I'm excited to share that today is the official publication date for my new book, Van Gogh and the End of Nature, from Yale University Press, which more firmly grounds Van Gogh within the industrial era in which he lived & worked (thread)
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
It is my hope that Van Gogh and the End of Nature will help shift our understanding of this iconic modern artist and highlight his work’s relevance to contemporary concerns about industrial pollution, environmental despoliation, and climate change
In the first chapter, “Air,” I examine Van Gogh’s connection to air pollution in the coal-fired cities and towns of 19th-century Europe, including in his many images of smokestacks and coal-fired trains
In chapter two, “Earth,” I treat the artist’s deep connection to mining and excavation, particularly in his early experience in the Belgium coal mining region of the Borinage, known as the Pays Noir (the Black Country) due to the heavy shroud of black soot & dust that covered the terrain
The book's third chapter, “Fire,” examines Van Gogh’s abiding interest in gaslight during his time in Arles, including in such iconic works as The Night Cafe and Starry Night over the Rhone
In chapter four, “Water,” I discuss Van Gogh’s proximity to despoiled waterways, from the period of his childhood—which historians tell us saw a marked increase in industrial water pollution in the Netherlands—to those nearby his famed Yellow House in Arles, in the south of France
While the final full chapter, “Color,” discusses how artificial pigments, including many made from the industrial byproduct coal tar, transformed the broader chromatic world - along with Van Gogh’s palette - in the 19th century
The book ends on a contemporary note with the work of Latoya Ruby Frazier, now featured in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, who referenced Van Gogh in photographs she made while in residence in the very same Belgian coal mining region Van Gogh had visited more than a century earlier
