Learning about van Gogh in your homeschool? Here are 10 wonderful children’s books about Vincent van Gogh, his art, his life, and his legacy.
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Children’s books are a great way to introduce kids to the art and lives of famous artists. That’s certainly been the case for us as we study van Gogh. We’ve loved jumping into the pages of these children’s books about Vincent van Gogh to learn more about his life and work.
10 Children’s Books about
Vincent van Gogh
Before we jump into the reading options, keep in mind that the links in the overviews below all lead to Amazon. If you prefer to support local bookstores through your purchases, see our Bookshop.org list. You’ll find nearly all of these titles, plus several extras, waiting for you there.
1. Getting to Know the
World’s Greatest Artists:Vincent van Gogh
Van Gogh’s book from the beloved Mike Venezia series is a great place to start when learning about Vincent van Gogh. This series does a great job in highlighting notable artwork and biographical information.
2. Vincent van Gogh:
Sunflowers and Swirly Skies
What I love the most about the Smart About Art series is how each book is written as if it were a class report on a famous artist. Like the others in the series, Sunflowers and Swirly Stars is a shorter book that shares lots of great information, but does so in digestible chunks for easier reading.
3. Camille and the Sunflowers
Camille and the Sunflowers is one my favorite children’s books about van Gogh. It contains beautiful illustrations and does a great job of introducing van Gogh to young readers without covering the more sensitive areas of his life.
Can’t find Camille and the Sunflowers? Look for van Gogh and the Sunflowers instead. Camille and the Sunflowers was eventually retitled and republished to join the other books from Anholt’s Artists Books for Children series.
4. Katie and the Starry Night
Also a part of a precious picture book series about famous artists, Katie and the Starry Night explores the work of Vincent van Gogh and introduces children to five of his masterpieces through the eyes of a curious museum visitor named Katie.
5. Vincent’s Colors
Vincent’s Colors is a lovely book choice for learning about van Gogh. Compiled by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vincent’s Colors highlights some of van Gogh’s greatest works and combines them with excerpts from letters to his brother Theo.
6. What’s So Great About van Gogh?
This book is a no-frills approach to the life and artistic legacy of Vincent van Gogh. What’s So Great About van Gogh? looks at his life, but primarily focuses on his contributions to the world of art and aims to share what makes van Gogh one of the world’s greatest artists.
7. Junior Vincent van Gogh
Junior Vincent van Gogh is an especially great read for older elementary kids. It covers all elements of van Gogh’s life including his early years, artwork, and even his death, but does so using child-appropriate wording.
8. My Brother Vincent van Gogh
We borrowed My Brother Vincent van Gogh from our library and were amazed by its thoroughness. It’s written from the perspective of van Gogh’s brother and even contains painting and drawing exercises.
It’s a bit longer than most of the others on this list, but these 64 pages are full of great information, photographs of van Gogh’s life and family, and Van Gogh’s drawings and paintings.
My ten year-old loved it all, but my five year-old preferred to look at the pictures and talk about what she saw.
9. Vincent van Gogh
and the Colors of the Wind
Vincent van Gogh and the Colors of the Wind is a great option if you’re looking for children’s books about Vincent van Gogh that are better suited for older kids. The text was inspired by van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo, making it true to van Gogh’s voice.
Worth noting, this title does mention more than van Gogh’s career as an artist. While it does highlight several of his paintings, it also references some sensitive areas of van Gogh’s life that may not be appropriate for all children. Those references make it better suited for older kids, but even better to read with mom or dad.
10. In the Garden with van Gogh
Van Gogh’s artwork combined with delightfully lyrical text makes In the Garden with van Gogh a can’t miss selection from this list of children’s books about Vincent van Gogh.
I mean, if you can introduce your little one to van Gogh’s art through a board book, why wouldn’t you?
Want to learn more about van Gogh? Check out our Vincent Van Gogh Unit Study Resources.
And if you’re searching for more books about master artists to add to your reading pile, you can find all of ours in this roundup post.