Van
Gogh is considered one of the greatest artist that has ever put brush to
paint and paint to canvas. His influence on modern art and the expressionism
of it is undeniable.
Born on March 30,1853 to Reverend Theodorus van Gogh and Anna
Carbentus.
Vincent had five siblings, Anna, Theodorus, Elisabeth, Wilhelmina and Cornelius.
In 1869 at the age of 16 Vincent went to apprentice at Goupil and Company
Art Gallery as a clerk. Theodorus becomes an important part of Vincent's
life and at the age of 19 he starts a lifetime correspondence with his
brother.
In 1873 Vincent gets transferred to Goupil's London Gallery. At this time Vincent finds many things that interest him, one being religion. He gets transferred once again in 1875 to Goupil's Paris branch. This is where Vincent gets his first taste of love. He fell obsessively in love with his landlady's daughter. She rejected him and it had such an affect on him that he was dismissed from his job.
In
1876 Vincent returns to London. He takes an unpaid assistants job at a
school. His desire to serve his fellow man and his interest in religion
begins his training for the ministry. But, in 1878 his quits his studies
and 
goes
to Belgium. Vincent becomes a Pastor for the poor miners of Borinage. To
show his enthusiastic devotion he gave the poor all his possessions. He
stayed in Belgium living in poverty until 1880. At this time he realizes
that art was his way to spiritual satisfaction.
Vincent moved to the Netherlands in 1881 and stayed till 1885. He remained
very close to his brother Theo and during his poverty in the Netherlands,
Theo would send Vincent money. At this time Vincent's art was still inspired
by his benevolent love of man. You can see this in his work by such paintings
as The Potato Eaters. In one of his letters to Theo he writes: "I
have tried to emphasize that those people, eating their potato's in the
lamp-light have dug the earth with those very hands they put in the dish,
and so it speaks of manual labor, and how they have honestly earned their
food."
In 1885 Vincent moved to Antwerp. For several months he studies at an
Academy.
Vincent had such an independent spirit that I don't think this had much
affect on the ways of his paintings. At this time he decides to move back
to Paris.
In Paris his painting went through a dramatic change. He started to use the uses of color differently and wrote : "Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily so as to express myself more forcibly." At this time in Paris he met many other great artist such as Degas, Gauguin Pissarro, Seurat, and Toulouse-Lautrec.
In
1888 Vincent moved to Arles. The incident of when he cut off his left ear
happened then. Gauguin had moved to Arles. Vincent and Gauguin had gotten
into an argument and this is when the famous ear cutting happened. Also
at this time, he was going through depression and started having hallucinations.
In 1889 he went to an asylum on his own free will. At the asylum he painted
such great works as Starry Night. He painted over 150 paintings while at
the asylum and in my opinion are some of his best.
In 1890 Vincent moved to Auvers-sur-Oise to be near Theo, who had gotten
married
the year before. His depression became so overwhelming that in July of
1890 he shot himself and died. During the last 70 days of his life he painted
70 paintings. During his life time he only sold one painting, Red Vineyard
at Arles. But, after his death many people became interested in his work
and appreciated it.
