Author Event: Jonathan Santlofer, "The Lost Van Gogh"

Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore welcome Jonathan Santlofer, celebrated artist and award-winning author, to discuss his new book, The Lost Van Gogh. This spellbinding thriller of masterpieces, masterminds, and the mysterious underbelly of the art world is the highly-anticipated sequel to The Last Mona Lisa. This time Santlofer turns his attention to one of the most revered artists of all time, spinning a riveting tale based on rumors that Van Gogh completed a final self-portrait before his death, one that has since been lost to time—or the black market.

In The Lost Van Gogh, Santlofer re-introduces readers to Luke Perrone, hero of The Last Mona Lisa and a descendant of the man who stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911. Along with his girlfriend—daughter of a notorious art thief—and an Interpol agent, Luke must navigate the shadiest corners of the underground art world to track down Van Gogh’s notorious death-bed self-portrait. What he discovers is a consequential history that traces the journey of the painting back to World War II, when agents of the French Resistance protected it from destruction by the Nazis.  

Come hear the author talk about this immersive escapade into the underbelly of the art world!

About the Author

Jonathan Santlofer is a writer and artist. He is the instant USA Today bestselling author of The Lost Van Gogh, as well as The Last Mona Lisa, The Death Artist, The Widower’s Notebook, and more. Jonathan is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts grants, has been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy In Rome, the Vermont Studio Center, and serves on the board of Yaddo, one of the oldest arts communities in the U.S. He was the creator and director of the Center For Fiction’s Crime Fiction Academy, the only program devoted exclusively to crime writing.

He has taught Crime Fiction Writing, The Graphic Novel and Drawing at Pratt Institute’s Creative Writing program, Columbia University and The New School. Also a well-known artist, Jonathan’s work has been exhibited in more than 200 exhibitions worldwide and is included in numerous private, corporate and public collections, among them the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, the Newark Museum in New Jersey, and Tokyo’s Institute of Contemporary Art, in Japan. Find him online at jonathansantlofer.com.

#ArtFeb2024