Based on the final seventy days of Vincent Van Gogh's life, The Last Van Gogh by Alyson Richman is told through the perspective of the daughter of Van Gogh's homeopathic doctor, and his final muse, Marguerite Gachet. Beautiful, breath-taking, and thoroughly researched, this novel is both a romance, and tragedy, and well worth the read for anyone who enjoys reading on history, art, and lost love. I especially recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys Van Gogh's work.
Prior to reading The Last Van Gogh, I knew very little about the artist. I knew he suffered from mental illness. I appreciated his work. I thought his paintings were beautiful, but knew very little about the man who spent his life creating them, and suffered behind them. Richman brought meaning to the paintings and the pain of his final days; his works were far more than just beautiful to look at--Van Gogh painted with symbolism, and left hidden messages to his onlookers of how he viewed his subjects, his world, on good days and bad. Every color, shade, stroke had meaning, and Richman did Van Gogh justice when describing his artistic style through prose.
"My first impression upon looking at the painting was that it seemed as if Vincent had taken a scalpel with paint on the end and carved the frustration that emanated from Papa into every one of his features: his hands, his long face, his mournful eyes. Papa's skin was layered in yellow and taupe, and accented in puce...the sockets of his eyes were hollow and underscored in green...Papa's dark blue smock was executed in a repetition of deep indigo and gray...his nearly white hands rested like a monk's on a burning red table..."
In the above painting, our main character Marguerite is toiling in her garden outside her father's home, the only place where she ever felt free. Her mother died when Marguerite was young, leaving her daughter and son with her widower husband, who soon after, brought to their home a governess by the name of Madame Chevalier and her daughter, Louise-Josephine. Madame Chevalier and Louise-Josephine play important roles in the household, they too wall-flowers among the paintings Dr. Gachet collected from his artistic patients, most notably, Vincent. But unlike Marguerite, they for some reason are more prized to the Dr. Gachet than his own children.
Painted in a white dress and unlike other portraits done by the artist, Marguerite is transformed into nature, her form carefree, unrestricted, and deeply in contrast to the life she lived in Arles, France with her father, brother, and Madame Chevalier and Louise-Josephine. Van Gogh made sure to not make his subject disappear into her surroundings, like she often did in the novel. Perhaps, Van Gogh saw her plight and wanted to paint her free among the flowers she loved.
This painting was one of two the artist painted of his muse, and whether it was her simplicity, unworldliness, or her quiet understanding of true art, Van Gogh fell in love with her, giving her a folded red poppy as a sign of his affection. Marguerite, mesmerized by the raw talent the man easily possessed, and because she had never received such attention before, quickly followed suit, and fell hard for the troubled artist.
This book was a definite 4 out of 5. I enjoyed Richman's prose, loved the relationship between Louise-Josephine and Marguerite, and even though I disliked Dr. Gachet, and Marguerite's brother, Paul, I could not help but feel sympathetic for them in the end. All they wanted was to acheive the same level of genius as Vincent Van Gogh, and despite their hours, days of copying his work, stroke by stroke, they could never come close to his mastery of art. And of course, I loved Richman's interpretation of Vincent. He felt real, and I could see his misery on the days he felt too ill to hold a paint brush, and I felt the same wish and desire to save him as Marguerite felt. Supposedly, in the last 70 days of his life, Van Gogh painted over 70 pieces, and many of them are artfully described throughout the novel.
This was an enjoyable read and has definitely made me more interested and appreciative of the life and works of Vincent Van Gogh.
Comentarios