Vincent Van Gogh Biography
Vincent Willem van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born March 30, 1853. He was born in Grout-Zundert Netherlands. He was a post-impressionist painter. He is commonly known as van Gogh. He was highly influenced by 20th century art (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). His works are known for their beauty, emotion, and color. He struggled with mental illness and was poor and unknown his whole life (Van Gogh’s Works, 2002-2015). He was very intelligent and even spoke four languages. He spoke French, English, German, and Dutch. Van Gogh died of a self-inflected gun shot on July, 29, 1890 at the age of 37(Vincent van Gogh, 2015). Van Gogh was born to parents, Theodorus van Gogh and Anna Cornelina Carbentus. His father was a country minister and his mother …show more content…
was an artist. His mother’s love of nature, drawing, and watercolors is what drew van Gogh to his love of painting. Van Gogh’s family was very poor and at 15 he had to quit school to go to work. His first job was in an art dealership called Uncle Cornelis’ in Hague (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). In June of 1873 he went to work at Groupil Gallery in London (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). It is there that he fell in love with the English culture. While living there he fell in love with his land lady’s daughter, she refused to marry him. That made him very angry and he threw away all for his books except the bible and gave his life to god. Shortly after he was fired from the gallery for telling customers not to buy the art because it was worthless (Vincent van Gogh, 2002-2015).
Van Gogh’s was raised in a religious family but it wasn’t until he started teaching in a Methodist boy’s school and he began preaching to the congregation that he found his true calling in god. He decided he wanted to be a minister, and he studied for a year but then he refused to take the Latin exam. He said it was a dead language for poor people, so therefore he was not accepted into the school. Van Gogh’s brother, Theo van Gogh was an art dealer in Brussels so he decided to move there in the fall of 1880 and become an artist even though he had no formal training (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). Theo, was van Gogh’s younger brother and was a lifelong supporter and friend to him. Theo provided his brother with financial and emotional support. It was there that van Gogh started taking lessons on his own. Van Gogh was attracted to women with problems. He fell in love with his cousin Kate, she was disgusted and moved back to her home in Amsterdam to get away from him (Vincent van Gogh, 2002-2015). Then he moved to Hague. It was there that he fell in love with Clasina Maria Hoornik, a prostitute and alcoholic. She was his companion but when she decided to go back to prostitution he became very depressed. In 1882 van Gogh decided to leave Clasina Maria Hoornik because his family threatened to cut off his money. For the next six weeks he lived in Drenthe, Netherlands drawing and painting landscapes and the people there (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). In 1885 Van Gogh started work on his first masterpiece called “Potato Eaters” (Van Gogh’s works, 2002-2015). In March he decided to move to Paris where his younger brother Theo had moved. Theo welcomed van Gogh into his small apartment. Van Gogh began studying there with Henri de Toulouse-Lautec and Pissano (Vincent van Gogh, 2002-2015). He was interested in Japanese art and studied eastern philosophy. In 1888 van Gogh moved to South France and rented a little yellow house. He spent his money on paint instead of food. He lived on coffee, bread, and absinthe. Absinthe is a French distilled highly alcoholic beverage. It is anise flavored spirit derived from botanicals. He was even known to sip turpentine and eat paint. He became sick soon after and his brother hired Paul Gaiguir to watch over him. They argued constantly and he ended up leaving (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). It was then that van Gogh got upset and cut his ear off with a razor blade. He went to visit a prostitute named Rachael, he paid her and gave her his ear and said to her “keep this object carefully” (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). The next morning the police found him in his room bleeding and took him to the hospital. He was weak from blood loss and having violent seizures. After van Gogh got out of the hospital he became very depressed and had to be hospitalized again. The people in Arles signed a petition saying van Gogh was dangerous. He was put in the Saint-Paul-de-Mausola Asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). He painted while he was in the hospital. In November 1889 he was invited to show his paintings in Brussels. He sent six painting including “Itises” and “Starry Night” (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). In 1890 Dr. Paul Gachet agreed to take van Gogh as a patient and then later he rented a room from the doctor. They lived in Auvers about 20 miles north of Paris. On July 27, 1890 van Gogh went out into the garden to paint. He shot himself in the chest with a pistol (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). He did not die, he was found bleeding in his room. He was taken to the hospital. His brother visited him and stayed a couple of days. They very much enjoyed each other’s company. On July 29, 1890 Vincent Willem van Gogh died in his brothers arms (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). He was 37 years old. Theo van Gogh died January 25, 1891 just six months after his brother(Van Gogh biography, 2002-2015). The two are buried together at Auvers-sur-Oise. Even though van Gogh was only 37 years old when he died he had quite an array of paintings in his portfolio. He has painted at least 2100 paintings. Some of the more popular ones are Potato Eaters, Irises, Starry Nights, and Dr. Gachet. He would never know the popularity of his paintings because he was unknown his whole life. Van Gogh has hundreds of popular paintings one of which is the painting, “Potato Eaters” was completed in 1885 and is considered to be van Gogh’s first great work of art.
It is an oil painting. He wanted to finish his first masterpiece to gain a good reputation as an artist. The painting is of five people sitting around a table eating potatoes. There are four women and one man. The painting is relatively dark and intense. The only light is coming from an oil lamp. One woman is pouring coffee. The table is weathered, there is a window, and a picture hanging on the wall, making it seem like they live there. This painting was never popular in his lifetime but it is very popular today (Van Gogh Potato Eater, …show more content…
2002-2015). The painting “Irises” was painted in 1889 while van Gogh was hospitalized in the asylum. This painting is one of his oil paintings. He was inspired by the gardens where he spent a lot of time. “Irises” was fashioned after Japanese woodblock prints. The painting is divided by broad areas of vivid color with monumental irises overflowing the boarder. There are no drawings of this painting because van Gogh did not consider it a masterpiece but simply a study (Van Gogh Irises, 2002-2015). “Starry Nights” is an oil painting that van Gogh painted in June of 1889.
He painted from the view from the east facing window of his asylum room. The painting is of the night sky with swirling clouds, stars shimmering, and a big crescent moon, down the hill on the horizon is a small town. There is a peaceful essence from the structures. The cool dark colors and the fiery windows spark warm memories of what exists in the night of the dark starry skies. There is a large dark structure, it is possibly a mountain or a large leafy bush. This painting has risen to the peak of artistic achievements (Van Gogh Starry Nights,
2002-2015). The portrait of Dr. Gachet is an oil painting, it was painted in June of 1890. One of van Gogh’s most popular paintings is the painting of Dr. Gachet. It is very popular for several reasons it was painted in the last months of van Gogh’s life, he had questions about Dr. Gachet’s competence, and he thought the doctor was as sick as or sicker than he was. In the painting Dr. Gachet is resting his elbow on a red table and his head is propped in his hand. On the table there are two yellow books and a purple medical herb. The plant is called a digitalis and it used to treat heart problems. The doctor’s face has a heart broken expression on it, he is wearing a blue coat, and the background is of hills painted in a lighter shade of blue. The painting is known as the most expensive painting ever sold. On May 15, 1990, over 100 years after his death the painting sold for $82.5 million to Ryoei Saito from Japan (Van Gogh Dr. Gachet, 2002-2015). It has been more than 100 years since Vincent van Gogh died. He lived a very poor and unknown life, he had mental problems and struggled all of his life. Although, van Gogh suffered with anxiety, depression, and mental illness, it is said that his art helped him stay emotionally balanced. Van Gogh and his brother Theo had a lifelong friendship. Much of what historians know about van Gogh was learned from the many letters he wrote to Theo. Van Gogh wrote more than 600 letters to Theo and Theo wrote approximately 40 to him. Today he is considered the greatest Dutch painter ever only after Rembrandt. He completed more than 2100 paintings, both oil and watercolors. Many of his paintings sold for millions, among the most expensive were “Irises” which sold for $53.9 million and his portrait of Dr. Gachet sold for $82.5 million. Many of his paintings were destroyed some by his own mother.
Some of the Paintings of Vincent Willem van Gogh
Potato Eater Starry Nights Dr. Gachet
Irises
Works Cited
Bio. “Vincent van Gogh Biography”. A&E Television Networks, LLC Say Entertainment. 2015. September
HEILBRUNN TIMELINE OF ART HISTORY. “Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2000-2015. November 11, 2015
Van Gogh Gallery. “Van Gogh’s Works”. Unidev. 2002-20015. November 15, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh: Starry Night”. Unidev. 2002-2015. October 30, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh: Potato Eaters”. Unidev. 2002-2015. September 26, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh: Irises”. Unidev. 2002-2015. November 20, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh biography”. Unidev. 2002-2015. September 15, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh: Dr. Gachet”. Unidev. 2002-2015. October 12, 2015.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born March 30, 1853. He was born in Grout-Zundert Netherlands. He was a post-impressionist painter. He is commonly known as van Gogh. He was highly influenced by 20th century art (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). His works are known for their beauty, emotion, and color. He struggled with mental illness and was poor and unknown his whole life (Van Gogh’s Works, 2002-2015). He was very intelligent and even spoke four languages. He spoke French, English, German, and Dutch. Van Gogh died of a self-inflected gun shot on July, 29, 1890 at the age of 37(Vincent van Gogh, 2015). Van Gogh was born to parents, Theodorus van Gogh and Anna Cornelina Carbentus. His father was a country minister and his mother …show more content…
was an artist. His mother’s love of nature, drawing, and watercolors is what drew van Gogh to his love of painting. Van Gogh’s family was very poor and at 15 he had to quit school to go to work. His first job was in an art dealership called Uncle Cornelis’ in Hague (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). In June of 1873 he went to work at Groupil Gallery in London (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). It is there that he fell in love with the English culture. While living there he fell in love with his land lady’s daughter, she refused to marry him. That made him very angry and he threw away all for his books except the bible and gave his life to god. Shortly after he was fired from the gallery for telling customers not to buy the art because it was worthless (Vincent van Gogh, 2002-2015).
Van Gogh’s was raised in a religious family but it wasn’t until he started teaching in a Methodist boy’s school and he began preaching to the congregation that he found his true calling in god. He decided he wanted to be a minister, and he studied for a year but then he refused to take the Latin exam. He said it was a dead language for poor people, so therefore he was not accepted into the school. Van Gogh’s brother, Theo van Gogh was an art dealer in Brussels so he decided to move there in the fall of 1880 and become an artist even though he had no formal training (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). Theo, was van Gogh’s younger brother and was a lifelong supporter and friend to him. Theo provided his brother with financial and emotional support. It was there that van Gogh started taking lessons on his own. Van Gogh was attracted to women with problems. He fell in love with his cousin Kate, she was disgusted and moved back to her home in Amsterdam to get away from him (Vincent van Gogh, 2002-2015). Then he moved to Hague. It was there that he fell in love with Clasina Maria Hoornik, a prostitute and alcoholic. She was his companion but when she decided to go back to prostitution he became very depressed. In 1882 van Gogh decided to leave Clasina Maria Hoornik because his family threatened to cut off his money. For the next six weeks he lived in Drenthe, Netherlands drawing and painting landscapes and the people there (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). In 1885 Van Gogh started work on his first masterpiece called “Potato Eaters” (Van Gogh’s works, 2002-2015). In March he decided to move to Paris where his younger brother Theo had moved. Theo welcomed van Gogh into his small apartment. Van Gogh began studying there with Henri de Toulouse-Lautec and Pissano (Vincent van Gogh, 2002-2015). He was interested in Japanese art and studied eastern philosophy. In 1888 van Gogh moved to South France and rented a little yellow house. He spent his money on paint instead of food. He lived on coffee, bread, and absinthe. Absinthe is a French distilled highly alcoholic beverage. It is anise flavored spirit derived from botanicals. He was even known to sip turpentine and eat paint. He became sick soon after and his brother hired Paul Gaiguir to watch over him. They argued constantly and he ended up leaving (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). It was then that van Gogh got upset and cut his ear off with a razor blade. He went to visit a prostitute named Rachael, he paid her and gave her his ear and said to her “keep this object carefully” (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). The next morning the police found him in his room bleeding and took him to the hospital. He was weak from blood loss and having violent seizures. After van Gogh got out of the hospital he became very depressed and had to be hospitalized again. The people in Arles signed a petition saying van Gogh was dangerous. He was put in the Saint-Paul-de-Mausola Asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). He painted while he was in the hospital. In November 1889 he was invited to show his paintings in Brussels. He sent six painting including “Itises” and “Starry Night” (Van Gogh Biography, 2002-2015). In 1890 Dr. Paul Gachet agreed to take van Gogh as a patient and then later he rented a room from the doctor. They lived in Auvers about 20 miles north of Paris. On July 27, 1890 van Gogh went out into the garden to paint. He shot himself in the chest with a pistol (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). He did not die, he was found bleeding in his room. He was taken to the hospital. His brother visited him and stayed a couple of days. They very much enjoyed each other’s company. On July 29, 1890 Vincent Willem van Gogh died in his brothers arms (Vincent van Gogh, 2015). He was 37 years old. Theo van Gogh died January 25, 1891 just six months after his brother(Van Gogh biography, 2002-2015). The two are buried together at Auvers-sur-Oise. Even though van Gogh was only 37 years old when he died he had quite an array of paintings in his portfolio. He has painted at least 2100 paintings. Some of the more popular ones are Potato Eaters, Irises, Starry Nights, and Dr. Gachet. He would never know the popularity of his paintings because he was unknown his whole life. Van Gogh has hundreds of popular paintings one of which is the painting, “Potato Eaters” was completed in 1885 and is considered to be van Gogh’s first great work of art.
It is an oil painting. He wanted to finish his first masterpiece to gain a good reputation as an artist. The painting is of five people sitting around a table eating potatoes. There are four women and one man. The painting is relatively dark and intense. The only light is coming from an oil lamp. One woman is pouring coffee. The table is weathered, there is a window, and a picture hanging on the wall, making it seem like they live there. This painting was never popular in his lifetime but it is very popular today (Van Gogh Potato Eater, …show more content…
2002-2015). The painting “Irises” was painted in 1889 while van Gogh was hospitalized in the asylum. This painting is one of his oil paintings. He was inspired by the gardens where he spent a lot of time. “Irises” was fashioned after Japanese woodblock prints. The painting is divided by broad areas of vivid color with monumental irises overflowing the boarder. There are no drawings of this painting because van Gogh did not consider it a masterpiece but simply a study (Van Gogh Irises, 2002-2015). “Starry Nights” is an oil painting that van Gogh painted in June of 1889.
He painted from the view from the east facing window of his asylum room. The painting is of the night sky with swirling clouds, stars shimmering, and a big crescent moon, down the hill on the horizon is a small town. There is a peaceful essence from the structures. The cool dark colors and the fiery windows spark warm memories of what exists in the night of the dark starry skies. There is a large dark structure, it is possibly a mountain or a large leafy bush. This painting has risen to the peak of artistic achievements (Van Gogh Starry Nights,
2002-2015). The portrait of Dr. Gachet is an oil painting, it was painted in June of 1890. One of van Gogh’s most popular paintings is the painting of Dr. Gachet. It is very popular for several reasons it was painted in the last months of van Gogh’s life, he had questions about Dr. Gachet’s competence, and he thought the doctor was as sick as or sicker than he was. In the painting Dr. Gachet is resting his elbow on a red table and his head is propped in his hand. On the table there are two yellow books and a purple medical herb. The plant is called a digitalis and it used to treat heart problems. The doctor’s face has a heart broken expression on it, he is wearing a blue coat, and the background is of hills painted in a lighter shade of blue. The painting is known as the most expensive painting ever sold. On May 15, 1990, over 100 years after his death the painting sold for $82.5 million to Ryoei Saito from Japan (Van Gogh Dr. Gachet, 2002-2015). It has been more than 100 years since Vincent van Gogh died. He lived a very poor and unknown life, he had mental problems and struggled all of his life. Although, van Gogh suffered with anxiety, depression, and mental illness, it is said that his art helped him stay emotionally balanced. Van Gogh and his brother Theo had a lifelong friendship. Much of what historians know about van Gogh was learned from the many letters he wrote to Theo. Van Gogh wrote more than 600 letters to Theo and Theo wrote approximately 40 to him. Today he is considered the greatest Dutch painter ever only after Rembrandt. He completed more than 2100 paintings, both oil and watercolors. Many of his paintings sold for millions, among the most expensive were “Irises” which sold for $53.9 million and his portrait of Dr. Gachet sold for $82.5 million. Many of his paintings were destroyed some by his own mother.
Some of the Paintings of Vincent Willem van Gogh
Potato Eater Starry Nights Dr. Gachet
Irises
Works Cited
Bio. “Vincent van Gogh Biography”. A&E Television Networks, LLC Say Entertainment. 2015. September
HEILBRUNN TIMELINE OF ART HISTORY. “Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2000-2015. November 11, 2015
Van Gogh Gallery. “Van Gogh’s Works”. Unidev. 2002-20015. November 15, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh: Starry Night”. Unidev. 2002-2015. October 30, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh: Potato Eaters”. Unidev. 2002-2015. September 26, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh: Irises”. Unidev. 2002-2015. November 20, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh biography”. Unidev. 2002-2015. September 15, 2015.
Van Gogh Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh: Dr. Gachet”. Unidev. 2002-2015. October 12, 2015.