Vincent van Gogh: Life of the Inspiring Artist
Vincent van Gogh is admired all around the world. His distinct post-impressionist style, with sweeping brushstrokes and vibrant colors, is easily recognizable.
He is one of the most significant individuals in Western art history. During his lifetime, he was unsuccessful and thought to be insane. He committed suicide in 1890 after suffering from a psychotic disorder for a long time.
Nonetheless, several people believed in his artistic skills during his lifetime, notably his younger brother Theo van Gogh and fellow artist and friend Paul Gauguin. In his brief life, Van Gogh made over 2100 masterpieces. He painted the most during his final two years in psychiatric hospitals.
Biography
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Zundert, the Netherlands. Protestant pastors Theodorus van Gogh and Anna Carbentus had five children: three girls and two boys. Among all the children, Vincent was the eldest, and Theo was the only one who was close to Vincent and supported him. Vincent’s uncle found him a job as a trainee at the international art dealer Goupil & Cie when he was 16. In 1872, Vincent and Theo began their life-long letter correspondence, which became an invaluable source of knowledge about the artist’s life and work.
Finding Art
Vincent discovered his true destiny as an artist at the age of 27. Theo encouraged him to focus on art after seeing his sketches. In 1880, he migrated to Brussels to learn art skills. Due to his immense talent, his peers cherished him a lot. Everyone believed that he was a God-gifted artist. He observed others’ works, which helped him to understand the basics. Vincent appreciated the work of 19th-century French peasant artists like Jean-François Millet and Jules Breton. French artists’ works motivated him to portray the lives of peasants.
He spent a few years at various locations throughout the Netherlands. In the Hague, he studied painting and sketching with his uncle, artist Anton Mauve. During this time, Vincent improved his perspective skills and explored the art of using water and oil colors. Vincent returned to Nuenen with his parents between 1883 and 1885. The town was an appropriate setting for Vincent’s desire to produce peasant paintings. There were many farmers, rural laborers, and weavers that Vincent sketched and painted whenever he could. In a letter to his brother Theo, he said, “There isn’t — as far as I know — a single academy where one learns to draw and paint a digger, a sower, a woman hanging a pot over the fire, or a seamstress.”
In 1885, Vincent moved to Nueunen, where he started working on his well-known painting “The Potato Eaters”. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the result he expected. Therefore, he decided to join the Antwerp art academy and leave the Netherlands forever.
A New Life in Paris
After spending some time at the academy in Antwerp, Vincent relocated to Paris in 1886 because he wanted to be near the most recent advances in the art world. He became aware of how out-of-date his Dutch-made creations appeared once he was immersed in the Parisian avant-garde art scene. He began playing with colour, brushstrokes, lines, and planes after being extremely inspired. He maintained relationships with other artists of his generation, including Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. They would collaborate and display their artwork at the cafés of Montmartre. Vincent’s stay in Paris proved to be quite beneficial and he began creating his expressive style thanks to his connections with other artists and the thriving art community around him.
“More than ever I have a pent-up fury for work, and I think that this will contribute to curing me.”
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent and Gauguin
Vincent wrote letters to other artists to stay in touch with them when he was residing in Arles. His correspondence with Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, and others was particularly engaging. Vincent welcomed Gauguin into his home in the now-famous yellow mansion in October 1888. For a while, they collaborated together, as seen by some of their works, including Gauguin’s painting Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers (1888).
However, the personalities and concepts of the two creators did not always mesh. They greatly disagreed about how to approach art from an artistic perspective. Vincent solely painted from life whereas Gauguin insisted on utilising imagination. An acrimonious relationship developed, and on the evening of December 23, 1888, Gauguin ultimately departed the house after a disagreement. Later, he said that Vincent had pursued him and brandished a razor blade at him. Vincent used the razor to sever his own left ear at home while he was completely perplexed. This mental collapse was the first in a string of severe breakdowns that were frequently accompanied by dread and hallucinations. He entered a mental hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence after a few months. Even though he was in despair, he thought that his art was the answer, saying: “More than ever, I have a pent-up fury for work, and I think that this will contribute to curing me.”
Last Cycle of Van Gogh’s Life
After being admitted to the hospital, Vincent believed he would never fully recover. However, he found that painting and drawing gave his days structure, and he persisted in working diligently to further his artistic development. When he was not permitted to leave the hospital’s boundaries, he would explore the wild garden there and paint the scene from his room’s window or reproductions of other artists’ prints. Some of his most emotionally charged and mature works are during his time spent in the mental institution, and they depict cypress trees and wheat fields. In his final year, he also created his well-known work Almond Blossom (1890), which he gave to his brother Theo, his sister-in-law Jo, and their infant son, whom they had named Vincent, as a gift.
Vincent left the Saint-Rémy facility in May 1890 and travelled to Auvers-sur-Oise, a town farther north, where his physician Paul Gachet and several other artists lived. It was also closer to Paris, making it easier for Theo to travel there. Vincent was encouraged by Gachet to entirely dedicate himself to his art, which he did, producing almost a work every day. Vincent could not handle his illness and the uncertainty about the future, despite his continued passion for his work and the reassuring nature of the countryside. He entered a wheat field on July 27, 1890, and shot himself in the chest. He returned to his room in Auvers-sur-Oise while still hurt. Theo arrived in Auvers from Paris in time to see his brother’s passing. On July 30, 1890, Vincent was laid to rest at Auvers, leaving behind an incredible legacy. Theo passed away shortly after Vincent, and following his passing, his wife Jo decided to increase public knowledge of Vincent’s paintings. As a result, today’s works by Vincent are known all over the world.
Van Gogh Museum
The public was welcomed into Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum in 1973. Gerrit Rietveld, a Dutch architect, created the structure in response to the growing need for a unique museum devoted to the works of Vincent van Gogh. Today, the museum receives two million annual visitors. Vincent was aware of the value of his work even if he never saw it in great demand. Around October 25, 1888, he wrote Theo a letter in which he stated:
“I can do nothing about it if my paintings don’t sell. The day will come, though, when people will see that they’re worth more than the cost of the paint and my subsistence, very meager in fact, that we put into them.”
Vincent van Gogh
