"The Essential Vincent van Gogh"; By Ingrid Schaffer: My Review

The back cover claims that you can be a Van Gogh expert in 5 minutes with The Essential Vincent Van Gogh" by Ingrid Schaffer (Harry N. Abrams; 1998.)  You won't. It also takes longer than 5 minutes to read this small hardback -- unless you decide to just look at the pictures.  You may be able to finish it while waiting in line for a new Van Gogh exhibition.

However, some of the facts in this little book are wrong.  For example, it claims that Van Gogh didn't start drawing until he was 27.  He actually started as a child.  Some of the interpretations of Vincent's major works are spot on.  It also talks a little about the debate over what painting was Van Gogh's last -- something usually passed over in other books.

This little book is aimed for tweens, teens and adults with really short attention spans.  It's littered with white space, summaries, bullet points, "sound bytes" (short quotes in large print), modern slang and exclamation marks.  It does have some great reproductions on Van Gogh's best known works, including The Starry Night, The Yellow House and Irises.

This book is one in a series on famous artists.  Other artists in the series include Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollok, Man Ray, Edward Hopper, Mary Cassatt, Henri Matisse and Claude Monet.