Vincent van Gogh — Sunflowers and Swirly Stars
Vase with 12 Sunflowers taken from Vincent Van Gogh — The Complete Works on CDRom
Sunflowers and Swirly Stars is an excellent children’s book about Vincent van Gogh by Brad Bucks and Joan Holub. I received this book as a birthday present, and even though it is a children’s book, I enjoyed it and learned some things from it. Both of my daughters also read this book, and learned more about Vincent, so I was pleased. This book contains different paintings by Vincent van Gogh, and also colorful art that looks as if a child drew it. The book is told as if from a child’s point of view, and starts out explaining how Vincent was poor his whole life, and now his paintings sell for sometimes over $82 million dollars (Bucks, 2001).
There are many pictures, including a picture of the actual art gallery where Vincent worked for a while, a piece of a letter that Vincent wrote to his brother Theo and drew a picture at the top of it, a photo of Vincent at only 13 years of age, a photo of Vincent and Theo’s graves, Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (To demonstrate art of one of Vincent’s friends, of whom he learned a painting style called pointillism from), and also several of his paintings, including:
Dr Gachet
One of Vincent’s self portrait’s
The Potato Eaters
Japonaiserie
Portrait of Pere Tanguy
The Yellow House
Vase with Sunflowers
The Postman Roulin
The Bedroom
Self-portrait with bandaged ear
The Starry Night
The Red Vineyards at Arles
A detailed shot of Vincent’s signature, taken from “Sunflowers”
There is quite a bit of information in this book, and with all of the pictures and the way it is told, it makes it hold a child’s (or adult’s) interest. Both of my children really enjoyed and learned from this book.
November 02 2006 | Sunflowers and Swirly Stars | No Comments »
