaccato al vero e all'infinito percepiamo fin da subito l'umore e la fatica d'esser pittore, la sofferenza e la gioia di chi vive assaporando la natura e le cose del mondo in una continua ed appassionata ricerca di sé e di stelle troppo grandi da acchiappare!!!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews