Vincent Van Gogh's Life:
Vincent Van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. Son of a pastor, Van Gogh was brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere. Vincent was very emotional and lacked self-confidence. He had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage, Belgiam. He remained in Belgium to study art and was determined to give happiness by creating beauty. In 1880, van Gogh turned to painting as a profession. His early works were still lifes and scenes of peasant life done in dark colors. For an example of van Gogh's work from this period, see the Letter writing article in the print version of World Book.
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. Van Gogh pursued Gauguin with an open razor for wanting to leave Arles, but was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off with the razor. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment. In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all."
During his brief career he had sold one painting. This new technology, paint in tubes, was a very popular media used by many Impressionist artists. This enabled Van Gogh to be outside and paint his surroundings, where some of his most famous artwork was created. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.
Vincent Van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. Son of a pastor, Van Gogh was brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere. Vincent was very emotional and lacked self-confidence. He had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage, Belgiam. He remained in Belgium to study art and was determined to give happiness by creating beauty. In 1880, van Gogh turned to painting as a profession. His early works were still lifes and scenes of peasant life done in dark colors. For an example of van Gogh's work from this period, see the Letter writing article in the print version of World Book.
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. Van Gogh pursued Gauguin with an open razor for wanting to leave Arles, but was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off with the razor. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment. In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all."
During his brief career he had sold one painting. This new technology, paint in tubes, was a very popular media used by many Impressionist artists. This enabled Van Gogh to be outside and paint his surroundings, where some of his most famous artwork was created. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.
