Cover of Van Gogh's Letters: The Mind of the Artist in Paintings, Drawings, and Words, 1875-1890. (Photo provided to China Daily)
There are many questions about Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh left unanswered: Was he really mad? What was he thinking when he was painting? What did he think of his madness? Why did he kill himself?
Many movies, documentaries and books have been devoted to interpret his short but great life.
The year 2015 was the 125th anniversary of the death of the artist. Many Chinese publishers released books in memory of him, and Van Gogh's Letters: The Mind of the Artist in Paintings, Drawings, and Words, 1875-1890 by Beijing United Publishing is one of them.
The book includes a selection of Van Gogh's letters from 1875 when he was 22 until 1890, just before he died.
Sitting at a small meeting room at Yanjiyou bookstore in Zhongguancun, Beijing, three of the four translators talk about the book. All of them are lovers of Van Gogh and his paintings.
Most of Van Gogh's 903 letters were written to his younger brother Theo, and this book contains more than 150 carefully chosen letters.
All the letters had been edited, says Yuan Yuan, one of the translators.
"When we were translating the book, we checked the original versions of these letters which are usually longer. The parts about asking his brother Theo for money are deleted, and in almost every letter, he asked for money," says Wang Ying, another translator.
Along with the letters, the book also contains more than 250 copies of the artist's manuscripts and drafts.
The edited letters are mainly about Van Gogh's ideas about painting, his interpretation of the paintings he sent to his brother together with the letters.
Readers can see how his ideas about painting developed throughout the years, how he created a work and his ideas about art, artists, literature, religion and scenery.
"From the letters, you won't see he is mad. Even before he committed suicide, he sounded so calm and normal in the letters," Wang says.
Ma Jun, one of the translators, is a painter himself.
"I love Van Gogh's sketches the most and some copies are included in the book. They are very gorgeous," he says.
"Van Gogh was such an honest man and artist," he says.
"Van Gogh kept down all the details of how he spent the money Theo sent to him," Yuan says, "and he expressed his great gratitude to his brother. From the delicate description of the colors he applied on one of his paintings, you can tell how keen he was to colors."
"There are so many sayings about what kind of person Van Gogh was, but why not read his own inner world to find out," Wang says.
