Vincent Van Gogh and “Sacre Bleu”


Vincent Van Gogh. Self-Portrait (dedicated to Paul Gauguin). 1888. [Source: Wikipedia/NPR]

  • Sacre Bleu | Defacing Fine Art Since 2011
    Publisher’s website supporting the novel by Christopher Moore, with images of the paintings enlisted in the story…
  • Art, Mystery And Posh Pigments In ‘Sacre Bleu’ : NPR 033112
    Novelist Christopher Moore says he isn’t very good at giving elevator speeches — those quick pitches on your latest project that Hollywood screenwriters are so good at. “[That’s] one of the reasons I probably don’t work in Hollywood,” Moore tells NPR’s Scott Simon. But if he had to give a brief rundown of his latest novel, Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d’Art, he says, “I’d talk about it being a book about the color blue, and about solving the murder of Vincent van Gogh and the sort of mystical quality of making art. And it’s funny.” The narrative winds all around late 19th century Paris through artists’ homes, cafes and brothels. But it begins and ends with a meditation on blue.
  • Was Van Gogh Murdered? A New Book Says Yes : The Two-Way : NPR 101711
    A new book, written by Pulitzer winners, is raising eyebrows over how it says the great Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh died. Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, posits that Van Gogh did not kill himself as is popularly believed. Instead, the authors argue, Van Gogh was murdered. Here’s how The Telegraph explains their thinking: “The theory contradicts the accepted version of events, which holds that Van Gogh shot himself in a field, staggering more than a mile back to an inn where he was staying. Before dying 30 hours later, he was asked if he meant to commit suicide, and said: “Yes I believe so”.But this does not explain why the easel and brushes that he had taken to the fields with him that day, not to mention a gun, were never found, and nor was a suicide note. The book questions whether the artist, who was known to have spent time in an insane asylum, could have got hold of a gun.” The authors say that 16-year-old Rene Secretan, who bullied Van Gogh, was the one responsible for his death. They talked about this on a long 60 Minutes segment that aired yesterday:

“The life and death of Vincent van Gogh” CBS 60 Minutes (101611)  Part 1 | Part 2

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