Vincent van Gogh, the sketchbooks: a facsimile of the artist's sketchbooks in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum

Abstract

The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and The Folio Society have produced the first ever facsimile of the sketchbooks of Vincent van Gogh held in the museum's collections. Van Gogh's sketchbooks are a relatively little-known part of an oeuvre that is otherwise celebrated the world over. They contain what are perhaps some of his most intimate creations. The majority of the sketches are in pencil or black chalk, but ink and various other chalks and crayons are also used. They provide valuable insight into Van Gogh's artistic development and some pages contain what are actually stand-alone miniature works of art. He also used them to jot down everyday matters such as addresses and prescriptions, to copy out poems and to make schematic drawings of perspective frames. The four books, together with a folder of the loose leaves and a commentary volume, are presented in a display box based on that which houses the originals in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.