Van Gogh, Vincent

Born: Vincent Willem van Gogh, March 30, 1853 (Zundert, the Netherlands); died July 29, 1890 (Auvers-sur-Oise, France

Artistic Style: Post-impressionist painter of landscapes and portraits; early intense, somber peasant themes; later expressionistic use of bold color and thick impasto.

Despite his tragically short career, Vincent van Gogh is one of the world's best-known artists. His work paved the way for the development of twentieth-century art movements, particularly fauvism and German expressionism. He was born into a religious family and was preoccupied with religion and spiritualism throughout much of his life. In 1869, he joined French art dealership Goupil & Cie as a junior clerk in The Hague. These early years saw van Gogh exposed to a wide spectrum of painting, including Old Masters and contemporary works, and he began collecting prints. After teaching in England for a short time, he returned to the Netherlands, having decided to become a minister. In 1878 he enrolled for theological studies in Brussels, and worked as a preacher for two years. By 1880 van Gogh had changed direction again, this time resolving to become a painter of the working classes in the manner of Jules Breton and Jean-Francois Millet. On the advice of his art dealer brother, Theo, he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art in Brussels. He was, however, largely self-taught and produced copious naturalistic drawings of the countryside around Etten and in The Hague. By 1885 van Gogh had moved to Nuenen, North Brabant, and there he painted his first major work, The Potato Eaters (1885). Its dark and somber tones are characteristic of his early works, which reflect the stark realities of peasant life. The work was poorly received. Shortly after van Gogh left for Antwerp, where he studied the work of Sir Peter Paul Rubens and moved toward a greater assimilation of color. Moving to Paris in 1886, van Gogh was immediately influenced by the avant-garde art climate in the city, in particular by the works of the impressionists and neo-impressionists. He studied at history painter Fernand Corman's studio and befriended Emile Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Camille Pissarro, and others. The work of Adolphe Monticelli, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Paul Signac, and Georges Seurat proved a strong influence on his own art. Van Gogh studied color theory, exploring the luminous effects created by the juxtaposition of complementary colors, and briefly worked in a more scientific manner. He also developed an interest in Japanese woodblock prints, often referencing them in his own works, such as Le Pere Tanguy (1887 - 1888). Exhausted by the pace of Parisian life and having quarreled with Theo, van Gogh moved to the south of France in 1888, with plans to create an artists' colony. There he produced more than 200 paintings in fifteen months, including Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (1888) and Terrace of a Cafe at Night (Place du Forum) (1888). In October Gauguin joined van Gogh at his Yellow House. The two painted together for some weeks before the relationship disintegrated and van Gogh went to the dramatic lengths of severing his earlobe. Gauguin departed, and van Gogh was hospitalized. In May 1889 he entered the asylum at Saint-Remy as a voluntary patient, remaining there for a year. He continued to work and painted Starry Night (1889), an expressionistic work of deep spiritual significance. He also painted the dark cypress trees and olive groves surrounding the hospital and copied favorite works by Millet, Honore Daumier, and Eugene Delacroix. In 1890, Van Gogh moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris. He continued to paint with frenetic energy, his last works defined by rapid, strident brushstrokes and inspired use of color. One of his paintings, Wheatfield with Crows (1890), is especially intense and is an example of the unusual double-square canvas size that he used for some of his late works. On July 27, 1890, he walked to a nearby field and shot himself in the chest. He died in bed two days later, with his brother Theo by his side.

To know: apart from the huge body of paintings and drawings that van Gogh produced, his legacy is also manifested in the large volume of correspondence that he wrote. The majority of the letters are written by Vincent to his younger brother Theo, an art dealer who tirelessly promoted the work of the impressionists and post-impressionists. They provide valuable information regarding van Gogh's works and his perception of his painting but also shed light on the details of the artist's life, his depression, failed love affairs, daily routine, and the nature of his relationship with Theo. The sibling bond between the brothers was close, bordering on symbiotic. Theo supported Vincent financially and emotionally throughout his adulthood, while Vincent, although undoubtedly a burden, was a central figure in Theo's emotional life. As the letters make plain, the two quarreled fiercely, but they also lived together prior to Theo's marriage. Having acted as a stalwart pillar of strength and having supported his older brother for so many years, Theo's life crumbled after Vincent's death. He quickly succumbed to depression and three months later was admitted to the mental asylum at Auteuil in Utrecht, where he died in January 1891; he was later buried there. In 1914, Theo's body was exhumed and reburied alongside that of Vincent in the cemetery at Auvers-sur-Oise.