From Hyperallergic (June 13, 2020):
In his paintings we see books on their own, or books in the company of people or other objects; small, lonely ziggurats of books, or a book beside a candle. That last juxtaposition is telling in the extreme. Vincent had a reverence for books. They were sacred ground. They have a kind of inner glow about them.
He reverenced books for their intellectual and emotional content.
He read Dickens, Carlyle, Flaubert, Balzac, Maupassant, and Zola in the original. Dickens and Carlyle were never very easy to read, then or now, but this Dutchman did so. He even read English poetry – John Keats, for example.
About the Author
Mariella Guzzoni is an independent scholar and translator living in Bergamo. She has been collecting editions of the books that Vincent van Gogh read and loved for many years, and curated the exhibition ‘Van Gogh’s Passion for Books’ at the Sormani Library, Milan, in 2015.
Short documentary film about Author, illustrator Ian Beck. A brief look at his life and where he works. Included are, his inspirations from childhood reading, the making of the artwork for Elton John’s 1973 album ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ and his current project in collaboration with Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials) creating a Myriorama.
“We are proud to announce the Fall 2020 Artbook | D.A.P. Catalog of new books on art and culture.”
Watercolor, in a practiced hand, is the perfect medium for capturing the powerful emotion of a place. While I paint a variety of subjects, I’m most attracted to landscapes that stir passion within me in the moment. I’m always drawn to things western, rural, gritty and seemingly mundane or ordinary. Anything evocative of a ‘time long passed by’ will always capture my attention.
A bird-monster devouring sinners, naked bodies in tantric contortions, a pair of ears brandishing a sharpened blade: with just 20 paintings and nine drawings to his name, Netherlandish visionary 
Boomers Daily 