By Van Gogh Museum
Favorite type of stories
Vincent van Gogh loved literature. He enjoyed a direct style of writing, ranging from simple action stories and rebellious characters to books about everyday life and humanity.
Book lover
Even as a child, Vincent devoured stacks of books. In general, the books he read reflected what was going on in his life.
Favorite books
Of all the books he read, there are four that played an important role in his life. Those are books by Charles Dickens, Jules Michelet, Émile Zola and Alphonse Daudet.
Charity with Dickens
As a child, Vincent read moralistic books, often favoured among members of the Protestant Christian community: the kind that stressed the importance of charity and humanity. These are also key values in the work of Dickens. Vincent read and reread works of Dickens throughout his life
Love with Michelet
In 'L'amour' by Jules Michelet (1858), Vincent van Gogh found wisdom he could apply to his own love life. The book deals with the love between a man and a woman and can be read as a moral lesson. Vincent used it to justify his choices and how he lived his life.
A view on reality with Zola
As Emile Zola ‘painted’ with his pen, Vincent ‘wrote’ with his brush. Zola’s stories like 'L'Oeuvre' (1886) were rooted in reality. Like Zola, Vincent wanted to give an honest depiction of what he saw around him.
Humour with Daudet
When Vincent went to live in Arles in the south of France, he had a need for reading humour and satire. He read 'Tartarin de Tarascon' by Alphonse Daudet (1887). He found that book humorous.
Other favorite authors
Vincent van Gogh enjoyed various other authors and books, from the Bible to John Keats. From George Eliot to the Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Hans Christian Andersen, and many others.
‘Reading books is like looking at paintings: without doubting, without hesitating, with self-assurance, one must find beautiful that which is beautiful.’ – Vincent van Gogh in a letter to his brother Theo, 5 August 1881
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