An account of the tumultuous nine weeks in which the famous nineteenth century artists Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin shared a house in the small French town of Arles. It is an exploration of a fragile friendship, art, madness, genius behind a shocking act of self-mutilation that the world has sought to explain.

A new, significantly revised edition of Julian Bell’s 1999 book, taking a fresh, focused look at the situation of painting in contemporary culture.