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Vincent Van Gogh Biography

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Who is Vincent Van Gogh?

Vincent van Gogh was the world’s famous artist. His painting Starry Night and Sunflower was one of the most famous paintings. He got famous through his paintings only after his death. He was a well-known post - impressionist painter. His works were highly influenced during the 20th century and are notable for their beauty, emotion and colour. Van Gogh’s life was full of struggles. While coming across the Vincent van Gogh short biography, we come to know that he struggled with mental illness and remained poor and virtually unknown to the world throughout his life.


Vincent Van Gogh Early Life

Van Gogh was born on 30th March 1853 at Groot-Zundert in the Netherlands. Theodorus van Gogh was the father of Vincent van Gogh and he was an austere country minister. Anna Cornelia Carbentus was the mother of van Gogh and she was a moody artist. She is a great lover of nature, drawing and colouring.  May this habit be transferred to his son. Vincent van Gogh was born one year after his parents' first son.  Van Gogh was sad as his brother with his name and birthdate died earlier. According to the Vincent van Gogh autobiography, he was the eldest of all six living children. Van Gogh had three younger sisters and two younger brothers.  The names of his siblings are Anna, Elizabeth, Willemien, Theo and Cor. Theo Van Gagh, a brother of Vincent, played an important role in his eldest brother’s life as a confidant, supporter and art dealer.

Vincent Van Gogh Life Story And Education

As per Vincent van Gogh biography, Van Gogh's early life was full of poverty. When Vincent was 15 year old, his family was struggling financially so the situation forced him to leave school and go for work. He joined with his Uncle Cornelis' art dealership in the Goupil & Cie company. He worked as a frim of art dealers in The Hague.  From the time of his work, he was fluent in German, French, Dutch and English. In June 1873, van Gogh transferred to  the Groupil Gallery in London.  Later he fell in love with English culture.  He had a habit of visiting art galleries in his leisure time and also he became a great fan of the writings of Charles Dickens and George Eliot.

During his younger age, he fell in love with Eugenie Loyer, who is his landlady's daughter. But Eugenie Loyer rejected Vincent's marriage proposal so he suffered a breakdown. Later he threw all the books with him except the Bible and he devoted his whole life to God. Later, he became angry with the people at work and requested the customers not to buy such worthless art. So he eventually got fired from his company.

Van Gogh Life Story As Preacher

Van Gogh learnt preaching from Methodist boys' school and preached to the congregation. Though he was raised in a religious family, he was not such a great devotion to god in van Gogh’s early life. In later days he devoted his life to the church. He wished to become a minister, so he started his preparation and took the entrance exam in the School of Theology in Amsterdam. After spending a year studying, he refused to take the Latin exam and he mentioned Latin as a ‘dead language’ of poor people and subsequently refused the entrance exam.  He follows the same in the church of Belgium.  In 1878, during the winter season, van Gogh wished to move to a poor coal mine in the south of Belgium.

The coal mine in south Belgium has a great part in van Gogh biography. This place was usually considered as a punishment place for preachers. There he preached and ministered to the sick people and also drew pictures of the miners and their family members. They are usually called "Christ of the Coal Mines". People who belong to the evangelical committee from these places were not as pleased. So, they disagreed with Van Gogh’s life. This makes the van Gogh life story complicated again. People refused to renew the contract of van Gogh and he was forced by them to find another occupation.


Vincent Van Gogh Life Story In Finding Art

As mentioned in van Gogh biography, After 1880, Vincent Van Gogh decided to move to Brussels to become an artist. Though Vincent did not have any formal art training he tried his best to present his art. Meanwhile, his brother Theo supported him financially to become an artist. He started studying lessons on his own and studied books like Travaux des champs by Jean-François Millet and Cours de dessin by Charles Bargue.

Art of Van Gogh helped him to stay emotionally balanced. In 1885, he began to work and completed his first masterpiece  "Potato Eaters'’. Generally, Theo believed that painting cannot earn such capital, but he was admired by seeing Van Gogh’s art and believed that it would become a trend.  Later, van Gogh decided to move to Paris and he saw the first Impressionist art. He got inspired by the colour and light. He started studying with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Camille Pissarro and others. To save money he accompanied his friends and hired the models and Van Gogh became more passionate to work.


Vincent van Gogh In Arles

Van Gogh got much influenced by Japanese arts and he started studying Eastern philosophy to improve his art and life. He loved to travel to Arles and stayed there. In February 1888, he reached the train to southern France.  He constructed a yellow house and spent his whole money on painting rather than food. He completed more than 2,100 arts. About 860 arts are oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolours, sketches and drawings.

Many paintings of Vincent Van Gogh were ranked as the most expensive in the world. Like, “Irises” drawing paid $53.9 million. "Portrait of Dr Gachet" painting sold for $82.5 million.


Famous Paintings Of Van Gogh

‘The Starry Night’ was painted a year before his death, while staying in an asylum. Oil painting image was the combination of imagination, emotion, memory and observation.

Oil Painting ‘Sunflower’ was painted by Van Gogh. He painted this in two series, one from August to September 1888 and another one from January 1889. Now, these paintings are kept for display at museums in London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Munich and Philadelphia.


Death Of Vincent Van Gogh

On 27th July 1890, Vincent Van Gogh moved out of the painting and carried a pistol on his chest by himself. But the bullet did not kill him, he was left bleeding in his room. That time he worried about his future. Because his brother Theo visited and requested him about his financial needs. That time he gave some of the art and asked him to sell it. But Theo refused it.

Later, Van Gogh was admitted into the nearby hospital and Theo met his brother and spent the next couple of days together. Later Van Gogh requested Theo to take him to his home. On 29th July 1890, Vincent van Gogh shed his last breath in the arms of his brother Theo. While he lost his life he was just 37 years old.

Then Theo also suffered a lot from syphilis, meanwhile weakened by the death of his brother. Theo also died after six months of his brother's death. Initially, Theo was buried in Utrecht. Later in 1914, Theo’s wife Johanna decided to rebury Theo’s body near Auvers cemetery next to Vincent. Theo’s wife Johanna was inspired a lot by van Gogh's paintings and collected them. Then she discovered that many of his paintings were missing or destroyed as his mother threw away his art.

On 17th March 1901, 71 paintings of van Gogh were kept on display for the show in Paris and the fame of painting grew enormously. The mother of Vincent van Gogh lived long to see all his paintings and artistic genius. Even now Vincent van Gogh is considered one of the greatest artists in human history.

Museum Of Van Gogh

To restore and showcase the Vincent van Gogh life story and unique talent. In 1973, the Van Gogh Museum was opened in Amsterdam. This museum glorified the art of Van Gogh. The museum contains more than 200 van Gogh paintings, 500 drawings and 750 written documents. These paintings include self-portraits, “The Potato Eaters,” “The Bedroom” and “Sunflowers.”

In September 2013, the museum discovered an unveiled truth of van Gogh painting. That is the painting of a landscape entitled "Sunset at Montmajour.”

FAQs on Vincent Van Gogh Biography

Why is Van Gogh so popular?

The art of  Van Gogh became astoundingly popular after his death, especially, during the 20th century. Vincent van Gogh’s work was sold for a record-breaking amount.  And his arts became world-famous and was featured in blockbuster touring exhibitions.

Did Van Gogh have children?

According to Vincent van Gogh autobiography, he started life as an artist and spent his life with his parents in the Netherlands. Later he fell in love with one of his widowed cousins, Kee Vos-Stricker. But he never got married nor had children.

Why did Vincent van Gogh shoot himself?

In Van Gogh the life, When he was ill and had a wound near to his heart. When he was admitted to the hospital, he went to the wheat field, where he had his last painting and attempted suicide by shooting himself.