Vincent van Gogh: biography of the great artist. Van Gogh's life, interesting facts and creativity
Vincent Willem Van Gogh - Dutch artist and graphic artist; the largest representative of post-impressionism. Born March 30, 1853 in the small Dutch village of Grot-Zundert, located near the Belgian border. The father of the future artist was a Protestant pastor, and his mother was the daughter of a bookseller. Vincent was the second child in a large family, but since the elder brother died in infancy, he remained with the elder.
Already at the age of 16, he worked for a company selling paintings. Although he was not an excellent businessman, he had a boundless love for painting. The life of the artist has changed dramatically in the two years spent in London. His work was so well paid that he could not deny himself anything. During this period, Vincent actively attended exhibitions in art galleries. On the way to a glorious career, love prevented. A young art dealer fell unconsciously in love with a woman who was already engaged, after which he closed himself in.
He became indifferent to his work, and when he returned to Holland, he fell into religion. From 1886 he lived with his brother in Paris. There he studied painting with F. Cormon, and also met Pissarro, Gauguin and other prominent artists. He draws with bright and clear sketches in the style of the Impressionists. By the age of 27, he already knew for sure that he wanted to be a professional artist. By nature, Van Gogh was very kind and compassionate. He could distribute money and clothes to people in need, even when he himself was not particularly well off.
Life slowly improved, but another personal crisis followed. The widowed cousin, whom he had liked for a long time, refused him, which he was very worried about. This spat caused him to move to The Hague. In 1888, he moved to Arles, as France had long become his second home. The locals avoided him, considering him abnormal. Despite this, he made new acquaintances there and made many good friends. For some time they were in close contact with Gauguin, but after a serious quarrel, he almost killed him by attacking with a razor. In the same period, he cut off his ear, after which he was placed in a psychiatric clinic.
The madness of Van Gogh was already known. The treatment did not give the desired result, as the artist was tormented by hallucinations. In 1890, he went to see his brother Theo, who had just had a son named Vincent after him. The disease seemed to recede and life began to improve again. However, in July of that year, Van Gogh committed suicide. He died by shooting himself in the chest with a pistol. In the last moments of his life, his brother Theo, who loved him dearly, was next to him.
Vincent van Gogh is a Dutch artist who has been searching for peace of mind all his life. Created more than 2100 paintings: landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits. He was strongly attached to his family and committed suicide. Read the biography of the artist, whose talent was appreciated only after his death.
Vincent van Gogh: a short biography
Posthumously famous artist Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in the province of Brabant, in the village of Grot-Zundert, Holland in the family of a pastor. The family, according to the memoirs of Van Gogh himself in notes to his brother Theo, was friendly. Vincent was mentally chained to his mother for the rest of his life. At a young age, this even caused the artist to quit his studies and return to his home.
He received his first general education together with his brother and sisters in his father's house.. The governess did not speak favorably of the future artist. In her opinion, something gloomy, abnormal and detached was read in Vincent. After entering a school in another city, quickly quits educational institution and returns home. Vincent van Gogh did not have a general education . In 1869 he went to work in a company selling paintings. Presumably, during this period, Van Gogh showed a craving for painting. In 1873 moves to London due to promotion. The capital with its temptations, internal laws and innovations for a village boy radically changed the life of a young man. The future master did not move up the career ladder, and love is to blame. Having fallen in love with the daughter of the landlady, he quickly forgets about everything. The young lady was betrothed to another and this was the first blow in the life of Vincent van Gogh. In the future, the theme of love flashes more than once on the map of the artist's life, but, looking ahead, he sought solace already on the breasts of prostitutes.
In 1875 he went to Paris, a dirty and depraved city at that time, which absorbed the soul of the artist. A period of desperate search for oneself begins. The creative side of Paris brought Van Gogh to a circle of eminent artists. He develops a close friendship with Gauguin. It is with this man that the episode with the cut off ear in the life of Van Gogh is connected. In 1877 he returned to his native Netherlands., tries to find solace in religion, starting training as a priest, but soon parted with this idea - the theological situation at the faculty in Amsterdam, where Van Gogh entered, did not suit the rebellious spirit of the creator at all.
In 1886 he returned to Paris again, settling with his brother Theo, who by that time was already married. Birth of a nephew, also named Vincent, and then his sudden death, became another trigger that awakened the mental illness of the author of the famous "Sunflowers". Despite the fact that Van Gogh's paintings are oversaturated with bright colors, life was dirty, vicious and gloomy: he repeatedly had sexual intercourse with prostitutes, was rejected by women with whom he was in love without memory (cousin Kay Vos), ignoring among famous masters brushes and constant disagreements with Gauguin.
Settles in Arles in 1888. Residents reacted with tension to the move of the crazy artist, continuing the chain of social conflicts of Van Gogh. After Van Gogh in an attack cut off a part of the left care and, according to the stories, gave it to Gauguin's favorite prostitute, with whom he also shared a bed, spent several weeks in a psychiatric hospital. I got back to the department a year later, when hallucinations appeared. In 1890 he went to Paris, feeling healthy, but the disease returned again. On July 27, 1890, Vincent van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a pistol. dying in the arms of his brother. Buried in the Cemetery of Auvers.
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When 37-year-old Vincent van Gogh died on July 29, 1890, his work was almost unknown to anyone. Today, his paintings are worth stunning sums and adorn the best museums in the world.
125 years after the death of the great Dutch painter, it is time to learn more about him and dispel some of the myths that, like all art history, his biography is full of.
He changed several jobs before becoming an artist
The son of a minister, Van Gogh started working at the age of 16. His uncle hired him as an intern for an art dealership in The Hague. He happened to travel to London and Paris, where the firm's branches were located. In 1876 he was fired. After that, he worked briefly as a schoolteacher in England, then as a bookstore clerk. From 1878 he served as a preacher in Belgium. Van Gogh was in need, he had to sleep on the floor, but less than a year later he was fired from this post. Only after that he finally became an artist and did not change his occupation anymore. In this field, he became famous, however, posthumously.
Van Gogh's career as an artist was short
In 1881, the self-taught Dutch artist returned to the Netherlands, where he devoted himself to painting. He was supported financially and materially by his younger brother Theodore, a successful art dealer. In 1886, the brothers settled in Paris, and these two years in the French capital turned out to be crucial. Van Gogh took part in exhibitions of the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, he began to use a light and bright palette, experimenting with methods of applying strokes. The artist spent the last two years of his life in the south of France, where he created some of his most famous paintings.
In his entire ten-year career, he sold only a few of over 850 paintings. His drawings (there are about 1300 of them left) were then unclaimed.
He probably didn't cut off his own ear.
In February 1888, after living in Paris for two years, Van Gogh moved to the south of France, to the city of Arles, where he hoped to establish a community of artists. He was accompanied by Paul Gauguin, with whom they became friends in Paris. The officially accepted version of events is as follows:
On the night of December 23, 1888, they quarreled, and Gauguin left. Van Gogh, armed with a razor, pursued his friend, but, not catching up, returned home and, in annoyance, partially cut off his left ear, then wrapped it in a newspaper and gave it to some prostitute.
In 2009, two German scientists published a book suggesting that Gauguin, being a good swordsman, cut off part of Van Gogh's ear with a saber during a duel. According to this theory, Van Gogh, in the name of friendship, agreed to hide the truth, otherwise Gauguin would have been threatened with prison.
The most famous paintings were painted by him in a psychiatric clinic
In May 1889, Van Gogh sought help from the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole psychiatric hospital, located in a former convent in the city of Saint-Remy-de-Provence in southern France. Initially, the artist was diagnosed with epilepsy, but the examination also revealed bipolar disorder, alcoholism and metabolic disorders. Treatment consisted mainly of baths. He remained in the hospital for a year and painted a number of landscapes there. Over a hundred paintings from this period include some of his most famous works, such as "Starry Night" (acquired by the New York Museum contemporary art in 1941) and Irises (purchased by an Australian industrialist in 1987 for a then-record $53.9 million)
Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) is a famous Dutch artist who, with his work, had a huge impact on the painting of the 19th-20th centuries. His creative path was short-lived, only ten years, but during this time he managed to create about 2100 paintings, of which 860 were painted in oils. Worked in artistic direction post-impressionism. He painted portraits, landscapes, still lifes, self-portraits. He lived in poverty and constant anxiety, lost his mind and committed suicide, only after that critics appreciated his great work.
Birth and family
Vincent was born in the southern Dutch province of North Brabant, which is located near the border with Belgium. There was a small village of Grot-Zundert, where on March 30, 1853, the future great artist.
His father, Theodor van Gogh, born in 1822, was a Protestant pastor.
Mom, Anna Cornelia Carbentus, was from The Hague, which is located in the west of the Netherlands. Her father bound and sold books.
In total, seven children were born in the family, Vincent was the second, but the eldest, because the first child died. The name Vincent, meaning "winner", was intended for the first son, the mother and father dreamed that he would grow up, become successful in life and glorify their family. That was the name of the grandfather on the father's side, who served all his life in the Protestant church. But after a month and a half from birth, the child died, his death was a heavy blow, the parents were inconsolable in their grief. However, a year passed and they had a second baby, whom it was decided to name again Vincent in honor of the deceased brother. He became the great winner who brought fame to the Van Gogh family.
Two years after the birth of Vincent, a girl, Anna Cornelia, appeared in the family. In 1857, the boy Theodorus (Theo) was born, who later became a well-known art dealer in Holland, in 1859 the sister Elisabeth Hubert (Liz), in 1862 another sister of Willemine Jacob (Wil), and in 1867 the boy Cornelis (Cor) .
Childhood
Among all the children, Vincent was the most tedious, difficult and wayward, distinguished by strange manners, for which he often received punishments. The governess, who was engaged in raising children, loved Vincent less than the others and did not believe that something good could come of him.
He grew up gloomy and lonely. While the rest of the children rushed around the house and prevented their father from preparing for the pastor's sermon, Vincent retired. He went to wander around the countryside, carefully examined the plants and flowers, weaved braids from woolen threads, combining bright shades and admiring the play of colors.
However, as soon as Vincent left the family environment and found himself among people, he became a completely different child. Among fellow villagers, completely different sides of his character were manifested - modesty, good nature, compassion, friendliness, courtesy. People saw in him a sweet, quiet, thoughtful and serious child.
Surprisingly, such duality then haunted the artist until the end of his days. He really wanted to have a family and kids, but he lived his life alone. He created for people, and they answered him with ridicule.
Among the brothers and sisters, Vincent was the closest to Theo, their friendship lasted until the last breath of the artist. Van Gogh himself recalled his childhood as empty, cold and gloomy.
Education
When Vincent was seven years old, his parents sent him to study at a village school. However, a year later they were taken away from there, and the boy received his education at home with a governess.
In the autumn of 1864, he was taken to a boarding school, which was located 20 kilometers from his native village, in the town of Zevenbergen. The departure from his home left a deep impression on the boy, he suffered greatly and remembered it all his life. During this period Van Gogh made his first sketches and copies of lithographs.
Two years later he was transferred to another boarding school, it was Willem II College in Tilburg. Best of all, the teenager was given foreign languages, here he began to learn how to draw.
In the early spring of 1868, when his studies had not yet ended, Vincent dropped out of college and went home to his parents. This was the end of his formal education. Parents were very worried that their son grew up so unsociable. And they were also worried that Vincent was not attracted to any profession. As soon as the father started a conversation with him about the need to work, the son agreed with him, briefly answering: “Of course, work is a necessary condition for human existence.”
Youth
Van Gogh's father served all his life in not very prestigious parishes, so he dreamed that his son had a good well-paid job. He turned to his brother, also named Vincent, to help arrange young Van Gogh somewhere. Uncle Saint used to work in a large trade and art firm, but he had already retired and was gradually engaged in the sale of paintings in The Hague. However, he remained connected, and in the summer of 1869 he gave his nephew his recommendations and helped him get a job in the Hague branch of the Goupil company.
Here Vincent underwent initial training as a dealer in the sale of paintings and began to work with great zeal. He showed good results, and already in the summer of 1873 the guy was transferred to the London branch of this company.
Every day, by the nature of his service, he had to deal with works of art, and the guy began to be well versed in painting, and not just understand it, but also deeply appreciate it. On weekends, he went to city galleries, antique shops and museums, where he admired the work of French artists Jules Breton and Jean-Francois Millet. I tried to draw myself, but then, looking at each new drawing, I grinned displeasedly.
In London, he lived in an apartment with the widow of the priest Ursula Loyer. Vincent fell in love with the owner's daughter Eugenia. But the girl has a young boy who speaks badly in English language, only evoked a sense of amusement. Van Gogh invited Eugenia to become his wife. She gave a sharp refusal, saying that she had been engaged for a long time, and he, a provincial Fleming, was not interested in her. Vincent received such a blow for the first time, but the consequences of this mental wound remained for life.
Young Van Gogh was crushed, he did not want to work or live. Vincent wrote in letters to his brother Theo that only God helps him survive, and, probably, he will become a priest, like his grandfather and father.
In the late spring of 1875, Vincent was transferred to work in Paris. But the lost interest in life led to the fact that he was fired due to the poor performance of his duties, even the patronage of Uncle Saint did not help. Van Gogh returned to London, where for some time he worked in a boarding school in an unpaid position as a teacher.
Finding yourself
In 1878, Vincent left for his homeland in the Netherlands. He was already 25 years old, and he still did not decide how to continue to live. Parents sent their son to Amsterdam, where he settled with Uncle Jan and began to diligently prepare for entering the university at the Faculty of Theology. Very soon, studies disappointed the young Van Gogh, he wanted to be as useful as possible for ordinary people, and he decided to leave for the south of Belgium.
Vincent came to the Borinage mining district as a priest. He saved miners who fell under the rubble, held conversations with dying people, read sermons to the miners. With the last money he bought wax and lamp oil, he tore his clothes into bandages. He had no idea about medicine, but he helped hopeless patients, and soon they began to consider him "not of this world."
At the same time, Vincent constantly had a desire to draw. He wanted to sketch on paper every object that he met on the way. But Van Gogh understood that drawing would distract him from the main thing and decided not to start. Each time he wanted to pick up a brush or pencil, he said a firm “no”.
He didn't have anything. He could not even think about women after Evgenia's refusal. Vincent's younger brother Theo helped with money. Relatives insisted that it was time to quit their sermons, which do not bring income and return to life, get a home and a family.
creative way
In the end, Vincent decided to listen to the reproaches of his relatives, he left the sermons and determined for himself the only desired and faithful life path- drawing. In this matter, he had no experience, but as Van Gogh himself said: "Where there is a desire, there is a way out." He began to master the technique of drawing, to study the laws of perspective, for the sake of art he was ready to endure all sorts of hardships.
In 1880, Vincent's brother Theo helped Vincent financially so that he could go to Brussels to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. After studying there for four months, Van Gogh had a fight with the teacher and went home to his parents. At this time, his cousin Kay Vos-Stricker was visiting them, with whom Vincent tried to start a love relationship. The woman he liked rejected him again. Can't bear to fail anymore love front Van Gogh decided to give up trying to start a family forever and devote his life only to drawing.
He moved to The Hague, where the landscape painter Anton Mauve became his teacher in the world of painting. Van Gogh still had no money, Theo kept him. Vincent began to work very hard to thank his younger brother for his kindness and patronage. He walked around the city a lot, studying every little thing, the artist was especially interested in the poor quarters. So his first paintings “Backyards” and “Roofs. View from Van Gogh's workshop.
Soon Vincent left The Hague for the province of Drenthe in the northeast of the Netherlands. There he rented a hotel hut, equipped it as a workshop and painted landscapes from morning to night. He was also very interested in the theme of the peasants, their daily life and work.
Absence art education still affected the paintings of Van Gogh, it was problematic for him to depict human figures. Thus, his own style was developed, in which a person was deprived of graceful, smooth, measured movements, he, as it were, merged with nature and became an integral part of it. This approach is clearly visible in his paintings:
- "Peasant woman at the hearth";
- "Two Women on the Moorland";
- "Digging peasant woman";
- "Villagers planting potatoes";
- "Two women in the forest";
- "Two peasant women digging potatoes".
In 1886 the artist moved from Drenthe to Paris to live with his brother. This fruitful period was marked in Van Gogh's work by the fact that his palette became much lighter. Previously, earthy colors prevailed in his paintings, but now there is a purity of blue, red, golden yellow colors:
- "Exterior of a restaurant in Asnières";
- "Bridges along the Seine at Asnier";
- "Daddy Tanguy";
- "On the outskirts of Paris";
- "Factories in Asnières";
- "Sunset on Montmartre";
- "Corner of the Park d'Argenson in Asnières";
- "The courtyard of the hospital in Henri".
Unfortunately, the public did not accept or buy Van Gogh's paintings. This caused the artist mental anguish. But he continued to work for days on end, while he could sit for weeks only on tobacco, absinthe and coffee.
Last years of life and death
The use of a large amount of absinthe as a result led to the development of mental disorders. Once, during an attack, Vincent cut off his earlobe, after which he was placed in a psychiatric hospital in a violent ward.
In the spring of 1889 he was transferred to an institution for the mentally ill in Saint-Remy-de-Provence. Here he lived for a year, during which time he painted about 150 paintings.
At the end of 1889, his work aroused genuine interest for the first time at the Brussels Exhibition, and in January 1890 an enthusiastic article about Van Gogh's paintings was published. However, the artist was no longer pleased.
In early 1890, he was released from the clinic, and Van Gogh came to his brother. He managed to paint his famous canvases:
- "Rural road with cypresses";
- "Street and stairs in Auvers";
- "Wheat field with crows".
And on July 27, 1890, Vincent shot himself with a revolver he bought to scare away birds while painting. He missed and missed the heart, so he died only a day and a half later, on July 29, from blood loss. He left quietly without saying a word. Everything that he wanted to say to this world, Van Gogh depicted on his canvases. Exactly six months later, his younger brother Theo died.
During the life of the artist, only fourteen of his paintings were sold. A hundred years have passed, and his works are included in the list of the most expensive paintings sold in the world. For example, "Self-Portrait with Ear and Pipe Cut Off" was sold to a private collection for $90 million in the late 1990s.
The future artist was born in a small Dutch village called Grot Zundert. This joyful event in the family of the Protestant priest Theodor van Gogh and his wife Anna Cornelius van Gogh happened on March 30, 1853. There were only six children in the pastor's family. Vincent is the oldest. Relatives considered him a difficult and strange child, while neighbors noted in him modesty, compassion and friendliness in relations with people. Subsequently, he repeatedly said that his childhood was cold and gloomy.
At the age of seven, Van Gogh was assigned to a local school. Exactly one year later, he returned home. Having received his primary education at home, in 1864 he went to Zevenbergen to a private boarding school. He studied there for a short time - only two years, and moved to another boarding school - in Tilburg. He was noted for his ability to learn languages and draw. It is noteworthy that in 1868 he suddenly dropped out of school and went back to the village. This was the end of his education.
Youth
It has long been customary that the men in the Van Gogh family were engaged in only two types of activities: the sale of art canvases and parochial activities. Young Vincent could not help but try himself in both. He achieved some success both as a pastor and as an art dealer, but the passion for drawing took its toll.
At the age of 15, Vincent's family helped him get a job at the Hague branch of the art company Goupil & Co. His career growth was not long in coming: for his diligence and success in his work, he was transferred to the British branch. In London, he turned from a simple country boy, a lover of painting, into a successful businessman, a professional who understands the engravings of English masters. It has a metropolitan look. Not far off and moving to Paris, and work in the central office of the Goupil company. However, something unexpected and incomprehensible happened: he fell into a state of "painful loneliness" and refused to do anything. Soon he was fired.
Religion
In search of his destiny, he went to Amsterdam and intensively prepared to enter the theological faculty. But he soon realized that he did not belong here, dropped out and entered a missionary school. After graduating in 1879, he was offered to preach the Law of God in one of the cities in southern Belgium. He agreed. During this period, he paints a lot, mostly portraits of ordinary people.
Creation
After the disappointments that befell Van Gogh in Belgium, he again fell into depression. Brother Theo came to the rescue. He gave him moral support and helped him enter the Academy of Fine Arts. There he studied for a short time and returned to his parents, where he continued to independently study various techniques. In the same period, he experienced several unsuccessful novels.
The most fruitful time in the work of Van Gogh is the Parisian period (1886-1888). He met with prominent representatives of impressionism and post-impressionism: Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Renoir, Paul Gauguin. He constantly searched for his own style and at the same time studied various techniques. modern painting. Imperceptibly brightened and his palette. From light to a real riot of colors characteristic of his canvases recent years, there is very little left.
Other biography options
- After returning to the psychiatric clinic, Vincent, as usual, went to draw from nature in the morning. But he returned not with sketches, but with a bullet fired by himself from a pistol. It remains unclear how a serious wound allowed him to reach the shelter on his own and live for another two days. He died on July 29, 1890.
- In a brief biography of Vincent van Gogh, it is impossible not to mention one name - Theo van Gogh, the younger brother, who helped and supported his elder brother all his life. He could not forgive himself for the last quarrel and subsequent suicide famous artist. He died exactly one year after Van Gogh's death from nervous exhaustion.
- Van Gogh cut off his ear after a violent quarrel with Gauguin. The latter thought that they were going to attack him, and fled in fear.