“Drawing is the root of everything”: thus wrote Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), who, at the age of 27, declared his life’s pursuit the practice of art. Drawing wasn’t peripheral to Van Gogh’s creativity. He drew continuously, between paintings, for paintings, as an expedient and even when he was not allowed to paint under doctor’s orders. In technique, in style and in composition, his drawings are intimately intertwined with his paintings. In this book, VINCENT VAN GOGH: THE DRAWINGS by Colta Ives, Susan Alyson Stein, Sjraar Van Heugten and Marije Vellekoop (Yale, $45), for the first time, a detailed analysis is made of what Colta Ives calls Van Gogh’s “graphic fervour”. Left is the drawing entitled The Sower, the first version of what was to become the famous painting. To his brother Theo, Vincent wrote that the painted version lacked “clearness of touch”. He added that is one reason why he felt it necessary to draw it.