Vincent
van Gogh's
Life

Early life

Born in a mostly Catholic province of North Brabant in Netherlands, son of Theodorus van Gogh (1822-1888) and Anna Cornelia Carbentus (1819-1907), on March 30 of 1853 under the name of Vincent Willem van Gogh.
He was not the first Vicent van Gogh in the family, a year prior to his born, his parents had another son that was a stillborn. There was another Vincent more, his grandfather also had the same name, he was an artdealer and theologist. It was a very common name in the family.
Theodorus was a minister of the Dutch Reformed church, and Anna came from a prosperus family in Hague. This pair meet when Theodorus older brother married (also named Vincent "Cent", told you it was a common name) Anna's younger sister Cornelia. The two married in 1851 and had the stillborn baby, Vincent in 1853, Anna in 1855, Theo in 1857, Elisabeth in 1859, Willemina "Wil" in 1862, and Cornelis in 1967. Vincent will remain close only Theo and Willemina.
The kids were raised to uphold the family's social status despite the modest salary that Theodorus received as a minister, luckily the church provided the family with a house and maids.
Vincent was interested in art since a young age, and his mother told him how to draw to him and his siblings. He was educated by his mother and a governess, until he was send to the village school and later to a boarding school in Zevenbergen. This lead to him felt very abandoned, but even thought he protest being so far, his parent still sent him away in middle school to Tilburg (1866), making Vincent very unhappy. Here he received his first formal painting education, but he was so upset that maybe didn't pay any attention to them. He come back home in 1868.

Adulting

In 1869 his uncle "Cent" obtained a job for Vincent as an art dealer in The Hague, completing his training in 1873 at the Goupil & Cie and was transferred to the London branch.
This period of his life is remember as the happiest years of Vincent's liefe; he was being succesful at work and made good money. Anna, his sister was living with him, only addind more joy to his life. He also enoyed to visit museums and admire all the art he could find. Specially admired Millier and Jules Breton, part of the realism movement. These painters showed the peasant class and their lifestyle with no filter. Something in this paintings really moved the core of Vincent, and promised that some day he would do somthing to help this people.
In 1974 fell in love of his landlady's daughter, Eugenie. In August he confess his love to her, and asked her to marry him. Sadly the love was not reciprocated and she rejected him. Eugenie was secretly engaged to another man, a former lodger. Vincent did not took this well. He was crushed by the rejection, and started years of self-sabotage by him. At the beggining he isolated from everyone, includying Anna.
In December of that same year Anna writes to Theo, concerned about her brother extrange behaviour, calling him "strange and unfriendly" and "irritable and hard to live with". But not only Vincent started to despise the people that was around him, he also started to despise his job, he still loved the art, just not trading it.
In an effort for helping him, his brother and father arranged his tranfer to the Paris branch. It did not work, he only become more reclusive, an turn more and more into religion. Finallky, in 1876, he was fired from the auction house. After that took unpaid job as a teacher, and later at a bookshop near his parent house. Finally realizing that he wanted to become a priest.

Religious beliefs

Vincent came from a very religious family. But his "call" camer more late in life. He studied rigorously for ther exam no enter to the Teology School in Amsterdam. Despite being very strict with his studies, he refused to study latin, because he considered a death tongue and "useless". The faculty denied him entrance.
Tried to enter in the Evangelical Church of Belgium, who also denied him entrance because of his stubborness. It was that same obstination that made him volunteer as a missionare in a enpovered village on the south of Belgium. Ministers were sent there as a punishment.
In 1879, van Gogh was struggling with his faith. Questioning his privileges, while the people around him were suffering, and started gave away his possesions to people of the village. Even the house where he was living, moving to a small hut. Shortly after this the church started to question van Gogh decitions, and that his poor living conditions were undermining fthe dignityu of priesthood. He remained stubborn as always, and was let go by the church soon after this.
He was in a very poor mind state, in his eyes no matter what he would do, or how good his intentions was, or how passionate he was about it, he was doomed to fail. And after his last failed attemp he had his faith shattered, he had no money or belongins, he entered in a manic state and decided to walk 50 km to Brusells, without telling a soul about what had happened to him. At 27 he was more depressed than ever. For 4 years he did nothing. He was back in his parents house, even though they were very dissapointed on their son.

First steeps as an artist

Van Gogh was a deep depression for 4 years, and finally his father had enough and treatened him with send him to an asylum, Vincent mooved out of the house to a small village in Belgium.
With nothing to distracted him, he began to draw, finding inspiration in the daily tasks of the peasant's life. Remembered was he has promise himself years ago, that he would find a way to help these people, if it wasn't going to be through faith it there be through art.
His brother Theo was vital in the stage, he was a succesful art dealer and always had so much faith in his brother, so it became to support Vincent financially, he did this for the rest of van Gogh's life.
Theo insisted of that Vincent should had formal art education, but Vincent did not last in the academia, instead he decided that he would learn art from other artists.

Influence

Vincent found influence in a lot of artist, such as Monet and Pissarro, Emile Bernard, Touluse-Lautre, who will also where his friends. A lot of artist in this generation, he was also influenced by Japanese prints, giving him a powerful fgoundation for the work he will create.

He was also inspired by Delacroix work an use of colour. Using his colour wheel to work with colour in the opposite sides to create more contrast. And Paul Signac inbfluience greatly on his paintings.

In 1881 he was introduced to oil painting by Anton Mauve, the frienship for other side did not last, after just a month of meeting they had a fight and never spoke again. His friendships tend to be shortlived and end up really badly in anger or in hate. Aparently he had a hard time expressing himself, he had more luck expressing emotions trough his paintings. After Mauve died a few years later, he painted a piece in his honor.

Nuenen and Antwerep 1883-1886

Vincent mooved here in 1883, in here he developed his strong work ethic. Everyday he walked out and painted something. Some of the spot became a recurrent protagonist of his painting, like an old church that can be seen in many of the pieces during this period. Many thing that was a tribute to his father and the religion that a time ago was the focus of all this faith.
By 1885, his father died, and the frief overwhelmed him, he even change radically how he portraayed the same church after his father death.
Months later, Theo was succesful in secured a spot for Vincent in an art exhibition, the first chance for Vincent to show his art to the rest of the world. He sent Theo The Potato Eaters, it did not have the best reception even though Vincent said multiple times that it was his masterpiece. Even Theo lost a little of his faith on Vincent, he said that "the paintings were to dark and depressive to sell and shoul learn how to use more color". Vincent was hurt, but knew that his brother was right. He became obssesewd for three months about color theory, and for the first time the color of his paintigs evolve from muted color, so other so mnuch vibrant.

Paris 1886-1888

He became to excel when he moved back to Paris under Theo's petition. He stated getting confortable with the color blue and by the summer he had progress into red.By the end of the year is difficult to find so much similarities with works made a year before, he had made such an improvement, the addition ofd colour gave change his art forever. Not only the color was vibrant, the technique changed as well, with shades of pointillism and unique brushstrokes. You can tell the difference in these two paintings.

And started to catch the attention of other artists, like Herni de Toulouse-latrec, and Paul Signac, a pointillist that influence greatly to Vincent.

Breakthrough

Arles 1888-1889

By 1888 van Gogh physical health was deteriorating. He was so centered in painting in the last two years in Paris, that he didnt leave money for necessities leaving him malnurished, add that to a lot of drinking and smoking. He had a constant cough and missed a tooth.

That's why he moved to Arles, a coastal city in the south of France. Leaving behind his life in Paris in an effort to try to nurse himself back to health.
When he arrived, rented a house, that would later be known as the yellow house. The period he spent in this house is one of his most prolific periods. By the summer of 1888, paintings stgarted to hang in the walls of the house, lots of them became iconic pieces by the painter. And an idea pop into his head, turn the Yellow House and Arles in a artistic colony, to live together, learn and collaborate.

This idea will lead to maybe one of the most known events in van Gogh's life. In 1888, the painter Paul Gauguin accepted to live with Vincent in Arles, after months of pleading from Vincent.He saw Gauguin as the missing peace to achieve the success of his dream of the art colony, for sure if Paul accepted the idea, others would come.
What Vincent did not knew, whats that Paul Gauiguin was not going on free will. Theo paid him to go and visit Vincent, he was Gauguin's art dealer and promise him 150 francs per month. Gauguin never see the trip as nothing else that a mend to make some money. But in this time he stayed in Arles, teached van Gogh to pain from his memory and not from sketches.
Vincent trully admired Gauguin, and wanted to be treated as an equal. While Paul awas known to be a little arrogant, frustrating van Gogh, fearing that his fellow artist will abandon him. Vincent really cared about to earn Gauguin's respect and make him trully believe in the idea of a artist colony that they started to fight almost daily, and by December of 1888 the situation exploded.
Previous to the event, both were stuck inside the house due to bad weather, making the tension between them only grow more. When the final fight ignited somethuing inside Vincent just broke, Gauguin's memories of the event tell that van Gogh reatened him with a razor. Is not clear if Gauguin told Vincent the real motives of his stay in Arles, just to earn some money to leave Europe again. This ruined the plans that van Gogh had for art collective, another failure to the painter.
Paul stormed out and Vincent had a mental breakdown, had acoustic hallucinations and in the enraged manic state he cut off his left ear, took it to the brothel, wrapped in wax paper, and gave it to a prostitute that Paul Gauguin frequented. The next morning he was found unconcious, and taken into an hospital.

Hospital in Arles (December 1888)

After the incident, VIncent woke up in an Hospital in Arles. He was attended by a youn doctor in training, Dr. Felix Rey, and told that he had no recollections from the event, this suggested that he had experienced a mental breakdown.

The hospital diagnose him with "acute mania with generalized delirium", and the painter was ordered by the police to stay under hospital care. Gauguin told Theo, who rushed to Arles (after propose to Johanna on Christmas) and conforted Vincent, who was semi-lucid at the time.
Accordiong to the reports, Vincent asked a lot for Gauguin in the first days of the treatment. Paul told the hospital staff and police that if VIncent asked for him were told that he left for Paris, and that he would be treated with care. They never saw each other again, buit continue to write letters.

Van Gogh was in an out of the hospital for the next months, having allucinations and delusions. Even was kick out of the house when people from the town called him "the readhead madman". He returned to the hospital. Paul Signac visited him 2 times in March of 1889, an by May he fled Arles. Gave Dr. Felix a portrait of him, he was not found of the painting, using it to fix a coop (it was sold years later for 50 million).

Saint-Rémy Asylum May 1889-May 1890

Vincent van Gogh's time in the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence asylum, from 1889 to 1890, marked a significant phase in his artistic journey. While confined within the asylum's walls, Van Gogh's creativity soared, and he produced a remarkable body of work that captured the depth of his emotions.
The asylum provided Van Gogh with a structured and supportive environment, allowing him to channel his struggles into his art. During this period, he painted some of his most celebrated masterpieces, including "The Starry Night" and "Irises." These works showcase his distinctive style characterized by swirling brushwork, vibrant colors, and an intense emotional presence.
Despite the challenges of his mental health, Van Gogh's time in the asylum was a period of immense artistic exploration and self-expression. Through his paintings, he found solace and a means to communicate his innermost thoughts and feelings. Today, these artworks stand as a testament to Van Gogh's resilience and his ability to find beauty and inspiration even in the darkest moments of his life.

Exhibitions and recognition 1890

Its is a myth that he was uynrecognized during his lifetime. His peers considered him an important artist. And had been exhibit in Brussells with Cezzane, Touluse-Lautre and Renoir. He sold a painting for 400 francs (not a bad amount of money) and a critic wropte an article about him.

Tweo months before his death 10 of his paintings were on displkay for a show on Paris. He killed himself in the verge of success.

Auvers-sur-Oiose May-July 1890

Vincent van Gogh's time in Auvers-sur-Oise, from May to July 1890, was a period of great artistic productivity and a renewed sense of purpose. Seeking refuge in the peaceful countryside, he found inspiration in the picturesque landscapes and rustic charm of the village.
In Auvers, Van Gogh painted numerous scenes depicting the idyllic countryside, quaint cottages, and fields of wheat. He captured the essence of rural life with his characteristic bold brushwork and expressive use of color. Paintings such as "Wheatfield with Crows" and "The Church at Auvers" showcase his ability to evoke emotion through his vibrant and textured compositions.
During his time in Auvers, Van Gogh formed a close friendship with Dr. Paul Gachet, who became his physician and confidant. Gachet's support and understanding provided Van Gogh with a sense of stability and encouragement in his artistic pursuits.
Van Gogh's time in Auvers was marked by an intense dedication to his craft. Despite his ongoing battles with mental health, he continued to produce a remarkable body of work, leaving behind a lasting artistic legacy.
Sadly, Van Gogh's time in Auvers was cut short, but the artworks he created during this period demonstrate his unwavering passion, his deep connection to nature, and his profound ability to capture the essence of the world around him..

Health and Mental Health

Diagnose?

While today is impossible and irresponsablke give and accuirate diagnose of what was affecting Vincent during his life, we can speculate. At the day the doctors diagnosed him with epilepsy, but there is a chance that he had a bipolar disorder. Haviung maniac episodes and depression.

He was admitted a few times in an institution, calling his fellow patients his "companions in misfortune". He was IN the asylum in Saint-Rémy, and was one of the saniest patients there. The asylum had a possitive effect on him allowing him to paint most of the time. Beside the medical attention in the institution he drink a lot less durings this time, was away from tubulent relationships and had a rutine. The founder of Saint-Rémy Asylum was a very progressive man, away from the horrific scene that were the mental institutions in the 1800, Saint-Rémy was surropunded by nature and extensive gardens. He believed that the art and the music had a healing power. Theo was paying for the treatment and insisted that his brother was allow to paint, so Vincent had a dedicated studio for this purpose, creating brilliant pieces of art despite of his illness, not because of it. Even tought his window had bars, he had an amazing view with olive groves and vineyards.

The isolation suited him. He was already a hard worker, so without outside distractions he channeled all his energy into painting. He still had manic attacks, and suffered when he could not paint. His first painting were abpout the view from his window, after a while he was allow to wander around adn had the country side to admire and be inspire by.

After he was dispatched he went to visit his brother, Theo, in Paris. People remember how healthy he looked.

other things

Despite his more known distress was the mental health, he also had syphilis.

Suicide attemps

During a manic episode the tried to killed himself by ingestion of paint and turpentine, trying to killed himself with colour.

Death

On the fateful day of July 27, 1890, Vincent van Gogh found himself in a wheatfield near the village of Auvers-sur-Oise, France. Wrestling with inner turmoil and mental anguish, he made a fateful decision. In a moment of desperation, he raised a revolver to his chest and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot pierced the quiet countryside. Despite the gravity of his self-inflicted wound, van Gogh managed to summon the strength to stumble back to his lodgings. There, doctors were quickly summoned to attend to him. The severity of the injury became apparent as they assessed the damage. The bullet had pierced his abdomen, causing internal bleeding and critical injuries. In the following days, van Gogh clung to life, supported by medical care and the presence of his devoted brother, Theo. Surrounded by the somber atmosphere, the artist's condition slowly deteriorated. On July 29, 1890, Vincent van Gogh's battle with his inner demons came to an end as he breathed his last breath, passing away at the age of 37. Despite Vincent saying that he had taken his own life, there have been persistent theories suggesting alternative explanations for his death. Among the various alternative theories surrounding Vincent van Gogh's death, one suggests that a young boy from Auvers may have been responsible for shooting him. This theory proposes that the artist was accidentally shot by the boy while they were in the wheatfield together. However, it is important to note that the majority of historians and experts consider this theory to be speculative and lacking substantial evidence. The prevailing belief is that van Gogh's death was the result of his own actions, driven by his mental health struggles. Regardless of the theories, the tragedy of van Gogh's untimely demise continues to captivate the imagination and fuel discussions surrounding his life and legacy. Shortly after Vincent's death, his beloved brother, Theo van Gogh, succumbed to illness and passed away. Theo had been a pillar of support for Vincent throughout his life, both emotionally and financially. Devastated by the loss of his brother, Theo's health deteriorated rapidly, exacerbated by the strain he had endured. Only six months after Vincent's death, Theo, too, departed from this world, leaving behind a legacy of unwavering dedication and support for his brother's artistic endeavors. Their tragic deaths marked the end of an era for the van Gogh family and added a layer of sorrow to the already complex and remarkable story of the Van Gogh brothers.