What am I in the eyes of most people - a non-entity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person - somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then - even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calm, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven to-wards these things with an irresistible momentum. Vincent van Gogh's short, passionate life was driven by an almost unimaginable creative energy that eventually overwhelmed him. The outlines of his story the early strivings in Holland and Paris, the revelatory impact of the move to Provence, the attacks of madness that led ineluctably to his suicide are almost as familiar as the paintings. Few however knew Van Gogh as well as his sister-in-law. After Vincent's death and that of her husband, his brother Theo, Jo van Gogh-Bonger devoted her life to preserving and exhibiting his paintings, and editing his letters. It is thanks to her tireless work that Vincent's greatness as an artist (and indeed as a writer) came to be acknowledged. Jo's short biography of Vincent is perhaps the closest we can come to Vincent the man, as seen by those who knew him. 87 colour illustrations