One of the most well-known artists of postimpressionism is the Dutchman Vincent Van Gogh. He produced more works than any other well-known artist in just over a decade thanks to his prolific and productive labor. Van Gogh created still lifes, landscapes, portraits, self-portraits, sunflowers, wheat fields, and cypresses.
Early Life and Adolescence
In the town of Zundert, on the southern edge of the Netherlands, was born Vincent Willem van Gogh. On March 30, 1853, something happened in the home of Theodore van Gogh, a Protestant preacher, and his wife, Anna Cornelia Carbentus. The family had seven children born in all. The future artist was born a year after the couple’s son, Vincent, named after his grandfather, who passed away soon after birth. Vincent’s younger brother Theo van Gogh actively participated in his unfortunate circumstances and supported him throughout his life.
Vincent was frequently disciplined in the household since he was a challenging, unruly child with certain peculiarities. On the other hand, he appeared quiet, solemn, and thoughtful outside the house. He hardly ever played with his classmates when he was younger. The boy was regarded by the town’s residents as modest, amiable, and caring. His parents enrolled him in a village school when he was seven years old. A year later, they removed him and started teaching him at home. Finally, in the fall of 1864, the youngster was sent to a boarding school in Zevenbergen.
Vincent suffered greatly and his spirit was wounded by the parting. He was moved to a new boarding school in 1866. The youngster had good verbal skills, and it was here that he learned how to draw for the first time. Van Gogh left school in the middle of the academic year in 1868 and returned home. His educational journey ended here. The master recalled his early years as being chilly and depressing.
Painting sales and church activities have historically been the two domains in which successive generations of Van Goghs found their calling. Vincent gave his everything to his career, trying his hand at becoming a trader and a preacher. After a brief period of success, he gave up both to devote all of his life to painting.
Carrier initialization
The fifteen-year-old boy enrolled in the Goupil & Cie art firm’s The Hague branch in 1868. He was assigned to the London branch due to his excellent work and curiosity. Charles Dickens and T. Jefferson both noted that during Vincent’s two years in London, he developed into a genuine businessman and expert on English master engravings. A gloss was obtained by S. Eliot. Van Gogh was set to relocate to Paris, where he was expected to become an outstanding commissioner for Goupil’s central branch.
Things happened in 1875 that altered Vincent’s life. Researchers looking into the artist’s life speculate that the reason was spurned love, as the artist described his state in a letter to Theo as “painful loneliness.” It’s unclear exactly who this love was directed towards. This version might not be accurate. Not even a move to Paris could make things better. Van Gogh was dismissed after losing interest in Goupil.
Religion and Missionary Work
Vincent was persuaded of his religious calling during his self-discovery. The young guy moved to live with his uncle Johannes in Amsterdam in 1877 and was ready to start theological school. Eventually, he lost interest in his studies and dropped out. The missionary school was the result of his passion to serve humanity. Van Gogh was hired as a preacher in the impoverished mining community of Paturage, southern Belgium, in 1879.
In addition to preaching, visiting the ill, teaching children, helping the families of miners, and teaching theology, he made money by drawing maps of Palestine. The future genius tormented himself physically, ate only bread and water, slept on the floor, and lived in a wretched shanty. Vincent additionally assisted laborers in defending their rights.
Because of his intense activities, the local authorities fired him from his position. Van Gogh painted a number of miners, their wives, and kids at this time.
Vincent Van Gogh’s Ascent to Fame
Van Gogh turned to painting as a means of escaping the depression brought on by the events in Paturage. Vincent was financially sponsored by his brother Theo, who went at the Academy of Fine Arts. However, he left school after a year and moved in with his parents while still going to school on his own.
The artist was having another romantic turmoil at this time when he fell in love with a widowed relative who was staying at their home. He made the decision to stop his personal life and start painting in The Hague as a result of this fresh shock. Here, Van Gogh studied under Anton Mauve, put in a lot of labor, and watched city life, mostly in impoverished areas. The artist studied “Drawing Course” by Charles Bargue, copied lithographs, became skilled at combining various techniques on canvas, and produced works with intriguing color shades.
The province of Drenthe in the north of the Netherlands was his next home. Vincent painted landscapes, peasants, and scenes from their daily lives and places of employment from his hut, which he used as a studio. Ordinary people and scenes are the focus of these pieces, which are expressively created and primarily use dark palettes and gloomy, drab tones. One of this era’s greatest paintings is “Potato Eaters” (1885), which shows a scene from a peasant’s life. With some caveats, one could consider Van Gogh’s early paintings realistic. His inaccurate portrayal of human figures in his drawing was influenced by his lack of formal education.
The artist relocated to Antwerp, Belgium, from Drenthe. There, he studied sketching nudity at a private school at the Academy of Fine Arts.
Vincent Van Gogh, a Post-Impressionist
After giving it some thought, Vincent came to Paris at the end of February 1886 in order to live and work. He ran across his brother Theo there, who was now the director of an art gallery. At that time, the French capital’s creative scene was booming.
An important event was the Impressionist show on Rue Lafitte. There were the first exhibitions by Impressionists Paul Signac and Georges Seurat, who went on to form Neo-Impressionism, the movement that followed Impressionism. Impressionism was a revolution in art that upended academic subjects and technique and altered the way that paintings were made. Priorities included the initial impression, using clean colors, and preferring to paint outside.
Van Gogh’s brother Theo took care of him while he was in Paris, housing him in his house and introducing him to other painters. He met Emile Bernard, Louis Anquetin, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the traditionalist artist Fernand Cormon’s workshop.
The most productive was the Paris era (1886–1888), during which Van Gogh added 230 new canvases to his collection, the most well-known being “Shoes” and “The Sea at Sainte-Marie,” among others. This was a period of researching cutting-edge trends in modern painting and method search. The painter evolved a fresh perspective on the medium. The realistic approach gave way to a new style that leaned more toward impressionism and postimpressionism, as seen in landscapes and still lifes with flowers.
The most well-known impressionists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, and Camille Pissarro, were presented to Van Gogh by his brother. Vincent and his fellow artists would frequently venture outside. The master’s palette progressively lightened, brightened, and eventually became a riot of hues, a feature of his later-life artwork.
Vincent was an active socialite in Paris, going to the same spots as his brothers. He also struck up a little romance with Agostina Segatori, the owner of the Tambourine bistro, who had previously modeled for Edgar Degas. Among his many works in which he depicted her in nude were a portrait of her at a cafe table. Papa Tanguy’s business, which offered paints and other artistic supplies, was another gathering spot. Here, as in a lot of other places like it, artists displayed their creations.
Van Gogh and his companions, who had not attained the same heights as the Grands Boulevards masters, who were more well-known and acknowledged, founded the Petits Boulevards group during that time. For the impetuous and unyielding Vincent, the competitiveness and tension that typified Parisian society at the time became intolerable. The artist made the decision to depart the French capital since his creations were still not met with acceptance by the general audience.
Individual life
Van Gogh’s unsuccessful personal life may have contributed to his mental condition. The artist never did find true love. The rejection of Ursula Loyer, the daughter of his housekeeper, whom the young man had been secretly in love with for a long time, precipitated his first bout of depression. The girl was taken aback by the sudden proposal and politely declined.
With his widowed cousin Kee Vos-Stricker, history was repeated, but this time Vincent refused to back down. He made approaches, but the woman rejected him. During his third visit to his sweetheart’s family, the man held his hand over a candle flame, vowing to keep it there until she accepted his proposal of marriage. The prospective groom eventually persuaded the girl’s father that he was dealing with a mentally sick individual with this deed. They just escorted him out of the house instead of standing on ceremony anymore.
Van Gogh’s anxious state was a reflection of his sexual discontent. He started to develop an affinity for young, not-so-beautiful prostitutes that he could take care of. Soon after, Christine, a former “night butterfly” and pregnant laundress, moved in with Van Gogh and her five-year-old daughter. Following the boy’s birth, Vincent developed feelings for the kids and entertained marriage as a possibility.
The woman lived with Vincent for approximately a year after posing for him. He had to get treated for gonorrhea as a result of her. Christine left him and went to a brothel after realizing that the poor artist would not have any money. Van Gogh was devastated because he thought of himself as a protector who spared his mistress from an immoral existence. He departed The Hague when they parted.
Margot Begemann, 41, was pursuing Van Gogh in his latter years. The woman, who lived next door to the artist in Nuenen, was adamant about getting married. Despite the fact that she was ten years older, Vincent made the snap decision to wed the woman who had captured his heart. Margot’s relatives advised against it and recommended delaying the wedding by a few years. Vincent withdrew his offer, and the woman came dangerously close to ending her life.
Over the next few years, the artist visited brothels, had numerous extramarital affairs, and occasionally had treatment for genital illnesses.
The Severed Ear by Vincent Van Gogh
The artist visited Provence in February 1888 and developed a strong attachment to the region. Theo sent his brother 250 francs a month as sponsorship. Vincent sent him his paintings as a thank you. He ate lunch a café whose proprietors became his friends, leased four rooms at a hotel, and posed for pictures for his paintings.
The artist was enthralled with the budding trees, penetrated by the southern sun, as spring arrived. The brilliant hues and the air’s transparency thrilled the genius. Impressionist concepts eventually lost their luster, but the commitment to using a light color scheme and painting outside persisted. The color yellow, which took on a unique sheen from the depths, dominated the pieces.
Vincent used to work outside at night by fastening candles to his hat and sketchbook to provide light for his workspace. He created “Starry Night over the Rhone” and “Night Café” in this manner. The visit of Paul Gauguin, who Van Gogh had invited to Arles on several occasions, was a significant occasion. An eager and productive relationship came to an argument and a split. The disordered and restless Van Gogh was the exact opposite of the self-assured, pedant Gauguin.
This story’s dramatic battle before Christmas 1888, in which Vincent hacked off his ear, served as its epilogue. Gauguin retreated in a hotel, terrified that they would attack him. Vincent sent the bloodied earlobe to his buddy Rachel, a prostitute, after wrapping it in paper. He was discovered in a pool of blood by the hotel’s proprietor. The artist’s wound healed swiftly, but he was back in his hospital bed due to mental health issues.
Final Years of Life
Because the townman was different from them, the residents of Arles started to fear him, and in 1889 they submitted a petition asking for the “red-haired madman” to be removed. After realizing the severity of his illness, Vincent willingly checked himself into the Saint-Paul-Mausoleum hospital in Saint-Remy. He was permitted to paint outside while receiving treatment, as long as medical personnel kept an eye on him. His signature swirls and wavy lines in pieces like “Starry Night,” “Irises,” “Road with Cypresses and a Star,” and others looked like this.
In Saint-Remy, depressive pauses were interspersed with times of high activity. Paints were consumed by the artist during one of the crises. Even though Vincent’s condition was becoming more severe on a regular basis, his brother Theo supported him to attend the September Salon des Indépendants in Paris. The artist sold “Red Vineyards in Arles” for a respectable 400 francs during the January 1890 exhibition.
Van Gogh was always creating art. His brother took inspiration from “The Vineyards” as well. He gave Vincent some paints, but Vincent started eating them. Theodore and Dr. Paul Gachet, a homeopathic physician, decided in May 1890 that Theodore would treat the artist at his clinic. Since the doctor enjoyed painting, he happily started the patient’s treatment. Gachet also had a positive attitude from Vincent, who saw kindness and optimism in him.
After a month, the artist was granted permission to visit Paris. His brother gave him a cold reception. His daughter was quite sick, and he was having financial difficulties. This reception knocked Vincent off balance because he realized he was becoming, and maybe always has been, a burden to his brother. He went back to the clinic, shocked.
Vincent Van Gogh’s Death
As per his customary practice, the artist walked outside on July 27 in Auvers-sur-Oise, but instead of returning with sketches, he came back with a bullet wound to his stomach. He shot a revolver, and the bullet left his heart and struck his ribs. Once back at the refuge, the artist took a seat in bed and quietly smoked a pipe. It appeared as though he was not in discomfort from the wound.
Sepsis was the artist’s cause of death, which occurred on July 29, 1890, at half past one in the morning. On July 30, he was laid to rest in the community’s public cemetery.
A large number of Van Gogh’s fellow artists attended the farewell. His final works of art covered the room’s walls. Dr. Gachet had intended to give a statement, but his tears prevented him from saying more than a few sentences, which basically said that Vincent was an honest man and a great artist, and that art, above all things, will pay him back by preserving his name.