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Vincent Van GogHe became an artist only at the age of thirty and in 7 years he painted over 800 paintings and even more drawings. Only one painting found a buyer during his lifetime
Date of Birth: 30.03.1853
Country:  Netherlands |
Content:
- Vincent van Gogh: A Troubled Genius
- Artistic Awakening
- Artistic Journey
- Paris and Impressionism
- Arles and Artistic Flourishing
- Mental Illness and Final Years
- Death and Legacy
Vincent van Gogh: A Troubled Genius
Early Life and EducationVincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the southern Dutch village of Groot-Zundert. His father, Theodorus van Gogh, was a Protestant minister, and his mother, Anna Cornelia, was the daughter of a Hague bookseller. Vincent had five siblings, and was named after his paternal grandfather, also a clergyman.
At the age of ten, Vincent began copying lithographs and sketching. His father, who served in "unprestigious" parishes, wanted his son to secure a well-paying job. At age 16, Vincent left school and, with the help of relatives, became an art dealer at the Hague firm Goupil. In 1873, he worked in the company's London branch.
Artistic Awakening
Despite being a poor salesman, Vincent's exposure to art planted the seeds of his future. A two-year stint in London changed his destiny. He fell in love with the daughter of his boarding house mistress, but his feelings were not reciprocated, plunging him into depression. His hosts arranged for him to transfer to Paris, but this move failed to alleviate his distress, and he eventually lost his job.
In 1877, Van Gogh moved to Amsterdam and briefly studied theology at university, but soon dropped out and enrolled in a missionary course at the Brussels Evangelical School. His sincere desire to bring light into darkness found literal expression when, in 1878, he became a minister and traveled to the mining village of Borinage in Belgium. Despite his own poverty, he gave away his clothes and money to the poor, and tended to typhoid patients, sacrificing all his time and energy to service. His superiors disapproved of his extreme actions, and after six months, he was forbidden to continue this work, leading to a rift with his family.
Another bout of depression and emotional crisis prompted Vincent to seek solace in drawing. He made the fateful decision to become an artist, embracing the depiction of the local weavers and miners. It was here that his artistic development took an interesting turn, fueled by his love for the people: his desire to portray the underprivileged stemmed from his deep sympathy for them, a genuine divine compassion. All the principles and techniques of artistic creation were reduced to a single goal—expressing this love. Hence the piercing humanitarianism in his works. He told his brother that the great masters' works were underlined by the word "God."
Artistic Journey
In 1880, Vincent enrolled in the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts but soon left; he independently studied treatises and copied masterpieces by Jean-François Millet. Returning to Holland in 1881, he took drawing lessons from a distant relative, Anton Mauve, and created his first oil paintings, including "Still Life with Beer Mug and Fruit" and "Still Life with Cabbage and Wooden Shoes." Around this time, Vincent was harshly rejected by his cousin Kee, whom he had hoped to marry. His strange and inappropriate advances toward his cousin led to a further estrangement from his parents.
In 1882, he formed a relationship with the prostitute Sien, also using her as a model, but broke off the affair a year later. In 1883, he returned to his parents' home in Nuenen. For two years, he actively developed his skills, creating sketches, landscapes, and multi-figure compositions. These works express deep compassion for ordinary people, conveying the oppressive atmosphere of their lives through expressive drawing and somber colors. Unfortunately, Vincent destroyed many of the creations from this period, realizing their imperfections. The most iconic work of this time was "The Potato Eaters" (1885), which pierces the viewer with the sense of poverty and despair that defined peasant life.
Throughout his life, brother Theo provided Vincent with financial support, but the painter spent all his funds on paints, canvases, and paying models, depriving himself of basic necessities. While his artistic progress during this period was intense, it was counterbalanced by personal turmoil. He fell in love with the daughter of his neighbors, Margo, but their families opposed their union. The woman attempted suicide by ingesting strychnine. Around the same time, his mother fell ill, and his father passed away.
Paris and Impressionism
In late 1885, Van Gogh traveled to Paris, immersing himself in the French art scene. In renowned museums, he contemplated masterpieces and works by Impressionists, admiring Eugène Delacroix and interacting with the pillars of Impressionism: Seurat, Degas, Pissarro, Gauguin, Lautrec, and Bernard. He grasped the significance of color in painting and the genre of Japanese prints, realizing the importance of Eastern influences in shaping avant-garde art movements. Vincent actively experimented with color combinations and took painting lessons from Fernand Cormon.
The gloomy Dutch existence faded into the background; in France, he did not feel lonely. Constant setbacks on the romantic front led his conflicted soul to believe that an artist should not have a home or family, and he confined himself to casual relationships with women.
Arles and Artistic Flourishing
In 1888, Vincent moved to the provincial town of Arles in southern France. This period marked the height of his talent and fruitful achievements. Here, he created some of his greatest masterpieces: the "Sunflowers" series, the landscapes "Drawbridge at Arles," "Harvest at Arles," and "Tree in Blossom," and portraits of individuals who fascinated him, such as "Girl from Arles," "Postman Roulin," and his close relatives. "The Red Vineyards at Arles" captures the viewer with its color dissonances and the intense interaction between nature and the working man. Through the power of his talent, the artist imbued ordinary household objects with spiritual life.
"The Bedroom at Arles" embodies the hopelessness and anxiety that were so characteristic of Vincent's soul. He also depicted night scenes with artificial lighting. "The Night Café at Arles" is a haunting work of inner tragedy, evoking feelings of loneliness and sinister longing. The painter seemed to project his restless spirit onto the material world: the floors, tables, and chairs receding into a sharp perspective, the macabre interplay of dark colors, and the human figures vanishing within it create a sense of eerie, demonic dissonance in the surrounding life.
He managed to persuade his friend Paul Gauguin to join him. They worked together, discussed art, but soon differences in their perspectives emerged, having a detrimental effect on Vincent's mental health. He became obsessed with the idea of forming an artists' commune in the town, a kind of collective of like-minded individuals, and shared this thought with his comrade. After yet another quarrel, Van Gogh almost attacked his colleague with a razor. Paul fled and spent the night at an inn, deciding to leave, while Vincent turned his aggression on his own ear. He was admitted to a hospital for two weeks.
Mental Illness and Final Years
In early 1889, he painted "Man with a Pipe," "Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear," and "Gauguin's Armchair at Night" as a remembrance of the brighter moments of their companionship. From the age of 19, Vincent had been constantly corresponding with his brother, sharing his innermost thoughts on art and life. Perhaps it was this correspondence, along with the understanding of his closest confidant, that enabled the artist to maintain a relative balance in his mental state. He cherished his meetings with Theo, his active support, and involvement in his life.
But in April 1889, his younger brother married, distancing himself from Vincent, who felt increasingly alone. The painter realized that he would now be an additional burden, a millstone around the neck of his main support. Filled with despair and exhaustion, he voluntarily entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy.
During periods of remission, Van Gogh depicted the hospital garden and its surroundings, creating the fantastical "The Starry Night," "Olives, Blue Sky and White Cloud," "Wheatfield with Cypresses," and "The Old Mill." Upon leaving the asylum in May 1890, Vincent traveled to Auvers-sur-Oise, a small village near Paris, where he found numerous compelling motifs for his work.
The final, Auvers period of his creative life was his artistic swansong. During this time, he experienced a surge of creative energy, working tirelessly from morning till night. In just two months, he created 70 paintings and 32 drawings. He painted portraits of his psychiatrist and friend, Dr. Paul Gachet, capturing his humanity and the sensitivity of his nature. The masterpiece "Landscape at Auvers after the Rain" is distinguished by its piercingly lyrical perception of nature, a refined and dynamic color palette of resonant hues.
However, his works reveal an inner conflict, a fractured consciousness manifesting in the dissonance of brushstrokes, colors, and composition, and in the distortions of architectural forms and trees. Such are "The Cottages," "The Church at Auvers," and his last work, "Wheatfield with Crows," which conveys a profound foreboding of the inevitable.
Death and Legacy
On July 27, 1890, mentally exhausted and disillusioned with life and the value of his own work, Van Gogh walked into a field and shot himself with a revolver. Two days later, he passed away. His loving brother Theo, who had stayed by his side, followed him in death six months later. Even death did not separate them: they were buried side by side in Auvers.
In just over 10 years, Vincent van Gogh managed to cultivate his genius through the sheer force of his human will and spirit—an unprecedented event in the world of art. His madness was truly genius, not imagined. His
