The Glory of Van Gogh

by Nathalie Heinich. [translated by P.L. Browne]

Princeton University Press,
Princeton, NJ, 1996. 218 pp.,
Trade, $29.95.
ISBN: 0-691-03269-6.

Reviewed by Wilfred Niels Arnold

The current degree of attention to Vincent van Gogh can be contrasted with minuscule recognition during the years he was a full-time artist, which started with a declaration to his brother Theo in 1880 and ending with his suicide in 1890. General acceptance of van Gogh's artistic contributions came after death, and even then only slowly. Thus his 'success' was late in coming but remarkable in magnitude. John Rewald's "Studies in postimpressionism," 1986, is the best source on van Gogh exhibitions up to 1970. Data on the critical process was assembled in 1980 by Carol Zemel in "The formation of a legend: van Gogh criticism, 1890-1920." Subsequent discourses on the history of the criticism itself, and the polemics of interpretations about van Gogh paintings, have given rise to a tertiary literature, i.e. Vincent van Gogh twice removed. At a similar level, Nathalie Heinich has invented a new genre, which is best described by the subtitle of her new book as "An anthology of admiration."

Dr. Heinich starts with the assumption that Vincent is a saint and goes on to describe how it happened in six stages, "his work was made into an enigma, his life into a legend, his fate into a scandal, his paintings were put up for sale and exhibited, and the places he went, as well as the objects he touched, were made into relics." The author sees the money of twentieth century purchases, the museum goer's gaze, and a celebrating procession in 1990, as three media of atonement. The latter is an account of people and events in Auvers-sur-Oise (about an hour from Paris) upon the centenary of Vincent's death and burial in the cemetery of that village. This is one of the more interesting chapters, and Heinich is at her best in describing the behaviors of the local citizens and selected visitors that she observed firsthand.

Whether all of this is explained and accounted for, as stated in the conclusion, is problematical, but the two corollaries that are drawn take on a life of their own. First, that "van Gogh has come to symbolize the madness of unjustly neglected artists" and, second, that the "van Gogh effect" is now applied to other artists, past and present. In so doing the author alludes to Vincent's brother, Theo, as being "both an ally and suspected of treason." In fact, Theo supported Vincent, both financially and emotionally, for that torrid decade of creativity. The suggestion that the younger brother let the artist down with respect to the art establishment of the time, the so-called "treason," seems to be reserved for plays and films. I have never found direct evidence of Theo being anything but constructive.

Nathalie Heinich is a sociologist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, in Paris, and publication of the English edition of this book was aided by a subsidy from the Ministère de la Culture de la Communication, France. The work is not illustrated but is otherwise handsomely produced. There are two appendices, the early years of van Gogh criticism in France and a chronology. The notes are copious and at times I found myself reading ahead with more satisfaction there than with the text. The index is restricted to names. In sum, interest in this book will be primarily within the ranks of specialists.