Vincent van Gogh Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in Zundert, a village in Brabant. He was the oldest son of Theodorus van Gogh and Anna Cornelia née Carbentus. In 1864 Vincent went to school in Zevenbergen and studied French, English and German. He started to work for the French art dealers Goupil & Co in The Hague in 1869. Later his younger brother Theo, to whom Vincent had a close relationship, starts working for the same company. This was not strange since Vincent’s family had been in the art world for a long time and both his uncles were art dealers. In 1873-76 he worked in galleries in London and Paris and as a teacher in England. In the following years his interest in religion increases and he decides to study religion in Amsterdam. He speaks at prayer meetings held within the parish and thinks about beeing a priest. In 1878 he moves on and live, in a very spartan environment, together with miners in Belgium.
During all these years he made drawings, but it was not until 1880, that he started to devote his time to painting and abandon his religious pursuits. This started when he began to draw the miners and their families, chronicling their harsh conditions. He now feels that this is what he want to do and starts anatomy and perspective studies at the Academy in Brussels. He also spend some time with the painter Anton Mauve (1838-1888) who introduces him to watercolours. He falls inlove with his cousin Kee but her feelings does match his and she breaks his heart. This together with a crumbling relation to his father causes severe imbalance in his mental state. In 1882 Vincent meet Sien, a prostitute with a five year old daughter and another child on the way. During this year Vincent is hospitalized and his physical helth is ailing. This is also the year when he for the first time starts experimenting with oil and he spends much time painting nature and Sien and the baby. Their relationship lasts just over a year, then Vincent breaks up and devotes his life to his work. He starts a studio in Nuenen, close to his parents and relies on his brother for support. Vincent goes through another heartbreaking love affair but he still paints. In March 1885 his father dies and in early spring he paints what is considered his first great work, The Potato Eaters. He decides that he want to study art on a more formal basis and starts at the Antwerp Academy. They put him in a beginner’s class, where he feels that he do not belong so he move to Paris to live with Theo. He meets other painters like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin and they become friends. Theo is now working at an art gallery in Montmartre and introduces Vincent to the works of Impressionists like Claude Monet, Pierre-August Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas and Georges Seurat. This influences Vincent and his use of colour and style. He was also influenced by Japanese art and some of his work had an oriental feeling.
In February 1888 Vincent leaves Paris and move to Arles in the south. This is an extremely productive part of his life and he have high hopes of establishing an artits’ community here. He paints many of his most famous portraits including his series of the postman, Joseph Roulin, and his family. In October the same year Paul Gauguin comes to live with Vincent in his “Yellow House”. It is a very rewarding time for both of them, even though much time go to arguing about art. But something break their friendship and on December 23, it is said that Vincent atacked Gauguin with a razor. And it is now that Vincent cut of his left earlobe. He wraps it up in newspaper and presents it to a prostitute at the local brothel that he used to visit. Theo comes to take care of him and he is put in an hospital. He can leave the hospital on the 7th of January 1889, but he is not well. His temper go up and down and he goes from beeing calm to having hallucinations. During this time he moves from the Yellow House to the Saint Paul-de-Mausole mental asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He continues to paint on the good days and he paint the famous Sunflowers and La Berceuse. But when he during an attack tries to poison himself with his own colours he have to take a break. It is now that his work is starting to be appreciated in the art community and they offer him an exhibition. Because of this he starts painting again, but when he once again tries to poison himself he have to stop.
1890 is a year marked by him variously recover and break down. It is unclear what really caused these attackes but a diagnosis that was given then, and still seems likely today, was a type of epilepsy. Something good also happens this years. Theo becomes a father and the child is named after Vincent. It is also decided that he should move closer to his brother because of the breakdowns. And it works. Vincent health is better for a couple of months and after moving to Auvers-sur-Oise, just north-west of Paris, he paints again. More than 80 paintings among themone of his greatest, Starry Night. His doctor’s oppinion is that he has made a completet recovery and that he his finally happy. He spend a lot of time with Theo and his family. Unfortunately, when things started to look better for Vincent, it was the opposite for Theo. His health had been weak a couple of years and together with economical difficulties and troubles for his son’s health, he was in a bad condition. Vincent blames himself for parts of this since his brother had been supporting him economically for years. During a walk on the 27th of July he shoots himself in the chest with a pistol. However, he does not die on the spot. He is able to drag himself home and up to his room, but he does not tell anyone about the injury. He is eventually found and a doctor is summond, but it is to late. The last two hours of his life is much like the last two years, up and down. At the end he sits up in bed and smokes his pipe. Theo is by his side the whole time and they are embraces eachother. Vincent dies early in the morning the 29 of July, at age 37. At his funeral the coffin is covered with sunflowers, which were a big love often seen on his paintings.
Vincent van Gogh reached his biggest fame after his death and he was never rich during his lifetime. He said “I can’t change the fact that my paintings don't sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.” The 15 of May 1990, the painting The Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold for $82.5 million, the highest price ever paid for a painting.
