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Secondary sourceBook1907

The Impressionists: Manet, Van Gogh, Pissarro, Cézanne

Julius Meier-Graefe · 1907

An early art-history book by Julius Meier-Graefe discussing Van Gogh alongside other major Impressionist painters, with illustrations.

This book is an early critical study that helped establish Van Gogh's place among the great Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters.

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The Impressionists: Manet, Van Gogh, Pissarro, CézannePDF · 188 pages
Julius Meier-Graefe, Impressionisten: Guys, Manet, Van Gogh, Pissarro, Cézanne, 1907. Scanned book, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This is a book written by the German art critic Julius Meier-Graefe in 1907, titled Impressionisten: Guys, Manet, Van Gogh, Pissarro, Cézanne. It includes sixty illustrations and a chapter devoted to Van Gogh. The scanned copy survives in a library collection.

Why it matters

This book shows how quickly art critics began placing Van Gogh among the most important painters of his era, even though he died only seventeen years before it was written. It reveals how his reputation was shaped by later writers rather than by recognition during his own lifetime.

Look closer

  • Why might critics have grouped Van Gogh with painters like Manet and Cézanne?
  • What does it tell us that a serious study of Van Gogh appeared so soon after his death?
  • How might a critic's opinion differ from how artists saw themselves?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Vincent van Gogh on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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