Uncovered van Gogh memoir — it's explosive (10)
I believe the answer is:
incendiary
'explosive' is the definition.
'uncovered van gogh memoir' is the wordplay.
'uncovered' indicates the central letters.
'van gogh' becomes 'Vincent van Gogh' (artist Vincent van Gogh).
'memoir' becomes 'diary' (a diary is a kind of memoir).
The centre of 'vincent' is 'incen'.
'incen'+'diary'='INCENDIARY'
'it's' is the link.
(Other definitions for incendiary that I've seen before include "tending to stir up trouble" , "of a provocative nature" , "Fire-raiser" , "bomb" , "getting people excited" .)