Which French critic wrote the first positive review of Van Gogh's work in 1890?

Albert Aurier wrote the first positive review of Van Gogh’s work in 1890. His essay, “Les Isolés: Vincent van Gogh,” appeared in the January 1890 issue of the French literary magazine Mercure de France.

Aurier was a Symbolist poet, writer, and art critic who recognized qualities in Van Gogh that many contemporaries dismissed: intense color, emotional force, unusual brushwork, and a powerful personal vision. Rather than treating Van Gogh as merely an eccentric painter, Aurier interpreted him as an important modern artist whose work could embody ideas and feeling through visible form.

Van Gogh was still alive when the review appeared, and he was deeply moved by it. In February 1890, he wrote to Aurier, thanking him for the article and sending him a painting of an almond-tree or cypress subject. That response is an important reminder that Van Gogh did receive some meaningful recognition during his lifetime, even though broad fame came later.

The critic is sometimes confused with Octave Mirbeau, another major early admirer. Mirbeau’s celebrated praise came later, in 1891, after Van Gogh’s death. Aurier’s January 1890 essay therefore remains the canonical answer to this question.