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Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) Van Gogh did not begin painting until his late twenties, and most of his best-known works were produced during his final two years. He produced more than 2,000 artworks, consisting of around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches. Although he was little known during his lifetime, his work was a strong influence on the Modernist art that followed. Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885). In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp, where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.
Recently acquitted from the hospital, Van Gogh suffered a severe setback in December 1889. Although he had been troubled by mental illness throughout his life, the episodes became more pronounced during his last few years. In some of these periods he was either unwilling or unable to paint, a factor which added to the mounting frustrations of an artist at the peak of his ability. His depression gradually deepened. On 27 July 1890, aged 37, he walked into a field and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He survived the impact, but not realizing that his injuries were to be fatal, he walked back to the Ravoux Inn. He died there two days later. Theo rushed to be at his side. Theo reported his brother's last words as "La tristesse durera toujours" (the sadness will last forever). Theo's health deteriorated in the months after the death of his brother. He contracted syphilis—though this was not admitted by the family for many years. He was admitted to the hospital, and weak and unable to come to terms with Vincent's absence, he died six months later, on 25 January, at Utrecht. In 1914, Theo's body was exhumed and re-buried with his brother at Auvers-sur-Oise. Sources: Wikipedia, www.vangoghgallery.com |
Joan Miro Claude Monet Edgar Degas Emily Carr Marc Chagall Renoir Van Gogh Yasek Jerka Pavel Filonov Ray CaesarRembrandt History of Arts Rob Gonsalves |
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid colors and emotional impact. He suffered from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life, and died largely unknown, at the age of 37, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave Arles. Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
The Starry Night |
Cafe Terrace at Night |
Sunflowers |
Self-portrait |
Boots |
Wheat Field under Threatening Skies |
Wheat Field with Cypresses |
Trees in the Asylum Garden |
Grasgrond (Patch of grass) |
Self-portrait as an artist |
A self-portrait with a bandaged ear |
Old Man in Sorrow, on the Threshold of Eternity |
Self-portrait |
Self-portrait |
A self-portrait |
Self-portrait With Pallete |
Self-portrait |
Painter on His Way to Work |
Portrait of Dr. Gachet |
Portrait of Dr. Gachet |
Portrait of Père Tanguy |
Armand Roulin |
Madame Ginoux |
Sonnenblumen |
View of Arles with Irises in the Foreground |
Irises |
Irises |
Irises |
Van Gogh's room at Arles |
Entrance to the Public Garden in Arles |
Harvest |
Peasant Woman Peeling Potatoes |
Starry Night over the Rhone |
The Potato Eaters |
The Potato Eaters |
Peasants planting potatoes |
The Olive Trees |
Laan met populieren in de buurt van Nuenen |
The Old Mill |
Wheat Field with Crows |
Wheat Field |
The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise |
Houses seen from the back |
The Night Café |
Prisoners' Round |
Brücke von Arles |
Vincent's Bedroom in Arles |
Entrance Hall of Saint-Paul Hospital |
Die Rhônebarken. Arles |
Zypressen. |
Früchtekorb und Handschuhe |
Blick auf Arles |
Die Ernte. Arles |
Kirschbaum |
Mandelblütenzweig |
Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) |
Langlois Brücke at Arles |
Rock and Ruins, at Montmajour. Rohrfeder |
Le Moulin de Blute-Fin |
Village Street Auvers |
Casa ad Auvers |
The Red Vineyard |
Boots |
Les vaches |
