Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh Biography

French Painter, 1853 - 1890

Vincent van Gogh, the Dutch post-impressionist painter, is one of the most famous painters in modern art. Yet during his lifetime, he received little recognition and sold only one painting. Van Gogh's bold brush strokes and vibrant colors, as captured in works such as The Starry Night, La nuit étoilée, Arles (The Starlit Night, Arles) and Terrace Café, demonstrate both his creative genius and deeply spiritual nature.

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Van Gogh was born March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, son of a Dutch Protestant minister. When he was 16, his parents sent him to The Hague to work for a uncle who was an art dealer. But Van Gogh was unsuited for a business career.

By the age of 27, Van Gogh had been in turn a salesman in an art gallery, a French tutor, a theological student, and an evangelist among the poor coal miners in Belgium. He took his evangelical work so seriously that he went without food and other necessities in order to give more to the poor. The missionary society objected to Van Gogh's extreme behavior and relieved him of his post in 1879.

Late in 1880, Van Gogh decided to become an artist, devoting his attention to drawing and painting the poor Belgian miners and weavers. His first pictures were dominated by dark brown and olive colors and heavy brushstrokes.

In 1886, Van Gogh went to Paris to live with his brother Théo, an art dealer, and was immediately attracted to the impressionist art he saw there. Influenced by the work of the Impressionists and by the work of Japanese printmakers, Van Gogh began to experiment. He began to adopt the brilliant hues found in the paintings of the French artists Camille Pissarro and Georges Seurat.

Van Gogh was born March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, son of a Dutch Protestant minister. When he was 16, his parents sent him to The Hague to work for a uncle who was an art dealer. But Van Gogh was unsuited for a business career.

Two years later, Van Gogh left Paris for Arles in southern France, where, under the glowing sun of Provence, he painted the fields (see Field of Poppies), cypress trees (see Yellow Wheat and Cypresses), peasants (see The Siesta), and rustic life characteristic of the region (see First Steps). During this period, he began to use the swirling brush strokes and intense yellows, greens, and blues associated with such typical works as Bedroom at Arles. In Arles, Van Gogh suffered from occasional violent seizures, which were diagnosed after his death as epilepsy.

In the spring, Vincent carried his painting equipment out to the blossoming orchards, tying the legs of his easel to pegs driven into the ground so he could continue to work in the strong blowing mistral. He received money from his brother Théo, and in return sent Théo his paintings and long letters written in the evenings.

Van Gogh was a deeply spiritual man who pursued a clear artistic goal. Van Gogh's paintings were images of great emotional intensity based on his careful artistic study of color and composition. In his enthusiasm for his art, he induced the painter Paul Gauguin to join him in Paris. In less than two months they began to have violent disagreements, culminating in a quarrel in which Van Gogh wildly threatened Gauguin with a razor. The same night, in deep remorse, Van Gogh cut off part of his own ear.

For a time he was in a hospital at Arles. He then spent a year in the nearby asylum of Saint-Rémy, working between repeated spells of madness. His manic outbursts and depression did not stop him from remaining a most prolific artist, producing more than 800 oil paintings and 1600 drawings, among which his most memorable are many versions of Sunflowers and Irises.

Just after completing his ominous Wheatfield with Crows, Van Gogh shot himself on July 27, 1890. The bullet in his chest was not removed and, two days later, Van Gogh died from an infection.

Van Gogh's art belonged to the avant-garde of his time. He was not a popular artist during his lifetime. But Van Gogh had the support of a great many friends, artists and critics. By the end of his short career, his paintings were exhibited in major group shows in Paris and Brussels.

In a career spanning only a decade, Vincent Van Gogh painted great work after great work. Whether painting a portrait, a landscape or a still life, Van Gogh sought to capture the vibrant spirit of his subject. Vincent Van Gogh's art holds a prominent place in the history of modern art. Van Gogh's indominatable spirit created paintings of surpassing passion and eloquence.

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