Some interesting background on van Gogh's family and their religious preferences is mixed with a series of goofs in this book. The author is confused about van Gogh paintings and hasn't kept up with the better van Gogh books over the years. Better to read a more creative work, such as Meyer Shapiro's van Gogh or Jan Hulsker's The Complete van Gogh, or the two volumes of exciting insights in Walther and Metzger's van Gogh, the Complete Paintings.