A new biography focusing on Vincent van Gogh's pivotal years in Paris reveals how the Dutch artist developed his unique artistic identity during a brief but crucial period in Montmartre. "A Fire in His Soul: Van Gogh, Paris, and the Making of an Artist" by Miles J. Unger examines the transformative years of 1886 and 1887, when van Gogh lived with his supportive brother Theo in an apartment on Rue Lepic, a winding street in the artistic quarter of Montmartre.
Van Gogh's artistic journey began with humble and uncertain beginnings in 1880, after Christianity had failed to provide him with direction in life. By the time of his death by suicide in 1890 at age 37, he had created some of the world's most celebrated artworks. Unger's book serves as both a critical biography and a sensitive analysis of how van Gogh created several key paintings during this period.
The author argues that van Gogh's immersion in Paris's avant-garde circles during this historical moment proved crucial to his artistic development. His various friendships and acquaintanceships with fellow artists including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard, and Paul Gauguin exposed him to intense debates about the nature of modern art. The feverish intellectual atmosphere of the City of Light provided van Gogh with the tools necessary to forge his mature artistic identity.
During his Paris years, van Gogh encountered numerous artistic movements competing for attention, including established Impressionism, post-Impressionism, Divisionism, Pointillism, Symbolism, Cloisonnism, Japonisme, and Nabisme. However, van Gogh belonged to none of these movements, as he was too individualistic and restlessly independent for such allegiances. Instead, he selectively borrowed elements from various sources, such as the intense, almost feverish use of color and the crinkly paper quality found in Japanese prints, combining these diverse influences into an entirely unique artistic identity.
Unger demonstrates particular skill in explaining the complex and often self-contradictory debates about art and artistic creation that characterized this period. The story is told with enthusiasm and flair, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the social and intellectual context surrounding van Gogh's development. Like other van Gogh biographers, Unger benefits from access to the artist's hundreds of extraordinary letters, which reveal both his intelligence and his contradictory nature.
These letters, quoted extensively throughout the book, showcase van Gogh's "barkingly furious eloquence" and provide fascinating insights into his mind. Van Gogh emerges as an arrogant, argumentative, self-lacerating, and self-deluding individual with the relentless work ethic of a carthorse. Nearly everyone who encountered him found him impossible to deal with, except for his modest and more tractable younger brother Theo, a respectable Parisian art dealer who provided financial support throughout Vincent's life because he recognized his elder brother's genius.
One area where Unger's book falls short, according to critics, is its treatment of poetry's influence on van Gogh's work and thinking. While most van Gogh studies, including this one, emphasize his fascination with French fiction, particularly Emile Zola and naturalist literature, they inadequately address poetry's role in shaping his beliefs and artistic vision. Poetry served as van Gogh's source of emotional sustenance and significantly influenced his pantheistic worldview.
This oversight becomes particularly notable when considering van Gogh's 1888 painting of young Belgian Eugene Boch, which he titled "The Poet." Unger mentions this work but fails to explore what van Gogh's preoccupation with poetry and the concept of the poet actually meant for his artistic development. A deeper examination of this aspect could have made the already fine book even richer and more comprehensive.
"A Fire in His Soul: Van Gogh, Paris, and the Making of an Artist" is published by Pegasus Books in 2025 and is available both online and in bookstores. The book includes discussions of several important van Gogh works from this period, including "Autumn Landscape with Four Trees" (1885), "Still Life with Earthenware Pot and Clogs" (1884), "The Potato Eaters" (1886), and "Still life with Bible and Candle" (1885), providing readers with visual context for understanding the artist's evolution during these crucial Montmartre years.
