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Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist

jan greenberg sandra jordan

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This "lively, beautifully written biography" ( Kirkus Reviews ) of the famous Post-Impressionist artist who painted Starry Night and many other masterpieces is "fascinating reading" ( School Library Journal , Starred Review).

Vincent Van Gogh—one of the nineteenth century's most brilliant artist—will forever be remembered as the Dutchman who pioneered new techniques and styles and who, in a fit of passion, cut off his own ear.

Whether painting a portrait, landscape, or still life, van Gogh sought to capture the vibrant spirit of his subject. Still, fame eluded him. This lack of recognition over a career spanning a mere decade (from ages twenty-seven to thirty-seven) fueled his lifelong self-doubt and bitter disappointments. Today, however, van Gogh's paintings are recognized as masterpieces, and the tormented Dutchman stands as a giant among artists. 

Vincent Van Portrait of An Artist  has been selected as a Common Core State Standards Text Exemplar (Grades 6–8, Historical/Social Studies) in Appendix B. It features a sixteen-page insert with family photographs and full-color painting reproductions and includes a glossary of artists and terms, a biographical time line, notes, a bibliography, and locations of museums that display Van Gogh’s work. 

A ROBERT F. SILBERT HONOR BOOK
AN ALA NOTABLE BOOK
AN ALA BEST BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS
A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNA L BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A BOOKLIST CHILDREN'S EDITOR'S CHOICE

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2001
Literary awards
sibert medal, vermont golden dome book award, 

This edition

Format
144 pages, Paperback
Published
January 14, 2003 by Yearling
ISBN
9780440419174
ASIN
0440419174
Language
English

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About the author

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jan greenberg

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Rating(3.7 / 5.0, 70 votes)
5 stars
13(19%)
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25(36%)
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70 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
FalseIdolSinger
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A good, thorough, relatively quick read. I feel a connection to this poor, tortured soul, and love the use of illustrations. I wish, however, they would have put more of his paintings in chronological order.
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J_Kazue
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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In this novel, Vincent Van Gogh, Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan richly illustrated the life of the most truly passionate artist, Vincent Van Gogh. This novel brings out his strong, self destructive passion in art to life. Majority of people discouraged him because due to his late start in art, he could not become a great artist, however, Vincent proved them wrong as his vibrate style of painting through his expressive luminosity of color and blotchy brushstroke caught people’s attention. His talents, determination, hard work and passion has bring him to his greatest dream, he is determined to give happiness by create art. Behind his well known painting and his fame, he is struggled with his madness, his passion in art and determination that he is forever known as a guy who cut his own ear from madness. However, behind his madness is a guy with gifted hand who enriches the world with beauty and imagination.
I really enjoy reading this book because this book is so well written that I could actually see the world through his eye. I got caught up with the struggled he experienced with his progress and his impatient with capturing the beauty and emotions on canvas. He had put his heart and soul into his work and has lost his mind in the process. Throughout this novel, I get to experienced with his ideas and thinking process for his work and the messages he want to convey to the viewer. In addition, I get to see his artist of influence, his style of painting, his way of conveying emotion through the use of color and events that shaped his personalities and his painting style. He truly inspired and motivated people with his true passion and determination for art and his courage to pursuing for his dream.
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hanabusa
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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great concise story of Vincent with enough examples to make it personal with a through while quick yet easy read. Letters to theo main resource. Great intro book to get to know his history, mind, relations and processes in art of his joys and torments of genius!
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Lycoris__Radiata
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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this is the best biographical book on van Gogh, and I've read a bunch, by a long shot. the authors delicately and poetically handled history and stayed out of the way while presenting perhaps the most enigmatic character who has ever graced the earth. Too often authors handling Van Gogh get a bit pretenscious, often in coloring in the mysterious with their assumptions and ego and proceed to pass it off as fact. Not the case here. As someone obsessed with Van Gogh this book showed him to me in a new light, based on all of the different perspectives they gathered, and it checked out historically. They highlighted the intrigue, while not missing the brass tacks. My personal favorite chapter was "the high yellow note" the authors brilliantly and poetically presented this period of his life and it left me awestruck. I was amazed to see this may be considered a children's book, as it won an award in the category.while I could see that it's very readable and never venturing into yawn territory, it's just that it's the finest book I've seen written on the subject. I look forward ,but I'm not sure when would be the appropriate time, to pass this off to my niece and nephew because it's absolutely glorious, and I'd love for them to know more about "the artist that cut his ear off", yet it would be certainly be introducing them to the rugged world of adulthood.
I laughed out loud,I couldn't put it down,I was intrigued throughout, and when it ended I sobbed like a baby.
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Revre
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This short but informative book on Vincent Van Gogh is a great book if you want an overview of the artist's life. It's a rather short book, but does well explaining his life from beginning to end. After I read this book, I truly saw that this artist was helpless to find a place to fit in socially. Once he discovered art, there was nothing going to stop him from doing art, including his bouts with of madness.
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TassistaRomano
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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The book traces the unique life and artworks of the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh from his birth in 1853 to his death by suicide in 1890. The biography discusses many aspects of his life such as his various comrades, living arrangements, etc., and it traces his decent into madness later in life.

This book is a relatively easy read for a biography, and it is definitely a good fit for younger audiences. The writing is not stagnant or too technical/jargon-filled, as books of this type can often be, and the prose is engaging. It seems like it is a piece of fiction, most of the time. It offers numerous pictures, and it is very accurate. I thought the book painted a thorough picture of this misunderstood artist, and it never condemned him for his shortcomings, as so many books I read before do.
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zonnikku
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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So glad I read this book. Here was a man that lived and breathed art. He spent his life learning, understanding and creating art. He was also a man who cared deeply about others. He was always there to help those in need. He was generous in heart....His instinct was to put himself inside his art, to bring his emotion the art he created. Never once did he ever think of doing a piece of art that was anything less than the integrity great art demands and is.
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