Who is Vincent van Gogh? van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh, who gave the world his Sunflowers and The Starry Night, was one of the greatest artists of all time. A small grave in rural France became his resting place. He fell asleep forever among those landscapes that Van Gogh, an artist who will never be forgotten, left on his own. For the sake of art he sacrificed everything...

A unique talent gifted by nature

"There is something of a delightful symphony in color." There was a creative genius behind these words. Moreover, he was smart and sensitive. The depth and style of this person's life is often misinterpreted. Van Gogh, whose biography has been carefully studied for many generations, is the most incomprehensible creator in the history of art.

First of all, the reader must understand that Vincent is not only the one who went crazy and shot himself. Many people know that Van Gogh cut off his own ear, and others know that he painted a whole series of paintings about sunflowers. But there are very few who really understand what talent Vincent had, what a unique gift nature awarded him.

The sad birth of a great creator

On March 30, 1853, the cry of a newborn child cut through the silence. The long-awaited baby was born into the family of Anna Cornelia and Pastor Theodore Van Gogh. This happened a year after the tragic death of their first child, who died within hours of birth. When registering this baby, identical information was provided, and the long-awaited son was given the name of the lost child - Vincent William.

Thus began the saga of one of the most famous artists in the world in the rural wilderness of the south of the Netherlands. His birth was fraught with sad events. It was a child conceived after a bitter loss, born to people who were still mourning their dead firstborn.

Vincent's childhood

Every Sunday this red-haired, freckled boy went to church, where he listened to his parent's sermons. His father was a minister of the Dutch Protestant Church, and Vincent Van Gogh grew up in accordance with the norms of education accepted in religious families.

In Vincent's time there was an unspoken rule. The eldest son must follow in his father's footsteps. This is how it should have happened. This placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the young Van Gogh. As the boy sat in the church pew listening to his father preach, he fully understood what was expected of him. And, of course, then Vincent Van Gogh, whose biography was not yet in any way connected with art, did not know that in the future he would decorate his father’s Bible with illustrations.

Between art and religious desires

The church occupied an important place in Vincent's life and had a huge influence on him. Being a sensitive and impressionable person, throughout his troubled life he was torn between religious zeal and a craving for art.

In 1857 his brother Theo was born. None of the boys knew then that Theo would play a big role in Vincent's life. They spent many happy days. We walked for a long time among the surrounding fields and knew all the paths around.

Young Vincent's talent

Nature in the rural hinterland where Vincent van Gogh was born and raised would later become a red thread running through all of his art. The hard work of the peasants left a deep impression on his soul. He developed a romantic perception of rural life, respected the inhabitants of this area and was proud of his proximity to them. After all, they earned their living by honest and hard work.

Vincent Van Gogh was a man who loved everything related to nature. He saw beauty in everything. The boy often drew and did it with such feeling and attention to detail, which is often characteristic of a more mature age. He demonstrated the skills and craftsmanship of an accomplished artist. Vincent was truly gifted.

Communication with my mother and her love for art

Vincent's mother, Anna Cornelia, was a good artist and strongly supported her son's love of nature. He often took walks alone, enjoying the peace and tranquility of the endless fields and canals. When dusk deepened and the fog fell, Van Gogh returned to his cozy home, where the fire crackled pleasantly and his mother’s knitting needles knocked in time.

She loved art and maintained an extensive correspondence. Vincent adopted this habit of hers. He wrote letters until the end of his days. Thanks to this, Van Gogh, whose biography began to be studied by specialists after his death, could not only reveal his feelings, but also recreate many events related to his life.

Mother and son spent long hours together. They drew with pencil and paints, and had long conversations about their uniting love for art and nature. Meanwhile, my father was in the office, preparing for Sunday's sermon in church.

Rural life away from politics

The imposing Zundert administration building was located directly opposite their house. One day Vincent drew buildings while looking out of his bedroom window on the top floor. Later, he repeatedly depicted scenes seen from this window. Looking at his talented drawings of that period, one can hardly believe that he was only nine years old.

Contrary to his father's expectations, a passion for drawing and nature took root in the boy. He collected an impressive collection of insects and knew what they were all called in Latin. Very soon the ivy and moss of the damp, dense forest became his friends. At heart he was a true country boy, he explored the Zundert canals and caught tadpoles with a net.

Van Gogh's life took place far from politics, wars and all other events taking place in the world. His world was formed around beautiful flowers, interesting, and peaceful landscapes.

Communication with peers or home education?

Unfortunately, his special attitude towards nature made him an outcast among other village children. He was not popular. The rest of the boys were mostly the sons of peasants who loved the excitement of rural life. Sensitive and empathetic, Vincent, who was interested in books and nature, did not fit into their society.

Life for young Van Gogh was not easy. His parents were worried that other boys would have a bad influence on his behavior. Then, unfortunately, Pastor Theodore found out that Vincent's teacher was too fond of drinking, and then the parents decided that the child should be freed from such influence. Until the age of eleven, the boy studied at home, and then his father decided that he needed to get a more serious education.

Further education: boarding school

Young Van Gogh, whose biography, interesting facts and personal life are of interest to a huge number of people today, went to boarding school in Zevenbergen in 1864. This is a small village located about twenty-five kilometers from my home. But for Vincent it was like the other end of the world. The boy sat in the cart next to his parents, and the closer the walls of the boarding school approached, the heavier his heart became. Soon he will be separated from his family.

Vincent will miss his home all his life. Isolation from his family left a deep imprint on his life. Van Gogh was a smart child and thirsty for knowledge. While studying at boarding school, he showed great ability for languages, and this later came in handy in life. Vincent spoke and wrote fluently in French, English, Dutch and German. This is how Van Gogh spent his childhood. A brief biography of his youth would not be able to convey all those character traits that were laid down from childhood and later influenced the artist’s fate.

Studying in Tilburg, or the strange story that happened to a boy

In 1866, the boy turned thirteen years old, and his primary education came to an end. Vincent became a very serious young man, in whose gaze one could read boundless melancholy. He is sent even further from home, to Tilburg. He begins his education at a state boarding school. Here Vincent first became acquainted with city life.

Four hours a week were allocated to study art, which was rare at that time. This subject was taught by Mr. Huismans. He was a successful artist and ahead of his time. He used figurines of people and stuffed animals as models for his students' works. The teacher also encouraged the children to paint landscapes and even took the children out into nature.

Everything went well and Vincent passed his first year exams with ease. But over the next year, something went wrong. Van Gogh's attitude to study and work changed dramatically. Therefore, in March 1868, he left school right in the middle of the school period and came home. What did Vincent Van Gogh experience at school in Tilburg? A brief biography of this period, unfortunately, does not provide any information about this. And yet, these events left a deep mark on the young man’s soul.

Choosing a life path

There was a long pause in Vincent's life. He spent fifteen long months at home, not daring to choose one path or another in life. When he turned sixteen, he wanted to find his calling in order to devote his whole life to it. Days passed in vain; he needed to find a goal. The parents understood that something needed to be done and turned for help to their father’s brother, who lived in The Hague. He headed an art trading company and could have gotten Vincent to work for him. This idea turned out to be brilliant.

If the young man shows hard work, he will become the heir of his rich uncle, who did not have any children of his own. Vincent, tired of the leisurely life of his native place, happily goes to The Hague, the administrative center of Holland. In the summer of 1869, Van Gogh, whose biography will now be directly related to art, begins his career.

Vincent became an employee at the Goupil company. His mentor lived in France and collected works by artists of the Barbizon school. At that time, people in this country were passionate about landscapes. Van Gogh's uncle dreamed of the appearance of such masters in Holland. He becomes the inspiration for the Hague School. Vincent had the opportunity to meet many artists.

Art is the most important thing in life

Having become familiar with the affairs of the company, Van Gogh had to learn how to negotiate with clients. While Vincent was a junior employee, he picked up the clothes of people coming to the gallery and acted as a porter. The young man was inspired by the art world around him. One of the artists of the Barbizon school was His canvas “The Ear Pickers” which found a response in Vincent’s soul. It became a kind of icon for the artist until the very end of his life. Millet depicted peasants at work in a special manner that was close to Van Gogh.

In 1870, Vincent met Anton Mauve, who eventually became his close friend. Van Gogh was a taciturn, reserved man, prone to depression. He sincerely sympathized with people who were less fortunate in life than he was. Vincent took his father's preaching very seriously. After work, he attended private theology classes.

Van Gogh's other passion was books. He is interested in French history and poetry, and also becomes a fan of English writers. In March 1871, Vincent turns eighteen. By this time, he had already realized that art was a very important component of his life. His younger brother Theo was fifteen at that time, and he came to visit Vincent on vacation. This trip left deep impressions on both of them.

They even made a promise that they would take care of each other for the rest of their lives, no matter what happened. From this period, active correspondence began between Theo and Van Gogh. The artist’s biography will subsequently be replenished with important facts thanks to these letters. 670 messages from Vincent have survived to this day.

Trip to London. An important stage of life

Vincent spent four years in The Hague. It's time to move on. Having said goodbye to friends and colleagues, he prepared to leave for London. This stage of life will become very important for him. Soon Vincent settled in the English capital. The Gupil branch was located in the very center of the business district. Chestnut trees with spreading branches grew on the streets. Van Gogh loved these trees and often mentioned this in his letters to his family.

After a month, his knowledge of English expanded. The masters of art intrigued him, he liked Gainsborough and Turner, but he remained faithful to the art he had come to love in The Hague. To save money, Vincent moves out of the apartment rented for him by the Goupil company in the market area and rents a room in a new Victorian house.

He liked staying with Mrs. Ursula. The owner of the house was a widow. She and her nineteen-year-old daughter Evgenia rented out rooms and carried out teaching activities so that at least somehow. Over time, Vincent began to experience very deep feelings for Evgenia, but did not show them in any way. He could only write about this to his family.

Severe psychological shock

Dickens was one of Vincent's idols. He was deeply affected by the death of the writer, and he expressed all his pain in a symbolic drawing made shortly after such a sad event. It was a picture of an empty chair. who became very famous, painted a large number of such chairs. For him, this became a symbol of a person’s departure.

Vincent describes his first year in London as one of his happiest. He was in love with absolutely everything and still dreamed of Evgenia. She won his heart. Van Gogh tried in every possible way to please her, offering his help in various matters. After some time, Vincent finally confessed his feelings to the girl and announced that they should get married. But Evgenia refused him, since she was already secretly engaged. Van Gogh was devastated. His dream of love was shattered.

He kept to himself and spoke little at work and at home. I started eating little. The realities of life dealt Vincent a severe psychological blow. He begins to draw again, and this partly helps him find peace and distracts him from the difficult thoughts and shock that Van Gogh experienced. Paintings gradually heal the artist’s soul. The mind was absorbed in creativity. He went into another dimension, which is typical of many creative people.

A change of scenery. Paris and homecoming

Vincent became lonely again. He began to pay more attention to the street beggars and ragamuffins inhabiting the slums of London, and this only intensified his depression. He wanted to change something. At work he showed apathy, which began to seriously worry his management.

It was decided to send him to the Paris branch of the company in order to change the situation and, possibly, dispel the depression. But even there, Van Gogh could not recover from loneliness and already in 1877 he returned home to work as a priest in the church, abandoning his ambitions to become an artist.

A year later, Van Gogh receives the position of parish priest in a mining village. It was a thankless job. The life of miners made a great impression on the artist. He decided to share their fate and even began to dress like them. Church officials were concerned about his behavior and he was removed from his position two years later. But the time spent in the village had a beneficial effect. Life among the miners awakened a special talent in Vincent, and he began to draw again. He created a huge number of sketches of men and women carrying sacks of coal. Van Gogh finally decided to become an artist. It was from this moment that a new period began in his life.

More bouts of depression and returning home

The artist Van Gogh, whose biography repeatedly mentions that his parents refused to provide him with money due to instability in his career, was a beggar. His younger brother Theo, who was selling paintings in Paris, began to help him. Over the next five years, Vincent improves his technique. Provided with his brother's money, he sets off on a trip to the Netherlands. Makes sketches, paints in oils and watercolors.

Wanting to find his own pictorial style, Van Gogh went to The Hague in 1881. Here he rents an apartment near the sea. This was the beginning of a long relationship between the artist and his environment. During periods of despair and depression, nature was a part of Vincent's life. She was for him the personification of the struggle for existence. He had no money and often went hungry. His parents, who did not approve of the artist’s lifestyle, completely turned their backs on him.

Theo arrives in The Hague and convinces his brother to return home. At the age of thirty, Van Gogh, a beggar and full of despair, comes to his parents' house. There he sets up a small workshop for himself and begins to make sketches of local residents and buildings. During this period, his palette becomes muted. Van Gogh's canvases are all in gray-brown tones. In winter, people have more time, and the artist uses them as his models.

It was at this time that sketches of the hands of farmers and people picking potatoes appeared in Vincent’s work. is Van Gogh's first significant painting, which he painted in 1885, at the age of thirty-two. The most important detail of the work is the hands of people. Strong, accustomed to working in the fields, harvesting crops. The artist's talent finally burst out.

Impressionism and Van Gogh. Self-portrait photo

In 1886, Vincent arrived in Paris. Financially, he also continues to depend on his brother. Here, in the capital of world art, Van Gogh is amazed by a new movement - the Impressionists. A new artist is born. He creates a huge number of self-portraits, landscapes and sketches of everyday life. His palette also changes, but the main changes affected his writing technique. Now he draws with fragmentary lines, short strokes and dots.

The cold and gloomy winter of 1887 took its toll on the artist, and he fell into depression again. His time in Paris had a huge impact on Vincent, but he felt it was time to get back on the road. He went to the south of France, to the provinces. Here Vincent begins to write like a man possessed. His palette is full of bright colors. Sky blue, bright yellow and orange. As a result, canvases with rich colors appeared, thanks to which the artist became famous.

Van Gogh suffered from severe hallucinations. He felt like he was going crazy. The illness increasingly influenced his work. In 1888, Theo convinced Gauguin, with whom Van Gogh was on very friendly terms, to go visit his brother. Paul lived with Vincent for two exhausting months. They often quarreled, and once Van Gogh even attacked Paul with a blade in his hand. Vincent soon self-mutilated himself by cutting off his own ear. He was sent to the hospital. It was one of the most severe attacks of madness.

Soon, on July 29, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh died by committing suicide. He lived his life in poverty, obscurity and isolation, remaining an unrecognized artist. But now he is revered all over the world. Vincent became a legend, and his work influenced subsequent generations of artists.

When 37-year-old Vincent Van Gogh died on July 29, 1890, his work was virtually unknown. Today, his paintings cost eye-popping sums and adorn the best museums in the world.

125 years after the death of the great Dutch painter, the time has come to learn more about him and dispel some of the myths with which his biography, like the entire history of art, is full.

He changed several jobs before becoming an artist

The son of a minister, Van Gogh began working at age 16. His uncle took him on as a trainee as an art dealer in The Hague. He had occasion to travel to London and Paris, where the company's branches were located. In 1876 he was fired. After this, he worked for some time as a school teacher in England, then as a bookstore salesman. From 1878 he served as a preacher in Belgium. Van Gogh was in need, he had to sleep on the floor, but less than a year later he was fired from this post. Only after this did he finally become an artist and did not change his occupation again. In this field he became famous, however, posthumously.

Van Gogh's career as an artist was short

In 1881, the self-taught Dutch artist returned to the Netherlands, where he devoted himself to painting. He was supported financially and materially by his younger brother Theodore, a successful art dealer. In 1886, the brothers settled in Paris, and these two years in the French capital turned out to be fateful. Van Gogh took part in exhibitions of the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists; he began to use a light and bright palette and experiment with brush stroke techniques. The artist spent the last two years of his life in the south of France, where he created a number of his most famous paintings.

In his entire ten-year career, he sold only a few of his more than 850 paintings. His drawings (about 1,300 of them remained) were then unclaimed.

Most likely he didn't cut off his own ear.

In February 1888, after living in Paris for two years, Van Gogh moved to the south of France, to the city of Arles, where he hoped to found a community of artists. He was accompanied by Paul Gauguin, with whom he became friends in Paris. The officially accepted version of events is as follows:

On the night of December 23, 1888, they quarreled and Gauguin left. Van Gogh, armed with a razor, pursued his friend, but, not catching up, returned home and, in frustration, partially cut off his left ear, then wrapped it in newspaper and gave it to some prostitute.

In 2009, two German scientists published a book in which they suggested that Gauguin, being a good swordsman, cut off part of Van Gogh's ear with a saber during a duel. According to this theory, Van Gogh, in the name of friendship, agreed to hide the truth, otherwise Gauguin would have faced prison.

The most famous paintings were painted by him in a psychiatric clinic

In May 1889, Van Gogh sought help at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole psychiatric hospital, located in a former monastery in the city of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in Southern France. The artist was initially diagnosed with epilepsy, but examination also revealed bipolar disorder, alcoholism and metabolic disorders. Treatment consisted mainly of baths. He remained in the hospital for a year and painted a number of landscapes there. More than one hundred paintings from this period include some of his most famous works, such as Starry Night (acquired by New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1941) and Irises (purchased by an Australian industrialist in 1987 for a then-record sum of $ 53.9 million)

Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch. Vincent Willem van Gogh). Born March 30, 1853 in Grote Zundert near Breda (Netherlands) - died July 29, 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise (France). Dutch post-impressionist artist.

Vincent Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in the village of Groot Zundert in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, near the Belgian border. Vincent's father was Theodore van Gogh (born 02/08/1822), a Protestant pastor, and his mother was Anna Cornelia Carbenthus, the daughter of a venerable bookbinder and bookseller from The Hague.

Vincent was the second of seven children of Theodore and Anna Cornelia. He received his name in honor of his paternal grandfather, who also devoted his entire life to the Protestant church. This name was intended for Theodore and Anna's first child, who was born a year earlier than Vincent and died on the first day. So Vincent, although born second, became the eldest of the children.

Four years after Vincent's birth, on May 1, 1857, his brother Theodorus van Gogh (Theo) was born. In addition to him, Vincent had a brother Cor (Cornelis Vincent, May 17, 1867) and three sisters - Anna Cornelia (February 17, 1855), Liz (Elizabeth Guberta, May 16, 1859) and Wil (Willemina Jacoba, March 16, 1862).

Family members remembered Vincent as a wayward, difficult and boring child with “strange manners”, which was the reason for his frequent punishments. According to the governess, there was something strange about him that distinguished him from the others: of all the children, Vincent was the least pleasant to her, and she did not believe that anything worthwhile could come of him.

Outside the family, on the contrary, Vincent showed the other side of his character - he was quiet, serious and thoughtful. He hardly played with other children. In the eyes of his fellow villagers, he was a good-natured, friendly, helpful, compassionate, sweet and modest child. When he was 7 years old, he went to a village school, but a year later he was taken away from there, and together with his sister Anna he studied at home, with a governess. On October 1, 1864, he went to boarding school in Zevenbergen, located 20 km from his home.

Leaving home caused Vincent a lot of suffering; he could not forget it, even as an adult. On September 15, 1866, he began studying at another boarding school - Willem II College in Tilburg. Vincent is good at languages ​​- French, English, German. There he received drawing lessons. In March 1868, in the middle of the school year, Vincent suddenly left school and returned to his father's house. This ends his formal education. He recalled his childhood like this: “My childhood was gloomy, cold and empty...”.

In July 1869, Vincent got a job in the Hague branch of the large art and trading company Goupil & Cie, owned by his uncle Vincent (“Uncle Saint”). There he received the necessary training as a dealer. Initially, the future artist set to work with great zeal, achieved good results, and in June 1873 he was transferred to the London branch of Goupil & Cie. Through daily contact with works of art, Vincent began to understand and appreciate painting. In addition, he visited city museums and galleries, admiring the works of Jean-François Millet and Jules Breton. At the end of August, Vincent moved to 87 Hackford Road and rented a room in the house of Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie.

There is a version that he was in love with Eugenia, although many early biographers mistakenly call her by the name of her mother, Ursula. In addition to this naming confusion that has been going on for decades, recent research suggests that Vincent was not in love with Eugenie at all, but with a German woman named Caroline Haanebeek. What actually happened remains unknown. The lover's refusal shocked and disappointed the future artist; he gradually lost interest in his work and began to turn to the Bible.

In 1874, Vincent was transferred to the Paris branch of the company, but after three months of work he again left for London. Things were getting worse for him, and in May 1875 he was again transferred to Paris, where van Gogh attended exhibitions at the Salon and Louvre and eventually began to try his hand at painting. Gradually, this activity began to take up more of his time, and Vincent finally lost interest in work, deciding for himself that “art has no worse enemies than art dealers.” As a result, at the end of March 1876 he was fired from Goupil & Cie due to poor performance, despite the patronage of his relatives who were co-owners of the company.

In 1876 Vincent returned to England, where he found unpaid work as a teacher at a boarding school in Ramsgate. At the same time, he has a desire to become a priest, like his father. In July, Vincent moved to another school - in Isleworth (near London), where he worked as a teacher and assistant pastor. On November 4, Vincent preached his first sermon. His interest in the Gospel grew and he became obsessed with the idea of ​​preaching to the poor.

Vincent went home for Christmas and his parents persuaded him not to return to England. Vincent remained in the Netherlands and worked in a bookshop in Dordrecht for six months. This job was not to his liking; he spent most of his time sketching or translating passages from the Bible into German, English and French.

Trying to support Vincent's aspirations to become a pastor, his family sent him in May 1877 to Amsterdam, where he settled with his uncle, Admiral Jan van Gogh. Here he studied diligently under the guidance of his uncle Yoganess Stricker, a respected and recognized theologian, in preparation for passing the university entrance examination for the department of theology. In the end, he became disillusioned with his studies, quit his studies and left Amsterdam in July 1878. The desire to be useful to ordinary people sent him to the Protestant Missionary School of Pastor Bokma in Laeken near Brussels, where he completed a three-month course in preaching (however, there is a version that he did not complete the full course of study and was kicked out due to his slovenly appearance, hot temper and frequent fits of rage).

In December 1878, Vincent went for six months as a missionary to the village of Paturage in Borinage, a poor mining area in the south of Belgium, where he began tireless activities: visiting the sick, reading Scripture to the illiterate, preaching, teaching children, and at night drawing maps of Palestine to earn money. Such selflessness endeared him to the local population and members of the Evangelical Society, which resulted in his being awarded a salary of fifty francs. After completing a six-month internship, Van Gogh intended to enter an evangelical school to continue his education, but considered the introduced tuition fees to be a manifestation of discrimination and refused to study. At the same time, Vincent addressed the mine management with a petition on behalf of the workers to improve their working conditions. The petition was rejected, and Van Gogh himself was removed from the post of preacher by the Synodal Committee of the Protestant Church of Belgium. This was a serious blow to the artist’s emotional and mental state.

Fleeing from the depression caused by the events in Paturage, Van Gogh again turned to painting, began to think seriously about his studies, and in 1880, with the support of his brother Theo, he left for Brussels, where he began attending classes at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. However, after a year, Vincent dropped out of school and returned to his parents. During this period of his life, he believed that an artist does not necessarily have talent, the main thing is to work hard and hard, so he continued his studies on his own.

At the same time, van Gogh experienced a new love interest, falling in love with his cousin, the widow Kay Vos-Striker, who was staying with her son in their house. The woman rejected his feelings, but Vincent continued his courtship, which turned all his relatives against him. As a result, he was asked to leave. Van Gogh, having experienced a new shock and deciding to forever abandon attempts to arrange his personal life, left for The Hague, where he plunged into painting with renewed vigor and began taking lessons from his distant relative, a representative of the Hague school of painting, Anton Mauwe. Vincent worked hard, studied the life of the city, especially the poor neighborhoods. Achieving interesting and surprising color in his works, he sometimes resorted to mixing different writing techniques on one canvas - chalk, pen, sepia, watercolor (“Backyards”, 1882, pen, chalk and brush on paper, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; "Roofs. View from van Gogh's studio", 1882, paper, watercolor, chalk, private collection of J. Renan, Paris).

In The Hague, the artist tried to start a family. This time, his chosen one was a pregnant street woman, Christine, whom Vincent met right on the street and, moved by sympathy for her situation, offered to move in with him along with the children. This act finally quarreled the artist with his friends and relatives, but Vincent himself was happy: he had a model. However, Christine turned out to have a difficult character, and soon van Gogh’s family life turned into a nightmare. Very soon they separated. The artist could no longer stay in The Hague and headed to the north of the Netherlands, to the province of Drenthe, where he settled in a separate hut, equipped as a workshop, and spent whole days in nature, depicting landscapes. However, he was not very keen on them, not considering himself a landscape painter - many paintings of this period are dedicated to peasants, their daily work and life.

In terms of their themes, van Gogh's early works can be classified as realism, although the manner of execution and technique can be called realistic only with certain significant reservations. One of the many problems that the artist faced caused by the lack of artistic education was the inability to depict the human figure. In the end, this led to one of the fundamental features of his style - the interpretation of the human figure, devoid of smooth or measuredly graceful movements, as an integral part of nature, in some ways even similar to it. This is very clearly visible, for example, in the painting “A Peasant and a Peasant Woman Planting Potatoes” (1885, Kunsthaus, Zurich), where the figures of peasants are likened to rocks, and the high horizon line seems to press on them, not allowing them to straighten up or even raise their heads. A similar approach to the theme can be seen in the later painting “Red Vineyards” (1888, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow).

In a series of paintings and sketches from the mid-1880s. (“Exit of the Protestant Church in Nuenen” (1884-1885), “Peasant Woman” (1885, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo), “The Potato Eaters” (1885, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), “Old Church Tower in Nuenen "(1885), painted in a dark painterly palette, marked by a painfully acute perception of human suffering and feelings of depression, the artist recreated the oppressive atmosphere of psychological tension. At the same time, the artist formed his own understanding of the landscape: an expression of his inner perception of nature through an analogy with man His own words became his artistic credo: “When you draw a tree, treat it as a figure.”

In the fall of 1885, van Gogh unexpectedly left Drenthe due to the fact that a local pastor had turned against him, forbidding the peasants to pose for the artist and accusing him of immorality. Vincent went to Antwerp, where he again began to attend painting classes - this time in a painting class at the Academy of Arts. In the evenings, the artist attended a private school, where he painted nude models. However, already in February 1886, van Gogh left Antwerp for Paris to visit his brother Theo, who was engaged in the art trade.

The Parisian period of Vincent's life began, which turned out to be very fruitful and eventful. The artist visited the prestigious private art studio of the famous teacher Fernand Cormon throughout Europe, studied impressionist painting, Japanese engraving, and synthetic works by Paul Gauguin. During this period, Van Gogh’s palette became light, the earthy shade of paint disappeared, pure blue, golden-yellow, red tones appeared, his characteristic dynamic, flowing brush stroke (“Agostina Segatori in the Tambourine Cafe” (1887-1888, Museum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam), “Bridge over the Seine” (1887, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), “Père Tanguy” (1887, Rodin Museum, Paris), “View of Paris from Theo’s apartment on Rue Lepic” (1887, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) Notes of calm and tranquility appeared in his work, caused by the influence of the Impressionists.

The artist met some of them - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Emile Bernard - soon after arriving in Paris thanks to his brother. These acquaintances had the most beneficial influence on the artist: he found a kindred environment that appreciated him, and enthusiastically took part in impressionist exhibitions - in the La Fourche restaurant, the Tambourine cafe, and then in the foyer of the Free Theater. However, the public was horrified by van Gogh's paintings, which forced him to begin self-education again - to study the color theory of Eugene Delacroix, the textured painting of Adolphe Monticelli, Japanese color prints and flat oriental art in general. The Parisian period of his life accounts for the largest number of paintings created by the artist - about two hundred and thirty. Among them are a series of still lifes and self-portraits, a series of six canvases under the general title “Shoes” (1887, Museum of Art, Baltimore), and landscapes. The role of man in Van Gogh’s paintings changes - he is not there at all, or he is a staffage. Air, atmosphere and rich color appear in the works, but the artist conveyed the light-air environment and atmospheric nuances in his own way, dividing the whole without merging the forms and showing the “face” or “figure” of each element of the whole. A striking example of this approach is the painting “The Sea at Sainte-Marie” (1888, State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin, Moscow). The artist's creative searches led him to the origins of a new artistic style - post-impressionism.

Despite van Gogh's creative growth, the public still did not perceive or buy his paintings, which Vincent perceived very painfully. By mid-February 1888, the artist decided to leave Paris and move to the south of France - to Arles, where he intended to create the “Workshop of the South” - a kind of brotherhood of like-minded artists working for future generations. Van Gogh gave the most important role in the future workshop to Paul Gauguin. Theo supported the venture with money, and in the same year Vincent moved to Arles. There the originality of his creative style and artistic program were finally determined: “Instead of trying to accurately depict what is in front of my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily, so as to express myself more fully.” The consequence of this program was an attempt to develop “a simple technique, which, apparently, will not be impressionistic.” In addition, Vincent began to synthesize drawing and color in order to more fully convey the essence of local nature.

Although Van Gogh declared a departure from impressionist methods of depiction, the influence of this style was still very much felt in his paintings, especially in the rendering of light and airiness (Peach Tree in Blossom, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) or in the use of large coloristic spots (“Anglois Bridge in Arles”, 1888, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne). At this time, like the Impressionists, van Gogh created a series of works depicting the same view, however, achieving not the exact transfer of changing light effects and conditions, but the maximum intensity of expression of the life of nature. He also produced a number of portraits from this period, in which the artist tested a new artistic form.

Fiery artistic temperament, a painful impulse towards harmony, beauty and happiness and, at the same time, fear of forces hostile to man are embodied in landscapes shining with sunny colors of the south (“The Yellow House” (1888), “Gauguin’s Chair” (1888), “Harvest. Valley of La Croe" (1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), then in ominous, nightmare-like images ("Cafe Terrace at Night" (1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo); the dynamics of color and brushwork fills with spiritual life and movement not only nature and the people inhabiting it (“Red Vineyards in Arles” (1888, State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin, Moscow)), but also inanimate objects (“Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles” (1888, Vincent van Museum Goga, Amsterdam). ; “Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles” (1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam).

On October 25, 1888, Paul Gauguin arrived in Arles to discuss the idea of ​​​​creating a southern painting workshop. However, the peaceful discussion very quickly grew into conflicts and quarrels: Gauguin was dissatisfied with Van Gogh’s carelessness, and Van Gogh himself was perplexed at how Gauguin did not want to understand the very idea of ​​​​a single collective direction of painting in the name of the future. In the end, Gauguin, who was looking for peace for his work in Arles and did not find it, decided to leave. On the evening of December 23, after another quarrel, Van Gogh attacked his friend with a razor in his hands. Gauguin accidentally managed to stop Vincent. The whole truth about this quarrel and the circumstances of the attack is still unknown (in particular, there is a version that Van Gogh attacked the sleeping Gauguin, and the latter was saved from death only by the fact that he woke up in time), but on the same night the artist cut off his own lobe ear. According to the generally accepted version, this was done in a fit of repentance; at the same time, some researchers believe that this was not repentance, but a manifestation of madness caused by frequent use of absinthe. The next day, December 24, Vincent was taken to a psychiatric hospital, where the attack repeated with such force that doctors placed him in a ward for violent patients with a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. Gauguin hastily left Arles without visiting Van Gogh in the hospital, having previously informed Theo about what had happened.

During periods of remission, Vincent asked to be released back to the studio to continue working, but the residents of Arles wrote a statement to the mayor of the city asking him to isolate the artist from other residents. Van Gogh was asked to go to the mental settlement of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, near Arles, where Vincent arrived on May 3, 1889. He lived there for a year, tirelessly working on new paintings. During this time, he created more than one hundred and fifty paintings and about one hundred drawings and watercolors. The main types of paintings during this period of life were still lifes and landscapes, the main differences of which were incredible nervous tension and dynamism (“Starry Night”, 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York), contrasting contrasting colors and - in some cases - the use of halftones ( "Landscape with Olives", 1889, Collection of J. G. Whitney, New York; "Wheatfield with Cypress Trees", 1889, National Gallery, London).

At the end of 1889, he was invited to participate in the Brussels G20 exhibition, where the artist’s works immediately aroused interest among colleagues and art lovers. However, this no longer pleased van Gogh, just as the first enthusiastic article about the painting “Red Vineyards in Arles” signed by Albert Aurier, which appeared in the January issue of the Mercure de France magazine in 1890, did not please either.

In the spring of 1890, the artist moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, a place near Paris, where he saw his brother and his family for the first time in two years. He still continued to write, but the style of his last works changed completely, becoming even more nervous and depressing. The main place in the work was occupied by a whimsically curved contour, as if pinching one or another object (“Country road with cypress trees”, 1890, Kröller-Muller Museum, Otterlo; “Street and staircase in Auvers”, 1890, City Art Museum, St. Louis ; “Landscape in Auvers after the rain”, 1890, State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin, Moscow). The last bright event in Vincent's personal life was his acquaintance with the amateur artist Dr. Paul Gachet.

On the 20th of July 1890, van Gogh painted his famous painting “Wheat Field with Crows” (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), and a week later, on July 27, tragedy occurred. Going out for a walk with drawing materials, the artist shot himself in the heart area with a revolver, bought to scare away flocks of birds while working in the open air, but the bullet passed lower. Thanks to this, he independently reached the hotel room where he lived. The innkeeper called a doctor, who examined the wound and informed Theo. The latter arrived the very next day and spent all the time with Vincent, until his death 29 hours after being wounded from loss of blood (at 1:30 a.m. on July 29, 1890). In October 2011, an alternative version of the artist’s death appeared. American art historians Steven Nayfeh and Gregory White Smith have suggested that van Gogh was shot by one of the teenagers who regularly accompanied him in drinking establishments.

According to Theo, the artist's last words were: La tristesse durera toujours ("The sadness will last forever"). Vincent van Gogh was buried in Auvers-sur-Oise on July 30. The artist was accompanied on his last journey by his brother and a few friends. After the funeral, Theo set about organizing a posthumous exhibition of Vincent's works, but fell ill with a nervous breakdown and died exactly six months later, on January 25, 1891, in Holland. 25 years later, in 1914, his remains were reburied by his widow next to Vincent's grave.

Vincent Van Gogh is a Dutch artist, one of the brightest representatives of post-impressionism. He worked a lot and fruitfully: in just over ten years he created such a number of works that no other famous painter had ever produced. He painted portraits and self-portraits, landscapes and still lifes, cypress trees, wheat fields and sunflowers.

The artist was born near the southern border of the Netherlands in the village of Grot-Zundert. This event in the family of Pastor Theodore van Gogh and his wife Anna Cornelia Carbentus occurred on March 30, 1853. In total, there were six children in the Van Gogh family. Younger brother Theo helped Vincent throughout his life and took an active part in his difficult fate.

In the family, Vincent was a difficult, disobedient child with some oddities, so he was often punished. Outside the house, on the contrary, he looked thoughtful, serious and quiet. He hardly played with children. His fellow villagers considered him a modest, sweet, friendly and compassionate child. At the age of 7 he was sent to a village school, a year later he was taken from there and taught at home, in the fall of 1864 the boy was taken to a boarding school in Zevenbergen.

Departure hurts the boy's soul and causes him a lot of suffering. In 1866 he was transferred to another boarding school. Vincent is good at languages, and here he also gains his first drawing skills. In 1868, in the middle of the school year, he left school and went home. His education ends here. He remembers his childhood as something cold and gloomy.

Traditionally, generations of Van Goghs realized themselves in two areas of activity: painting paintings and church activities. Vincent will try himself both as a preacher and as a merchant, giving his all to the work. Having achieved certain successes, he abandons both, consecrating his life and his whole self to painting.

Carier start

In 1868, a fifteen-year-old boy entered the branch of the art company Gupil and Co. in The Hague. For good work and curiosity, he is sent to the London branch. During the two years that Vincent spent in London, he becomes a real businessman and connoisseur of engravings by English masters, quotes Dickens and Eliot, and a gloss appears in him. Van Gogh faced the prospect of a brilliant commission agent in the central branch of Goupil in Paris, where he was supposed to move.

In 1875, events occurred that changed his life. In a letter to Theo, he calls his condition “painful loneliness.” Researchers of the artist's biography suggest that the reason for this state is rejected love. It is not known exactly who the object of this love was. It is possible that this version is incorrect. A transfer to Paris did not help change the situation. He lost interest in Goupil and was fired.

Theology and missionary activity

In his search for himself, Vincent affirms his religious destiny. In 1877, he moved to his uncle Johannes in Amsterdam and prepared to enter the Faculty of Theology. He gets disappointed in his studies, quits classes and leaves. The desire to serve people leads him to a missionary school. In 1879, he received a position as a preacher in Wham in the south of Belgium.

He teaches the Law of God at the miners' center in Borinage, helps the families of miners, visits the sick, teaches children, reads sermons, and draws maps of Palestine to earn money. He lives in a miserable shack, eats water and bread, sleeps on the floor, physically torturing himself. In addition, it helps workers defend their rights.

Local authorities remove him from his post, as they do not accept vigorous activity and extremes. During this period, he painted a lot of miners, their wives and children.

Becoming an artist

To escape the depression associated with the events in Paturage, Van Gogh turned to painting. Brother Theo befriends him and he attends the Academy of Fine Arts. But after a year he dropped out of school and went to his parents, continuing to study on his own.

Falls in love again. This time to my cousin. His feelings do not find an answer, but he continues his courtship, which irritates his relatives, who asked him to leave. Due to a new shock, he abandons his personal life and leaves for The Hague to take up painting. Here he takes lessons from Anton Mauve, works a lot, observes city life, mainly in poor neighborhoods. Studying “Drawing Course” by Charles Bargue, copying lithographs. Masters mixing various techniques on canvas, achieving interesting color shades in his works.

Once again he tries to start a family with a pregnant street woman whom he meets on the street. A woman with children moves in with him and becomes a model for the artist. Because of this, he quarrels with relatives and friends. Vincent himself feels happy, but not for long. The difficult character of his cohabitant turned his life into a nightmare, and they separated.

The artist goes to the province of Drenthe in the north of the Netherlands, lives in a hut, which he equipped as a workshop, paints landscapes, peasants, scenes from their work and life. Van Gogh's early works, with reservations, can be called realistic. The lack of academic education affected his drawings and inaccurate depictions of human figures.

From Drenthe he moves to his parents in Nuenen and draws a lot. Hundreds of drawings and paintings were created during this period. Along with his creativity, he paints with his students, reads a lot and takes music lessons. The themes of the works of the Dutch period are simple people and scenes, painted in an expressive manner with a predominance of a dark palette, gloomy and dull tones. The masterpieces of this period include the painting “The Potato Eaters” (1885), depicting a scene from the life of peasants.

Parisian period

After much deliberation, Vincent decides to live and create in Paris, where he moves at the end of February 1886. Here he meets his brother Theo, who has risen to the rank of director of an art gallery. The artistic life of the French capital of this period was in full swing.

A significant event is the Impressionist exhibition on Rue Lafitte. For the first time, Signac and Seurat, who led the post-impressionism movement, which marked the final stage of impressionism, are exhibiting there. Impressionism is a revolution in art that changed the approach to painting, displacing academic techniques and subjects. The first impression and pure colors are of paramount importance, and preference is given to plein air painting.

In Paris, Van Gogh's brother Theo takes care of him, settles him in his house, and introduces him to artists. In the studio of the traditionalist artist Fernand Cormon, he met Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard and Louis Anquetin. He is greatly impressed by the paintings of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. In Paris, he became addicted to absinthe and even painted a still life on this topic.

The Parisian period (1886-1888) turned out to be the most fruitful; the collection of his works was replenished with 230 canvases. It was a time of searching for technology, studying innovative trends in modern painting. He develops a new view of painting. The realistic approach is replaced by a new manner, gravitating towards impressionism and post-impressionism, which is reflected in his still lifes with flowers and landscapes.

His brother introduces him to the most prominent representatives of this movement: Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and others. He often goes out plein air with his artist friends. His palette gradually brightens, becomes brighter, and over time turns into a riot of colors, characteristic of his work in recent years.

In Paris, Van Gogh communicates a lot, visiting the same places where his brothers go. In "Tambourine" he even starts a small affair with its owner Agostina Segatori, who once posed for Degas. From it he paints a portrait at a table in a cafe and several works in the nude style. Another meeting place was Papa Tanga's shop, where paints and other materials for artists were sold. Here, as in many other similar institutions, artists exhibited their works.

A group of Small Boulevards is being formed, which includes Van Gogh and his comrades, who have not reached such heights as the masters of the Grand Boulevards - more famous and recognized. The spirit of competition and tension that reigned in Parisian society at that time became unbearable for the impulsive and uncompromising artist. He gets into arguments, quarrels and decides to leave the capital.

Severed ear

In February 1888, he goes to Provence and becomes attached to it with all his soul. Theo sponsors his brother, sending him 250 francs a month. In gratitude, Vincent sends his paintings to his brother. He rents four rooms in a hotel, eats in a cafe, the owners of which become his friends and pose for pictures.

With the arrival of spring, the artist is captivated by flowering trees pierced by the southern sun. He is delighted with the bright colors and transparency of the air. The ideas of impressionism are gradually disappearing, but loyalty to the light palette and plein air painting remains. The color yellow predominates in the works, acquiring a special radiance coming from the depths.

To work plein air at night, he attaches candles to his hat and sketchbook, illuminating his workspace in this way. This is exactly how his paintings “Starry Night over the Rhone” and “Night Cafe” were painted. An important event was the arrival of Paul Gauguin, whom Vincent repeatedly invited to Arles. An enthusiastic and fruitful life together ends in quarrel and breakup. Self-confident, pedantic Gauguin was the complete opposite of the disorganized and restless Van Gogh.

The epilogue to this story is the stormy showdown before Christmas 1888, when Vincent cut off his ear. Gauguin, afraid that they were going to attack him, hid in the hotel. Vincent wrapped his bloody earlobe in paper and sent it to their mutual friend, the prostitute Rachelle. His friend Roulen discovered him in a pool of blood. The wound heals quickly, but his mental health returns him to his hospital bed.

Death

The residents of Arles begin to fear a city dweller who is unlike them. In 1889, they wrote a petition demanding that they be rid of the “red-haired madman.” Vincent realizes the danger of his condition and voluntarily goes to the hospital of St. Paul of Mausoleum in Saint-Rémy. During treatment, he is allowed to pee outside under the supervision of medical staff. This is how his works with characteristic wavy lines and swirls appeared (“Starry Night”, “Road with Cypress Trees and a Star”, etc.).

In Saint-Rémy, periods of intense activity are followed by long breaks caused by depression. At the moment of one of the crises, he swallows paint. Despite the increasing exacerbations of the disease, brother Theo promotes his participation in the September Salon of Independents in Paris. In January 1890, Vincent exhibited “Red Vineyards in Arles” and sold them for four hundred francs, which is quite a decent amount. This was the only painting sold during his lifetime.

His joy was immeasurable. The artist did not stop working. His brother Theo is also inspired by the success of Vineyards. He supplies Vincent with paints, but he begins to eat them. In May 1890, the brother negotiated with the homeopathic therapist Dr. Gachet to treat Vincent in his clinic. The doctor himself is fond of drawing, so he happily takes on the artist’s treatment. Vincent is also attracted to Gasha and sees him as a kind-hearted and optimistic person.

A month later, Van Gogh was allowed to travel to Paris. His brother does not greet him very kindly. He has financial problems and his daughter is very sick. This technique unbalanced Vincent; he realizes that he is becoming, perhaps, and has always been a burden for his brother. Shocked, he returns to the clinic.

On July 27, as usual, he goes out into the open air, but returns not with sketches, but with a bullet in his chest. The bullet he fired from the pistol hit the rib and went away from the heart. The artist himself returned to the shelter and went to bed. Lying in bed, he calmly smoked his pipe. It seemed that the wound did not cause him pain.

Gachet summoned Theo by telegram. He immediately arrived and began to reassure his brother that they would help him, that he did not need to give in to despair. The response was the phrase: “Sadness will last forever.” The artist died on July 29, 1890 at half past one in the morning. He was buried in the town of Mary on July 30.

Many of his artist friends came to say goodbye to the artist. The walls of the room were hung with his latest paintings. Doctor Gachet wanted to make a speech, but he cried so much that he was able to utter only a few words, the essence of which was that Vincent was a great artist and an honest man, that art, which was above all for him, would repay him and perpetuate his name .

The artist's brother Theo Van Gogh died six months later. He did not forgive himself for the quarrel with his brother. His despair, which he shares with his mother, becomes unbearable, and he suffers from a nervous breakdown. This is what he wrote in a letter to his mother after his brother’s death:

“It is impossible to describe my grief, just as it is impossible to find consolation. This is a grief that will last and from which I will certainly never be freed as long as I live. The only thing that can be said is that he himself found the peace he was striving for... Life was such a heavy burden for him, but now, as often happens, everyone praises his talents... Oh, mom! He was so mine, my own brother.”

And this is Vincent’s last letter, written after a quarrel:

“It seems to me that since everyone is a little on edge and also too busy, there is no need to fully clarify all the relationships. I was a little surprised that you seemed to want to rush things. How can I help, or rather, what can I do to make you happy with this? One way or another, I mentally shake your hands tightly again and, in spite of everything, I was glad to see you all. Don't doubt it."

In 1914, Theo's remains were reburied by his widow next to Vincent's grave.

Personal life

One of the reasons for Van Gogh’s mental illness could be his failed personal life; he never found a life partner. The first attack of despair occurred after the refusal of the daughter of his housewife Ursula Loyer, with whom he had been secretly in love for a long time. The proposal came unexpectedly, shocked the girl, and she rudely refused.

History repeated itself with widowed cousin Key Stricker Voe, but this time Vincent decides not to give up. The woman does not accept advances. On his third visit to his beloved’s relatives, he puts his hand into the flame of a candle, promising to hold it there until she gives her consent to become his wife. With this act, he finally convinced the girl’s father that he was dealing with a mentally ill person. They did not stand on ceremony with him anymore and simply escorted him out of the house.

Sexual dissatisfaction was reflected in his nervous state. Vincent begins to like prostitutes, especially those who are not very young and not very beautiful, whom he could raise. Soon he chooses a pregnant prostitute, who moves in with his 5-year-old daughter. After the birth of his son, Vincent becomes attached to the children and considers getting married.

The woman posed for the artist and lived with him for about a year. Because of her, he had to be treated for gonorrhea. The relationship deteriorated completely when the artist saw how cynical, cruel, sloppy and unbridled she was. After the separation, the lady indulged in her previous activities, and Van Gogh left The Hague.

In recent years, Vincent has been stalked by a 41-year-old woman named Margot Begemann. She was the artist's neighbor in Nuenen and really wanted to get married. Van Gogh, rather out of pity, agrees to marry her. The parents did not give consent to this marriage. Margot almost committed suicide, but Van Gogh saved her. In the subsequent period, he has many promiscuous relationships, he visits brothels and from time to time he is treated for sexually transmitted diseases.

1853-1890 .

The biography below is by no means a complete and thorough study of the life of Vincent Van Gogh. Instead, this is just a brief overview of some of the important events chronicling the life of Vincent Van Gogh. early years

Vincent van Gogh was born in Groot Zundert, the Netherlands on March 30, 1853. A year before Vincent van Gogh was born, his mother gave birth to her first stillborn child, also named Vincent. Thus Vincent, being the second, became the eldest of the children. There has been much speculation that Vincent Van Gogh suffered psychological trauma as a result of this fact. This theory remains a theory because there is no real historical evidence to support it.

Van Gogh was the son of Theodore Van Gogh (1822-85), a Dutch Reformed Church pastor, and Anna Cornelia Carbenthus (1819-1907). Unfortunately, there is practically no information about the first ten years of Vincent van Gogh's life. Since 1864 Vincent spent a couple of years at a boarding school in Zevenbergen, and then continued his studies at the King William II School in Tilburg for about two years. In 1868, Van Gogh left his studies and returned home at the age of 15.

In 1869, Vincent van Gogh began working for Goupil&Cie, a firm of art dealers in The Hague. Van Gogh's family had long been associated with the art world - Vincent's uncles, Cornelis and Vincent, were art dealers. His younger brother Theo worked as an art dealer his entire adult life and, as a result, had a huge influence on the later stages of Vincent's career as an artist.

Vincent was relatively successful as an art dealer and worked for Goupil&Cie for seven years. In 1873 he was transferred to the company's London branch and quickly fell under the spell of England's cultural climate. At the end of August, Vincent rents a room in the home of Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie at 87 Hackford Road. Vincent is believed to have been romantically inclined towards Eugenie, but many early biographers erroneously call Eugenie by her mother's name, Ursula. To add to the years-long confusion of names, recent evidence suggests that Vincent was not in love with Eugenie, but was in love with a fellow countrywoman named Caroline Haanebeek. True, this information remains unconvincing.

Vincent van Gogh spent two years in London. During this time he visited many art galleries and museums and became a great fan of British writers such as George Eliot and Charles Dickens. Van Gogh was also a great admirer of the work of British engravers. These illustrations inspired and influenced Van Gogh in his later life as an artist.

Relations between Vincent and Goupil&Cie became more tense, and in May 1875 he was transferred to the firm's Paris branch. In Paris, Vincent worked on paintings that were of little interest to him from the point of view of personal tastes. Vincent leaves Goupil & Cie at the end of March 1876 and returns to England, remembering where he spent two, for the most part, very happy and fruitful years.

In April, Vincent van Gogh began teaching at the Reverend William P. Stokes' school in Ramsgate. He was responsible for 24 boys aged 10 to 14. His letters show that Vincent enjoyed teaching. After this he began teaching at another boys' school, the parish of the Rev. T. Jones Slade in Isleworth. In his free time, Van Gogh continued to visit galleries and admire many great works of art. He also devoted himself to Bible study - spending many hours reading and re-reading the Gospel. The summer of 1876 marks a time of religious transformation for Vincent Van Gogh. Although he grew up in a religious family, he did not imagine that he would seriously consider dedicating his life to the Church.

As a means of making the transition from teacher to priest, Vincent asks Reverend Jones to give him more responsibilities typical of the clergy. Jones agrees and Vincent began speaking at prayer meetings in the Turnham Green parish. These speeches served as a means of preparing Vincent for a goal he had long been working towards: his first Sunday sermon. Although Vincent himself was delighted with this prospect as a preacher, his sermons were somewhat dull and lifeless. Like his father, Vincent had a passion for preaching, but something was missing.

After visiting his family in the Netherlands for Christmas, Vincent Van Gogh remains in his homeland. After briefly working in a bookshop in Dordrecht at the beginning of 1877, Vincent went to Amsterdam from 9 May to prepare for the entrance exams to the university, where he was to study theology. Vincent learns Greek, Latin, and mathematics, but ultimately drops out after fifteen months. Vincent later described this period as "the worst time of my life." In November, after a three-month probationary period, Vincent fails to enter the missionary school in Laeken. Vincent van Gogh eventually agreed with the church to begin preaching on probation in one of the roughest and poorest areas in Western Europe: the Borinage coal mining region, Belgium.

In January 1879, Vincent began his duties as a minister to miners and their families in the mountain village of Wasmes. Vincent felt a strong emotional attachment to the miners. He saw and sympathized with their terrible working conditions, and as their spiritual leader, he did everything he could to ease the burden of their lives. Unfortunately, this altruistic desire reached such fanatical proportions that Vincent began donating much of his food and clothing to the poor people under his tutelage. Despite Vincent's noble intentions, representatives of the Church strictly condemned Van Gogh's asceticism and removed him from his position in July. Refusing to leave the area, Van Gogh moved to a nearby village, Cuesmes, where he lived in extreme poverty. For the next year, Vincent struggled to live day to day and, although unable to help the human village in any official capacity as a cleric, he still decided to remain a member of their community. The next year was so difficult that the question of survival for Vincent van Gogh was faced every day. And although he could not help people as an official representative of the church, he remains in the village. On a noteworthy occasion for Van Gogh, Vincent decided to visit the home of Jules Breton, a French artist whom he admired. Vincent had only ten francs in his pocket and walked the entire 70 km to Courrières, France, to see Breton. However, Vincent was too timid to get through to Breton. So, without a positive result and completely discouraged, Vincent returned back to Cuesmes.

It was then that Vincent began to draw miners, their families and life in harsh conditions. At this turning point in fate, Vincent Van Gogh chooses his next and final career direction: as an artist.

Vincent Van Gogh as artist

In the autumn of 1880, after more than a year of living in poverty in the Borinage, Vincent went to Brussels to begin his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. Vincent was inspired to begin his studies with financial support from his brother Theo. Vincent and Theo have always been close, maintaining a constant correspondence both as children and throughout most of their adult lives. Based on this correspondence, and there are more than 800 letters, the idea of ​​Van Gogh’s life is based.

1881 would prove to be a turbulent year for Vincent Van Gogh. Vincent is successfully studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. Although biographers have different opinions on the details of this period. In any case, Vincent continues to study at his own discretion, taking examples from books. In the summer, Vincent again visits his parents, who already live in Etten. There he meets and develops romantic feelings for his widowed cousin Cornelia Adrian Vos Stricker (Key). But Key's unrequited love and break with his parents lead to his imminent departure to The Hague.

Despite the failures, Van Gogh works hard and improves under the guidance of Anton Mauve (a famous artist and his distant relative). Their relationship was good, but it deteriorated due to tension when Vincent began living with a prostitute.

Vincent van Gogh met Christina Maria Hornik, nicknamed Sin (1850-1904) at the end of February 1882 in The Hague. At that time she was already pregnant with her second child. Vincent lived with Sin for the next year and a half. Their relationship was turbulent, partly due to the complexity of the characters of both individuals, but also due to the imprint of a life of complete poverty. From Vincent's letters to Theo, it becomes clear how well Van Gogh treated Sin's children, but drawing is his first and most important passion, the rest fades into the background. Sin and her children posed for dozens of Vincent's drawings, and his talent as an artist grew significantly during this period. His earlier, more primitive drawings of miners in the Borinage give way to a much more refined style and emotion in the work.

In 1883, Vincent began experimenting with oil paints; he had used oil paints before, but now this was his main direction. In the same year, he breaks up with Sin. Vincent leaves The Hague in mid-September to move to Drenthe. Over the next six weeks, Vincent leads a nomadic life, moving throughout the region working on landscapes and paintings of peasants.

The last time Vincent returns to his parents' house, now in Nuenen, is at the end of 1883. Over the next year, Vincent Van Gogh continued to improve his skills. He created dozens of paintings and drawings during this period: weavers, counters and other portraits. Local peasants turned out to be his favorite subjects - partly because Van Gogh felt a strong kinship with the poor working people. Another episode occurs in Vincent's romantic life. This time it's dramatic. Margot Begemann (1841-1907), whose family lived next door to Vincent's parents, was in love with Vincent and the emotional turmoil in the relationship led her to attempt suicide by poison. Vincent was greatly shocked by this incident. Margot eventually recovered, but the incident greatly upset Vincent. He himself returned to this episode several times in letters to Theo.

1885: First Great Works

In the early months of 1885, Van Gogh continued his series of portraits of peasants. Vincent viewed them as good practice where he could improve his skills. Vincent works productively during March and April. At the end of March, he takes a short break from work due to the death of his father, relations with whom in recent years have been very tense. Several years of hard work, improving skills and technology, and in 1885 Vincent approached his first serious work, “The Potato Eaters.”

Vincent worked on The Potato Eaters during April 1885. He prepared several sketches in advance and worked on this painting in the studio. Vincent was so inspired by the success that even criticism from his friend Anthony Van Rappard only led to a breakup. This is a new stage in Van Gogh's life and mastery.

Van Gogh continued to work in 1885, he did not calm down and at the beginning of 1886 he entered the Art Academy in Antwerp. He once again comes to the conclusion that formal training is too narrow for him. Vincent's choice is practical work, the only way he can hone his skills, as evidenced by his "Potato Eaters". After four weeks of training, Van Gogh left the Academy. He is interested in new methods, technology, self-improvement, all of which Vincent can no longer get in Holland, his path lies to Paris.

New Beginning: Paris

In 1886, Vincent Van Gogh arrived in Paris without warning to visit his brother Theo. Before this, he wrote in letters to his brother about the need to move to Paris for further development. Theo, in turn, knowing Vincent's complex character, resisted this move. But Theo had no choice and his brother had to be accepted.

The period of life in Paris for Van Gogh is important in terms of his role in transformation as an artist. Unfortunately, this period of Vincent's life (two years in Paris) is one of the least documented. Since the description of Van Gogh’s life is based on his correspondence with Theo, and this Vincent lived with Theo (Montmartre district, 54 Lepic Street) and naturally there was no correspondence.

However, the importance of Vincent's time in Paris is clear. Theo, as an art dealer, had many contacts among artists and Vincent soon entered this circle. During his two years in Paris, Van Gogh visited early Impressionist exhibitions (which included works by Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Georges Seurat and Sisley). There is no doubt that Van Gogh was influenced by the Impressionists, but he always remained true to his own unique style. Over the course of two years, Van Gogh adopted some of the techniques of the Impressionists.

Vincent enjoyed painting around Paris during 1886. His palette began to move away from the dark, traditional colors of his homeland and would include the brighter hues of the Impressionists. Vincent became interested in Japanese art, due to Japan's cultural isolation at that time. The Western world was fascinated by all things Japanese and Vincent acquired several Japanese prints. As a result, Japanese art had an influence on Van Gogh and throughout the future this can be read in his works.

Throughout 1887, Van Gogh honed his skills and practiced a lot. His active and stormy personality does not calm down; Vincent, without sparing his health, eats poorly, abuses alcohol and smoking. His hopes that living with his brother he would be able to control his expenses were not justified. Relations with Theo are tense. .

As has often happened throughout his life, poor weather conditions during the winter months make Vincent irritable and depressed. He is depressed, wants to see and feel the colors of nature. The winter months of 1887-1888 were not easy. Van Gogh decided to leave Paris to follow the sun; his road lay in Arles.

Vincent van Gogh moved to Arles in early 1888 for a number of reasons. Tired of the hectic energy of Paris and the long winter months, Van Gogh strives for the warm sun of Provence. Another motivation is Vincent's dream of creating a kind of artists' commune in Arles, where his comrades from Paris can find a refuge, where they can work together and support each other in achieving common goals. Van Gogh boarded a train from Paris to Arles on February 20, 1888, inspired by his dream for a prosperous future, and watched the landscape pass by.

Without a doubt, Van Gogh was not disappointed with Arles in his first few weeks there. While searching for the sun, Vincent saw Arles unusually cold and covered with snow. This must have been disheartening for Vincent, who left everyone he knew to find warmth and restoration in the south. However, the bad weather was short-lived and Vincent began painting some of the most beloved work of his career.

As soon as the weather warmed up, Vincent wasted no time in creating his work outdoors. In March, the trees woke up and the landscape looked somewhat gloomy after winter. However, within a month, buds are visible on the trees and Van Gogh paints blooming gardens. Vincent is pleased with his performance and, together with the gardens, feels renewed.

The following months were happy. Vincent rented a room at the Café de la Gare at 10 Place Lamartine at the beginning of May and rented his famous “Yellow House” (at 2 Place Lamartine) for the studio. Vincent won't actually move into the Yellow House until September.

Vincent works hard throughout the spring and summer and begins sending Theo his works. Van Gogh is often perceived today as an irritable and lonely person. But in reality, he enjoys the company of people and does his best during these months to make friends with many. Although deeply lonely at times. Vincent never gave up hope of creating a commune of artists and began a campaign to persuade Paul Gauguin to join him in the south. The prospect seemed unlikely because Gauguin's resettlement would require even more financial help from Theo, which had reached its limit.

At the end of July, Van Gogh's uncle died and left an inheritance to Theo. This financial influx allows Theo to sponsor Gauguin's move to Arles. Theo was interested in this move, both as a brother and as a business man. Theo knows that Vincent would be happier and more relaxed in Gauguin's company, and Theo also hopes that the paintings he will receive from Gauguin, in exchange for his support, will be profitable. Unlike Vincent, Paul Gauguin is not entirely confident in the success of his work.

Despite the improvement in Theo's financial affairs, Vincent remained true to himself and spent almost everything on art supplies and furnishings in the apartment. Gauguin arrived in Arles by train early in the morning of October 23.

Over the next two months, this move would be crucial, with disastrous consequences for both Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Initially, Van Gogh and Gauguin got along well, worked on the outskirts of Arles, and discussed their art. As the weeks passed, the weather worsened, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were forced to stay at home more and more often. The temperament of both artists, forced to work in the same room, gives rise to many conflicts.

Relations between Van Gogh and Gauguin deteriorated during December. Vincent wrote that their heated arguments became more and more frequent. December 23 Vincent Van Gogh, in a fit of madness, mutilated the lower part of his left ear. Van Gogh cut off part of his left earlobe, wrapped it in cloth and gave it to a prostitute. Vincent then returned to his apartment, where he lost consciousness. He was found by police and admitted to the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Arles. After sending the telegram to Theo, Gauguin immediately left for Paris, without visiting Van Gogh in the hospital. They will never meet in person again, although relations will improve..

During his stay in the hospital, Vincent was under the care of Dr. Felix Ray (1867-1932). The first week after the injury was crucial for Van Gogh's life - both psychologically and physically. He suffered major blood loss and continued to suffer from severe seizures. Theo, who rushed from Paris to Arles, was sure that Vincent would die, but by the end of December and in the first days of January Vincent had almost fully recovered.

The first weeks of 1889 were not easy for Vincent Van Gogh. After recovering, Vincent returned to his Yellow House, but continued to visit Dr. Ray for observations and wear a headband. After his recovery, Vincent was on the rise, but problems with money and the departure of his close friend, Joseph Roulin (1841-1903), who accepted a better offer and moved with his entire family to Marseille. Roulin was Vincent's dear and loyal friend for most of his time in Arles.

During January and early February, Vincent worked a lot, during which time he created "Sunflowers" and "Lullaby". However, on February 7, Vincent had another attack. He was taken to Hotel-Dieu Hospital for observation. Van Gogh is in the hospital for ten days, but then returns to the Yellow House.

By this time, some of the citizens of Arles had become alarmed by Vincent's behavior and signed a petition detailing the problem. The petition was presented to the mayor of Arles, and ultimately the chief of police ordered Van Gogh to return to the Hôtel-Dieu hospital. Vincent remained in hospital for the next six weeks and was allowed to leave the hospital to paint. It was a productive but emotionally difficult moment for Van Gogh. As was the case the year before, Van Gogh returns to the blooming gardens around Arles. But even when he creates one of his best works, Vincent realizes that his condition is unstable. And after a discussion with Theo, he agrees to voluntary treatment at a specialized clinic in Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Van Gogh leaves Arles on May 8th.

Upon arrival at the clinic, Van Gogh was placed under the care of Dr. Théophile Zacharie Peyron Auguste (1827-95). After examining Vincent, Dr. Peyron becomes convinced that his patient suffers from epilepsy - a diagnosis that remains one of the most likely to determine Van Gogh's condition, even today. Being in the clinic put pressure on Van Gogh, he was discouraged by the screams of other patients and the bad food. This atmosphere depresses him. Van Gogh's treatment included hydrotherapy, frequent immersion in a large bath of water. Although this “therapy” was not cruel, in any case, it was the least useful in terms of helping to restore Vincent’s mental health.

As the weeks passed, Vincent's mental state remained stable and he was allowed to resume work. The staff was encouraged by Van Gogh's progress, and in mid-June Van Gogh created Starry Night.

Van Gogh's relatively calm state does not last long, until mid-July. This time Vincent tried to swallow his paints, and as a result, access to materials was limited. After this exacerbation, he quickly recovers, Vincent is pulled out by his art. After another week, Doctor Peyron allows Van Gogh to resume his work. The resumption of work coincided with an improvement in mental state. Vincent writes to Theo, describing his poor physical condition.

For two months, Van Gogh was unable to leave his room and writes to Theo that when he goes outside, he is overcome by intense loneliness. In the coming weeks, Vincent again overcomes his worries and resumes work. During this time, Vincent plans to leave the Saint-Rémy clinic. He expresses these thoughts to Theo, who begins to make inquiries about possible alternatives for providing medical care for Vincent - this time much closer to Paris.

Van Gogh's mental and physical health remained fairly stable throughout the remainder of 1889. Theo's health improved and he helped organize the Octave Maus exhibition in Brussels, which featured six of Vincent's paintings. Vincent is delighted with the venture and remains very productive throughout this time.

On December 23, 1889, a year after the attack in which Vincent cut off his earlobe, Van Gogh was struck down by another week-long attack. The exacerbation was serious and lasted about a week, but Vincent recovered quickly enough and resumed painting. Unfortunately, Van Gogh suffered from a large number of seizures during the first months of 1890. These exacerbations become frequent. Ironically, during this time, when Van Gogh was probably at his most mentally depressed, his work finally begins to receive critical acclaim. The news of this pushes Vincent to hope to leave the clinic and return to the north.

After consultations, Theo realizes that the best solution for Vincent would be to return to Paris, under the care of Dr. Paul Gachet (1828-1909), a physician in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. Vincent agrees to Theo's plans and completes his treatment in Saint-Rémy. On May 16, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh left the clinic and boarded an overnight train to Paris.

"Sadness will last forever...

Vincent's journey to Paris was uneventful and he was greeted by Theo upon his arrival. Vincent stayed with Theo, his wife Joanna and their newborn son, Vincent Willem (named Vincent) for three pleasant days. Having never liked the hustle and bustle of city life, Vincent felt some tension and decided to leave Paris for the quieter Auvers-sur-Oise.

Vincent met Dr. Gachet shortly after his arrival in Auvers. And although Van Gogh was initially impressed by Gachet, he later expressed serious doubts about his competence. Despite his misgivings, Vincent finds himself a room in a small hotel owned by Arthur Gustave Ravoux and immediately begins to paint the area around Auvers-sur-Oise.

Over the next two weeks, Van Gogh's opinion of Gache softens. Vincent was pleased with Auvers-sur-Oise, which gave him the freedom denied him at Saint-Rémy, while at the same time providing him with broad themes for his painting and drawing. The first weeks in Auvers were pleasant and uneventful for Vincent van Gogh. On June 8, Theo, Joe and the child came to Auvers to visit Vincent and Gachet. Vincent spends a very pleasant day with his family. Apparently, Vincent was completely restored - mentally and physically.

During June, Vincent remained in good spirits and was extremely productive, producing Portrait of Dr. Gachet and The Church at Auvers. The initial calm of the first month in Auvers was interrupted when Vincent received news that his nephew was seriously ill. Theo is going through the most difficult time: uncertainty about his own career and future, ongoing health problems and the illness of his son. After the child's recovery, Vincent decided to visit Theo and his family on July 6 and took an early train. Very little is known about the visit. Vincent soon tires and quickly returns to the quieter Auvers.

Over the next three weeks, Vincent resumed his work and, as can be seen from his letters, was quite happy. In his letters, Vincent writes that he is currently feeling well and is calm, comparing his condition with last year. Vincent was immersed in the fields and plains around Auvers and produced some brilliant landscapes during July. Vincent's life becomes more stable and he works a lot.

Nothing foreshadowed such a denouement. On July 27, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh goes to the fields with an easel and paints. There he took out a revolver and shot himself in the chest. Vincent managed to walk back to the Ravoux Inn, where he collapsed into bed. The decision was made not to try to remove the bullet in Vincent's chest and Gachet wrote an urgent letter to Theo. Unfortunately, Dr. Gachet did not have Theo's home address and had to write to him at the gallery where he worked. This did not cause any major delay and Theo arrived the next day.

Vincent and Theo remained together during the last hours of Vincent's life. Theo was devoted to his brother, holding him and speaking to him in Dutch. Vincent seemed resigned to his fate and Theo later wrote that Vincent himself wanted to die as Theo sat at his bedside. Vincent's last words were "Sadness will last forever."

Vincent Van Gogh died at 1:30 am. July 29, 1890. Auvers Church refused to allow Vincent to be buried in its cemetery because Vincent had committed suicide. In the nearby village of Meri, however, they agreed to allow the burial and the funeral took place on July 30.