Van Gogh: Seeing Red

Richard Cork explores the mind of Vincent van Gogh through his correspondence, which will form a vital part of a new exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. A keen and expressive correspondent who regaled acquaintances with his views on love, religion and sex, he put pen to paper with the same creative vigour as he put paintbrush to canvas. By the time he walked into a field in the town of Auvers-sur-Oise and shot himself in the chest, the 37-year-old van Gogh had left behind a rich literary legacy that would, like his painting, outlive his short and tortured life.