Vincent Van Gogh's Accomplishments

On March 30,1853 in Groot Zundert, Netherlands a legendary artist who will forever change art is born;his name is Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh lived a tragic life facing many struggles and several triumphs,but he will always be remembered in history for being one of the most inspirational artists. Growing up Van Gogh’s family was fairly big:his family consisted of his parents,three sisters,two brothers, and of course Van Gogh himself. Van Gogh was also a troubled child, however, he noticeably was attached to his younger brother Theo,who is an immense part of Van Gogh’s life. Vincent's father was a priest and his mother was an artist. Being an artist, his mother encouraged him to pursue art;but he was far more interested in his father’s work at
the time.
During his time,Van Gogh was unacknowledged.
He only ever sold one painting in his lifetime and was always beating himself and his art down. Although he did not make money from painting he still continued to pursue his dreams. He traveled to captivating places to capture the true essences of his marvelous environments. But each time he would end up on the same path, despising his art and on the verge of a mental breakdown. Van Gogh beautifully portrayed his emotions through his artworks,one of the main reason why his artworks are adored by others all over the world. "What I'm trying to do is not to faithfully imitate on canvas what I see before me but rather to use color in the most arbitrary way to express myself better" (Van Gogh,Vincent). By looking at his paintings,you could experience the same emotions Vincent was going through the suffering,the sadness,the loneliness,the sickness,and uncommonly happiness. Emotions that suffocated Van Gogh every
day.
To this day Van Gogh continues to influence art and artists themselves.
He will always be known as an iconic artist. He impacted many well-known artists, including Lee Tiller,Stefan Duncan,Vitali Komarov,Jim Pallas,and Carlos Zapata. Van Gogh was also influenced by others as well. Van Gogh was also influenced by artists as well. During his brief stay in Pairs,Theo introduced Van Gogh to many inspiring artists. These inspiring artists were: Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges Seurat, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro. Van Gogh immediately became attached to the artists and formed a strong bond of friendship. Being around fellow artists and friends changed Van Gogh’s art. His art pieces were more lively and joyful, a dramatic change compared to his previous paintings. When winter came around,Van Gogh was introduced to another artist as well,his name was Paul Gauguin. They bonded over their journey of finding the purpose of their art. Gauguin was able to display Van Gogh’s artwork in his father's art shop,unfortunately, Vincent’s pieces were never bought.
On July 27,1890 in Auvers-Sur-Oise Van Gogh is mortally wounded by a bullet in his abdomen. He resided in a hospital for two days, Theo never left his side. On the edge of death, Vincent admitted he inflicted the gunshot and dies on July 29,1890. The astonishing artist's mental illness had gotten the best of him,he lived a cruel life and a cruel death at the ripe age of
thirty-seven.
Van Gogh is famously known for cutting the tip of his earlobe off. The story of this event is as follows: Gauguin came to reside with Van Gogh when Vincent was in Arles,for a brief time they lived in tranquility, but soon after Gauguin and Van Gogh couldn't stand being around each other. Their home atmosphere soon became hostile. Until one day Gauguin pronounced he would no longer live with Vincent and moved out shortly after. Fighting and losing a close friend accompanied by his mental illness left Gogh deeply distraught. He suffered many breakdowns, one which pushed him to cut off part a piece of his ear. He drew a bandage over his ear and head to conceal the horrific ordeal. He even painted himself wearing said bandage, the name of the painting is, “Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear” (Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889, oil on canvas, Courtauld Galleries, London). This painting became a legendary masterpiece in the art world. This accident became a historical event, it would come to be one of the most well-known facts about Vincent.
Many of Van Gogh’s paintings broke records and sold for extortionary prices. A majority of his well-known pieces are on the list for highest paid paintings. “Starry Night” (Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Art, New York) one of Van Gogh’s most prized paintings, estimated worth is over 100 million dollars. As stated before Gogh only sold only one of his artworks during his lifetime. Once he got the news , Vincent was ecstatic. This was the first,and last,time he sold a painting. This inspired Van Gogh to create more paintings with a softer tone. Ever since Van Gogh started painting, he was always dissatisfied with his work. He was constantly putting himself down and striving to become a better artist. This,of course, took a toll on him. His low self-esteem with his painting skills made him more depressed, this would more or less be one of the main issues with Van Gogh’s depression.
Van Gogh is my all-time favorite artist and public figure. His artworks are unquestionably exemplary and his battle against depression is uplifting. As an artist who also suffers from a mental illness, I can relate to Van Gogh’s struggles and his experiences.