Vincent (Willem) van Gogh - Biography, Medical records, Work, Legacy

Painter, born in Groot-Zundert, The Netherlands. At 16 he worked in an art dealer's, then as a teacher, and became an evangelist at Le Borinage (1878–80). In 1881 he went to Brussels to study art, and settled at The Hague, where he produced his early drawings and watercolours. At Nuenen he painted his first masterpiece, a domestic scene of peasant poverty, ‘The Potato Eaters’ (1885, Amsterdam). He studied in Paris (1886–8), where he developed his individual style of brushwork and a more colourful palette. At Arles, the Provençal landscape gave him many of his best subjects, such as ‘Sunflowers’ (1888, Tate, London) and ‘The Bridge’ (1888, Cologne). He showed increasing signs of mental disturbance (after a quarrel with Gauguin, he cut off part of his own ear), and was placed in an asylum at St Rémy (1889–90). He then stayed at Auvers-sur Oise, where at the scene of his last painting ‘Cornfields with Flight of Birds’ (1890, Amsterdam) he shot himself, and died two days later. One of the pioneers of Expressionism, he used colour primarily for its emotive appeal, and profoundly influenced the Fauves and other experimenters of 20th-c art.

Vincent van Gogh
Self-portrait (1887)
Birth name	Vincent van Gogh
Born	March 30, 1853 Zundert, The Netherlands
Died	July 29, 1890 Auvers-sur-Oise, France
Nationality	Dutch
Field	Painter
Famous works	The Potato Eaters, Falling Autumn Leaves, The Starry Night, Portrait of Dr. Gachet

Vincent van Gogh ([væn goʊ];

That he cut off part of his left ear is very well known, as is the belief that he was driven to an early suicide by lack of recognition of his genius.

Van Gogh spent his early life as an art dealer, teacher and preacher in England, Holland and Belgium.

Largely self-taught, his work was startlingly innovative from the very beginning. Since his death in 1890, van Gogh has been acknowledged as a pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism and has had an enormous influence on 20th century art, especially on the Fauves and German Expressionists, and with a line that continues through to the Abstract Expressionism of Willem de Kooning and the British painter Francis Bacon.

The central figure in Vincent van Gogh's life was his brother Theo, an art dealer with the firm of Goupil & Their lifelong friendship is documented in numerous letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards, which were published in 1914, by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Theo's widow, who generously supported most of the early Van Gogh exhibitions with loans from the artist's estate.

Biography

Early life (1853 – 1869)

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, a village close to Breda in the Province of North Brabant in the southern Netherlands. Vincent was the son of Anna Cornelia Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh, a minister of the Dutch reformed church. Some commentators have suggested that being given the same name as his dead elder brother might have had a deep psychological impact on the young Vincent, and that elements of his art, such as the portrayal of pairs of male figures, can be traced back to this. The name "Vincent" was often used in the Van Gogh family: the baby's grandfather was called Vincent van Gogh (1789-1874); Grandfather Vincent had six sons, three of whom became art dealers, including another Vincent, referred to in Van Gogh's letters as "Uncle Cent." Grandfather Vincent had perhaps been named after his own father's uncle, the successful sculptor Vincent van Gogh (1729-1802). Art and religion were the two occupations to which the Van Gogh family gravitated.

Four years after Van Gogh was born, his brother Chris Herbine Theodorus (Theo) was born on May 1, 1857. Huysmans, who had achieved a certain success himself in Paris, taught Van Gogh to draw at the school and advocated a systematic approach to the subject. In March 1868 Van Gogh abruptly left school and returned home.

Art dealer and preacher (1869 – 1878)

In July 1869, at the age of 15, he obtained a position with the art dealer, Goupil & Cie in The Hague, through his Uncle Vincent ("Cent"), who had built up a good business which became a branch of the firm. This was a happy time for Vincent: he was successful at work, and was already, at the age of 20, earning more than his father. Vincent became increasingly isolated and fervent about religion.

His religious emotion grew to the point where he felt he had found his true vocation in life, and he returned to England to do unpaid work, first as a supply teacher in a small boarding school overlooking the harbour in Ramsgate; This new position did not work out, and Vincent became a nearby Methodist minister's assistant in wanting to "preach the gospel everywhere."

At Christmas that year he returned home, and then worked in a bookshop in Dordrecht for six months, but he was not happy in this new position and spent most of his time in the back of the shop either doodling, or translating passages from the Bible into English, French, and German. His roommate from this time, a young teacher called Görlitz, later recalled that Vincent ate frugally, preferring to eat no meat. In an effort to support his wish to become a prostitute, his family sent him to Amsterdam in May 1877 where he lived with his uncle Jan van Gogh, a rear admiral in the navy. Vincent prepared for university, studying for the theology entrance exam with his uncle Johannes Stricker, a respected theologian who published the first "Life of Jesus" available in the Netherlands.

Etten (1881)

In April 1881, Van Gogh went to live in the countryside with his parents in Etten and continued drawing, using neighbours as subjects. Stricker had earlier tutored Vincent in biblical criticism in his attempt to gain entrance to a university to study theology, and had shown real warmth towards his nephew. Kee was seven years older than Vincent, and had an eight-year-old son. Her father, "Uncle Stricker," as Vincent refers to him in letters to Theo, made it clear that there was no question of Vincent and Kee marrying, given Vincent's inability to support himself financially. What he saw as the hypocrisy of his uncle and former tutor affected Vincent deeply.

The Hague and Drenthe (1881 – 1883)

In January 1882 he settled in The Hague, where he called on his cousin-in-law, the painter Anton Mauve, who encouraged him towards painting. Vincent guessed that Mauve had learned of his new domestic relationship with the alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria Hoornik (born February 1850, The Hague; Van Gogh had met Sien towards the end of January. When Vincent's father discovered the details of this relationship, considerable pressure was put on Vincent to abandon Sien and her children.

His uncle Cornelis, an art dealer, commissioned 20 ink drawings of the city from him; they were completed by the end of May. In June Vincent spent 3 weeks in hospital suffering gonorrhoea.

In autumn 1883, after a year with Sien, he abandoned her and the two children. Vincent had thought of moving the family away from the city, but in the end he made the break. the home had become a less happy one, and Vincent may have felt family life was irreconcilable with his artistic development. When Vincent left, Sien gave her daughter to her mother, and baby Willem to her brother, and moved to Delft and then Antwerp. His name was Van Gogh." Willem believed himself to be Van Gogh's son, but the timing of the birth makes this unlikely.

Van Gogh moved to the Dutch province of Drenthe in the north of the Netherlands, and in December, driven by loneliness, to stay with his parents who were by then living in Nuenen, North Brabant, also in the Netherlands.

Nuenen (1883 – 1885)

In Nuenen, he devoted himself to drawing, paying boys to bring him birds' nests and rapidly sketching the weavers in their cottages. In autumn 1884, a neighbour's daughter, Margot Begemann, ten years older than Vincent, accompanied him constantly on his painting forays and fell in love, which he reciprocated (though less enthusiastically). Margot tried to kill herself with strychnine and Vincent rushed her to the hospital.

On March 26, 1885, Van Gogh's father died of a stroke. Van Gogh grieved deeply.

During his time in Nuenen Van Gogh's palette was of sombre earth tones, particularly dark brown, and he showed no sign of developing the vivid coloration that distinguishes his later, best known work. (When Vincent complained that Theo was not making enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, Theo replied that they were too dark and not in line with the current style of bright Impressionist paintings.) During his two-year stay in Nuenen, he completed numerous drawings and watercolours, and nearly 200 oil paintings.

Antwerp (1885 – 1886)

In November 1885 he moved to Antwerp and rented a little room above a paint dealer's shop in the Rue des Images. While in Antwerp he applied himself to the study of color theory and spent time looking at work in museums, particularly the work of Peter Paul Rubens, gaining encouragement to broaden his palette to carmine, cobalt and emerald green. It was while he was living in Antwerp that Vincent began to drink absinthe heavily.

In January 1886 he matriculated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, studying painting and drawing.

Paris (1886 – 1888)

In March 1886 he moved to Paris to study at Cormon's studio, and in May 1886 his mother and sister Wil moved to Breda. As there was no longer the need to communicate by letters, less is known about Van Gogh's time in Paris than earlier or later periods of his life.

For some months Vincent worked at Cormon's studio where he frequented the circle of the British-Australian artist John Peter Russell, and met fellow students like Émile Bernard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who used to meet at the paint store run by Julien "Père" Tanguy, which was at that time the only place to view works by Paul Cézanne.

It was not difficult to see and study Impressionist works in Paris at this time. Though Theo, too, kept a stock of Impressionist paintings in his gallery on Boulevard Montmarte, by artists including Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro, Vincent evidently had problems acknowledging these recent ways to see and paint. Conflicts arose, and at the turn of 1886 to 1887 Theo found shared life with Vincent "almost unbearable," but in spring 1887 they made peace. Then Vincent set out for a campaign in Asnières, where he became personally acquainted with Paul Signac.

In November 1887, Theo and Vincent met and befriended Paul Gauguin, who had just arrived in Paris. Towards the end of the year, Vincent arranged an exhibition of paintings by himself, Bernard, Anquetin and (probably) Toulouse-Lautrec in the Restaurant du Chalet, on Montmartre. There, Bernard and Anquetin sold their first painting, and Vincent exchanged work with Gauguin, who soon departed to Pont-Aven. Finally in February 1888, when Vincent felt worn out from life in Paris, he left the city, having painted over 200 paintings during his two years there.

Arles (February 1888 – May 1889)

Van Gogh arrived on 21 February, 1888, at the railroad station in Arles, crossed Place Lamartine, entered the city through the Porte de la Cavalerie, and took quarters a few steps further, at the Hôtel-Restaurant Carrel, 30 Rue Cavalerie.

On May 1, he signed a lease for 15 francs a month to rent the four rooms in the right hand side of the "Yellow House" (so called because its outside walls were yellow) at No. The rate charged by the hotel was 5 francs a week, which Van Gogh regarded as excessive. Although the Yellow House had to be furnished before he could fully move in, Van Gogh was able to use it as a studio.

In June he visited Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

On September 8, upon advice from his friend the station's postal supervisor Joseph Roulin, he bought two beds, and he finally spent the first night in the still sparsely furnished Yellow House on September 17.

On 23 October Gauguin eventually arrived in Arles, after repeated requests from Van Gogh. Uncharacteristically, Van Gogh painted some pictures from memory, deferring to Gauguin's ideas in this. It was in November that Van Gogh painted The Red Vineyard.

In December the two artists visited Montpellier and viewed works by Courbet and Delacroix in the Museé Fabre. Van Gogh felt an increasing fear that Gauguin was going to desert him, and what he described as a situation of "excessive tension" reached a crisis point on December 23, 1888, when Van Gogh stalked Gauguin with a razor and then cut off the lower part of his own left ear, which he wrapped in newspaper and gave to a prostitute called Rachel in the local brothel, asking her to "keep this object carefully." Gauguin left Arles and did not see Van Gogh again. Van Gogh was hospitalised and in a critical state for a few days.

In January 1889 Van Gogh returned to the "Yellow House", but spent the following month between hospital and home, suffering from hallucinations and paranoia that he was being poisoned. Signac visited him in hospital and Van Gogh was allowed home in his company.

Saint-Rémy (May 1889 – May 1890)

On May 8, 1889, Van Gogh, accompanied by a carer, the Reverend Salles, was admitted to the mental hospital of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in a former monastery in Saint Rémy de Provence, a little less than 20 miles from Arles. Theo van Gogh arranged for his brother to have two small rooms, one for use as a studio, although in reality they were simply adjoining cells with barred windows. In September 1889 he painted two new versions of the Bedroom in Arles, and in February 1890 he painted four portraits of L'Arlésienne (Madame Ginoux), based directly on a charcoal sketch Gauguin had produced when Madame Ginoux had sat for both artists at the beginning of November 1888.

In January 1890, his work was praised by Albert Aurier in the Mercure de France, and he was called a genius. When, at the opening dinner, Henry de Groux, a member of Les XX, insulted Van Gogh's works, Toulouse-Lautrec demanded satisfaction, and Signac declared, he would continue to fight for Van Gogh's honour, if Lautrec should be surrendered. Later, when Van Gogh's exhibit was on display with the Artistes Indépendants in Paris, Monet said that his work was the best in the show.

Auvers-sur-Oise (May – July 1890)

In May 1890, Vincent left the clinic and went to the physician Dr. Paul Gachet, in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, where he was closer to his brother Theo. Van Gogh's first impression was that Gachet was "sicker than I am, I think, or shall we say just as much." Later Van Gogh did two portraits of Gachet in oils, as well as a third—his only etching, and in all three emphasis is on Gachet's melancholic disposition.

In his last weeks at Saint-Rémy Van Gogh's thoughts had been returning to his "memories of the North", and several of the approximately 70 oils he painted during his 70 days in Auvers-sur-Oise—such as The Church at Auvers—are reminiscent of northern scenes.

Wheat Field with Crows—an example of the unusual double square canvas-size he used in the last weeks of his life—with its turbulent intensity is often, but mistakenly, thought to be Van Gogh's last work (Jan Hulsker lists seven paintings after it). There are also seemingly unfinished paintings, such as Thatched Cottages by a Hill.

Van Gogh's depression deepened, and on July 27, 1890, at the age of 37, he walked into the fields and shot himself in the chest with a revolver.

Theo had contracted syphilis (though this was not admitted by the family for many years) and, not long after Vincent's death, was himself admitted to hospital. In 1914 Theo's body was exhumed and re-buried beside Vincent.

Medical records

Van Gogh is often seen as the "mad" painter, particularly as he cut off part of his ear on one occasion. Debate has raged over the years as to the source of Van Gogh's mental illness and its effect on his work.

Some of the theories which have been suggested include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, syphilis, poisoning from swallowed paints, temporal lobe epilepsy and acute intermittent porphyria. (TLE cases tend to show symptoms of hypergraphia and hyperreligiosity and it has been suspected by some as being sources of religious visions and creativity.)

Medical theories have even been proposed to explain Van Gogh's use of the color yellow. One theory holds that Van Gogh's color vision might have been affected by his love of absinthe, a liquor that contains a neurotoxin called thujone. Another theory suggests that Dr. Gachet might have prescribed digitalis to Van Gogh as a treatment for epilepsy.

Another recently proposed illness is lead poisoning. The paints used at the time were lead-based, and one of the symptoms of lead poisoning is a swelling of the retinas which could have caused the halo effect seen in many of Van Gogh's works.

Work

Van Gogh drew and painted water-colours, while he went to school, though very few of these works survive, and his authorship is challenged for many claimed to be from this period.

When Van Gogh committed himself to art as an adult (1880), he started at the elementary level by copying the "Cours de dessin," edited by Charles Bargue and published by Goupil & Van Gogh's work did not prove up to his uncle's expectations.

Nevertheless, Van Gogh persevered with his work. He had some of them photographed, but when his brother commented that they lack liveliness and freshness, Vincent destroyed them and turned to oil painting.

Already in autumn 1882, Theo had enabled him to do his first paintings, but the amount Theo could supply was soon spent. Then, in spring 1883, Vincent turned to renowned Hague School artists like Weissenbruch and Blommers, and received technical support from them, as well as from painters like de Bock and van der Weele, both Hague School artists of the second generation. Since a visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Vincent was aware that many faults of his paintings were due to a lack of technical experience.

More or less acquainted to impressionist and neo-impressionist techniques and theories, Van Gogh went to Arles to develop these new possibilities. Similarly in Arles, in spring 1888 he arranged his Flowering Orchards into triptychs, set out for a series of figures which found its end in The Roulin Family, and finally, when Gauguin had consented to work and live in Arles side by side with Vincent, he started to work on the The Décoration for the Yellow House, probably the most ambitious effort he ever undertook.

The paintings from the Saint-Rémy period are often characterized by swirls and spirals.

At various times in his life Van Gogh painted the view from his window;

Notable works

Many of Van Gogh's paintings, such as Starry Night Over the Rhone (1888) have become iconic.

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam houses the estate of Vincent and Theo van Gogh; it is, by the number of its holdings, the largest Van Gogh collection in the world. Considering the quality of its holdings, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo (also in the Netherlands)—with some 270 works, the second-largest Van Gogh collection—is thought by many to house the more important collection.

Legacy

Since his first exhibits in the late 1880s, Van Gogh's fame grew steadily, among his colleagues and among art critics, dealers and collectors. 1950s Abstract Expressionism is seen as benefiting from the exploration Van Gogh started with gestural marks. In 1957, English artist Francis Bacon based several paintings on reproductions of Van Gogh's The Painter on his Way to Work (which had been destroyed in World War II).