From the time he first laid hands on a reed pen from Camargue, in Arles in 1888 — just two years before he died — Vincent van Gogh revolutionized the art of drawing. At the same time, as he introduced strokes into his painting that were transposed directly from those new lines.

We know that both drawing and painting were veritable ordeals for him, from his first awkward sketches all the way to his most flamboyant works. Ten years of dogged effort that turned a mediocre talent into an incontestable genius.

In his fifth Uncertain Manifesto, the author proposes a thorough recounting of Vincent’s solitary wonderings, from his native Holland to Auvers sur Oise, via London, the Borinage, Paris, Arles and Saint Rémy. Existential an artistic wandering, this written and drawn biography focuses on little-known or misinterpreted episodes of the artist’s life, including his childhood. Van Gogh’s legend is explored, particularly his supposed suicide, which can be re-examined in the light of the belated testimony of a probable killer.

The author received the 2014 Medicis Essay Prize and the 2015 Swiss Literature Prize for Volume 3.