Leaving Van Gogh by Carol Wallace: A Review

What might it feel like to be a brilliant painter wrapped in a straitjacket? Leaving Van Gogh by Carol Wallace, published by Random House, probes the frustration felt by the artist who had been in an insane asylum for a year. The novel is told from the perspective of Dr. Gachet, the artist's psychiatrist, whose own grief and sense of helplessness add to the melancholy that pervades the book. Leaving Van Gogh is a brave, well-researched and compassionate account of the relationship between the two men and the last months of the great painter's life.Wallace aptly portrays enigmatic Vincent Van Gogh, the prolific artist, who painted to quiet the demons in his head and because he felt his art could help the world. Dr. Gachet, psychiatrist and friend, observes a mellow, tender man who experienced occasional flashes of rage followed by despondency. Not a biography of Van Gogh, the book rather traces the relationship between the two men and aptly captures Dr. Gachet's frustration a
t his futile attempts to treat a man he comes to care about deeply.Ms. Wallace, an art historian, researched not only the painter's 900 letters but also nineteenth century understandings of mental illness. In an interview, she relates how Vincent "hijacked the narrative" originally intended to focus on Dr. Gachet. She paints both men with sympathy and clarity.Clouds of sadness mingled with descriptions of dazzling paintings drift over this dark novel about the last year of Vincent Van Gogh's life.I thank LibraryThing and Random House for providing a review copy. The opinions expressed are unbiased and wholly that of the reviewer.

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