Lindsay Gates

Mr. Frampton
Exploratory Art
December 28 2016
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands. He was a postimpressionist painter, and many consider his works to be ahead of their time, which is why they
were so unsuccessful during his lifetime. He was the oldest of child of Theodorus van Gogh, who
was a minister for the Reformed Dutch Church, and Anna Cornelia Carbentus. He was named
after his grandfather, and after a brother who was stillborn exactly a year before he was born. His
family - consisting of his parents, himself, a brother, and 3 sisters - was extremely religious. He
was homeschooled by his mother and a governess until 1860, when they sent him to the village
school. In 1864, they sent him to a boarding school where he was very unhappy, but instead of
bringing him home, they sent him to a different one in 1866. He was always interested in art as a
child, because of his mothers encouragements to draw.

He learned from an art teacher there to capture impressions of objects in nature or everyday life,
rather than following techniques. However, he was still unhappy in his school life, so the lessons
did not have a large impact on him. He returned home from his schooling in 1868. He wrote later
on in life of how cold and unhappy his childhood was.
When he returned home, his uncle found him a job at a local art dealer called Goupil and
Cie. He loved his work and his life was very pleasant and happy at this point, the happiest it had
ever been. He was soon transferred to the London branch of this company, where he lived for 2
years. He had fallen in love with his landladys daughter and after expressing his feelings for her,
she rejected him. At this point, he became withdrawn and depressed. His father and uncle soon
arranged for him to be transferred to Paris. In Paris, he was only developed further problems,
especially with the company's dealings, and he was dismissed after a year. He returned to
London and took an unpaid job as a teacher. He moved with his boss in order to keep the job, but
when it did not work out, he left the job to become a Methodist ministers assistant. He left this
and returned home for Christmas for 6 months, where he worked a job at a bookstore that he was
unhappy at, and he spent most of this time drawing pictures. He still immersed himself in
religion at this point, and he continued to read the Bible and translate it. Because of this religious
conviction, he left to live with another uncle in 1877, who was a theologian. He went to school
to become a minister, but failed the entrance exam and another course on theology. He left his
uncles house after this, and left to Belgium to be a missionary. While there, he gave his room at
a bakery to a homeless person, and instead lived in a small hut, which angered church authorities
there. He did not return home until 1880, which angered his parents. They grew frustrated and
became sure that he was crazy and they wanted to sent him to the lunatic asylum. He stayed with
a miner in Cuesmes from August to October 1880. After his brother, Theo, suggested that he

become serious about art, van Gogh began drawing scenes of the landscape around him. He also
registered at an academy to study art, where he learned anatomy and rules of perspective and
modelling. He returned to Etten in April of 1881 to stay with his parents. His recently widowed
cousin, Kee, was also visiting at this time, and he fell in love with her. She turned him down as
well when he expressed his love for her. After this, van Gogh left for The Hague to sell paintings.
His cousin, Anton Mauve, who lived there, suggested that he return in a few months after he
worked on some of his techniques. After he returned home for some time, he left for Amsterdam
to pursue his cousin Kee further. She continued to deny him, and her parents did as well, calling
his pursuit of her disgusting. He felt so depressed that he held his hand over a flame, demanding
that he be able to see her for as long as he could hold his hand over it.
Van Gogh returned to the Hague and started a relationship with a prostitute who had a
daughter and was pregnant. Due to pressure from his father, he left her and the children, and she
later drowned herself in a river. He went to live in Nuenen in September of 1883, where he
focused on painting and drawing. His father died of a heart attack while he lived there, on March
26, 1885. During this year, he made many drawings and watercolors as well as about 200 oil
paintings. Most of the colors in these pieces of art were made up of darker tones, probably due to
the recent tragedies in his life, and these pieces were not like the ones of his future, made of
brighter tones. After an art dealer in Paris expressed interest at buying his art, he produced his
first major piece of art, called The Potato Eaters in May of 1885.

His paintings were not selling, however, because they were not using the bright colors
that were so popular at the time. One of his models also became pregnant at this time, which was
blamed on him and dramatically decreased his already small popularity. He became extremely
poor at this point, using money to buy art supplies instead of foo. He moved to Paris and lived
with his brother Theo. he
Pointilism at this time.

also learned the technique of

Paul Gauguin was a fellow artist who came to visit him when he lived in Arles, France.
He invited Gauguin to stay with him because he had dreams of an artists collective. This was
around the time where he cut his ear off. There are many theories as to why he did this, because
the actual circumstances are unknown. The most popular belief, however, is that he suffered from
a serious mental breakdown because he was afraid that Gauguin was going to leave Arles and he
did not want to be alone. They did not get along, and one night they were in a fight. Van Gogh
returned to his room in the Yellow House, and when he was alone he heard voices, so he cut his
ear off. He bandaged his wound and then wrapped the ear in paper, and delivered it to a woman
at a brothel Van Gogh and Gauguin both frequented. He was sent to an asylum, where he was
extremely depressed, and his work show this. This location was what inspired many of his
paintings, including his most famous one, The Starry Night. He was released and moved to
Auvers in May of 1890. His depression continued here, and he shot himself on July 27, 1890 at
the age of 37. He died 30 hours after the incident, and his brother Theo was there to hear his last
words The sadness will last forever.
Although he suffered many tragedies during his lifetime and many losses, and although
his paintings and drawing were not a success during his lifetime, he is now considered one of the
best painters of all time. His works have been in many exhibitions and museums, and they are
among the

most expensive

paintings

in the world.