From NYRB, a review of Vincent Van Gogh: Painted with Words: The Letters to Emile Bernard by Leo Jansen. An interview with Peter Gay, author of Modernism: The Lure of Heresy, from Baudelaire to Beckett and Beyond. Chaim Soutine is "the most unknown, underrated great artist of the 20th century". A review of Gay Artists in Modern American Culture: An Imagined Conspiracy by Michael S. Sherry. Charitable magic: An article on Harry Potter and the hugely profitable sketches. The dance of evolution, or how art got its start: What is the evolutionary value of art and why do we humans spend so much time at it?

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