Vincent Van Gogh died exactly 122 years ago tonight at the age of 37 in the town of Auvers-sur-Oise, France. His life was filled with despair, misery, and madness, yet he still managed to create some of the greatest works of art the world has ever known. Earlier this evening, Morley Safer of 60 Minutes took a closer look at the mysterious life of Vincent Van Gogh, with the help of Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, whose latest fascinating book entitled VAN GOGH: THE LIFE is rewriting what even the experts thought they had known to be true about the life of this iconic painter.
Naifeh and Smith, along with a small army of researchers based out of their South Carolina office, conducted a 10-year forensic investigation into the life of Vincent Van Gogh, and uncovered a fascinating portrait of a man whose life was deeply troubled from almost the minute he was born. He was raised by an iron-fisted minister father, an equally stern mother, but for all the fighting and tension in the Van Gogh household, the light was provided by his younger brother Theo, whom Vincent adored. As the years went on, Vincent’s mental illness became increasingly severe, and he eventually took his own life — or so it has seemed for all these years, at least. Part of what makes VAN GOGH: THE LIFE so fascinating is that the authors discovered a mountain of inconsistencies in the story surrounding his death that most have accepted to be true, and they offer their own interpretation of Vincent’s final moments.
If you are a lover of Vincent Van Gogh then this 60 Minutes report is a must-see. You can watch the report below, and to purchase your own copy of VAN GOGH: THE LIFE simply head over to Amazon.
Source: 60 Minutes
