Vincent van Gogh
Carlos Jimenez
October 4, 2003
Van Gogh

Van Gogh «van GOH or
van GAWKH», Vincent
(1853-1890), was a
Dutch painter. He is
one of the most famous
painters in modern art.
But during his lifetime,
he received little
recognition and sold
only one painting.
Van Gogh

Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in
Groot-Zundert, near Breda, the Netherlands.
When he was 16, he went to The Hague to
work for his uncle, an art dealer. Vincent's
brother Theo, to whom he was devoted,
stayed in the family art business and
eventually became Vincent’s dealer.
Van Gogh


His father was a Protestant pastor, and van
Gogh first trained for the ministry, but he
abandoned his studies in 1878 and went to work
as a lay preacher among the impoverished
miners of the grim Borinage district in Belgium.
He remained in the Borinage, suffering acute
poverty and a spiritual crisis, until 1880, when he
found that art was his vocation and the means
by which he could bring consolation to humanity.
Early Works
The Weaver
In 1880,
van Gogh turned to painting as a
1884
profession.
His early works were still lifes and
Pen and Pencil Heightened with
scenes
ofWove
peasant
life done in dark colors.
White on Thin
Paper
11 x 16 inches
 Although
he often suffered from extreme
poverty and undernourishment, his output in
the ten remaining years of his life was
Potato
Eaters
prodigious: about 800 paintingsThe
and
a similar
Nuenen, April or Sept.- Oct., 1885
number of drawings.

Oil on canvas, 32 ¼ x 45 inches
Experimenting


Van Gogh was largely self-taught as an artist,
although he received help from his cousin, Mauve.
In 1886, van Gogh went to Paris. He became part of
the intellectual excitement of the Paris art scene
through
contact with such French painters as
Japonaiserie:
Camille
FloweringPissarro,
Plum Tree Emile Bernard, Paul Gauguin, and
Georges
He experimented with
Paris: Sept.Seurat.
– Oct., 1887
Impressionism
and
Oil on canvas, 55 x 46
cm other modern art styles and
painted scenes of suburban and city life. He also
started to collect Japanese prints, which profoundly
influenced his work.
Impressionism
Van Gogh became obsessed by the symbolic
Sower
andThe
expressive
values of colors and began to
Arles,
June 1888
use
them
for this purpose rather than, as did the
Oil on Impressionists,
canvas, 25 ¼ x 31 ¾ inches
for the reproduction of visual
appearances, atmosphere, and light.
 The impressionist style of painting is
characterized chiefly by concentration on the
general impression produced by a scene or
The Night Café in The Place Lamartine
object and the use of unmixed primary
in Arlescolors
and small strokes to simulate Arles,
actual
reflected
September
1888
light.
Oil on canvas, 27 ½ x 35 inches

The Visit


In 1888, Gauguin visited van Gogh in Arles. Van
Gogh prepared for his arrival by dedicating
himself
toFifteen
a series
of sunflower paintings to
Vase with
Sunflowers
welcome
colleague.
All though van Gogh
Arles, his
January
1889
Starry Night Over the Rhone
andOilGauguin
were
friends,
many
times1888
their
Arles,
September
on canvas, 37 ½ x 28 ¾
Oil and
on canvas,
28 ½ x many
36 ¼ inches
views on art
were opposing
caused
inches
arguments.
The visit ended with a final argument that led to
the infamous episode in which Van Gogh
threatened Gauguin with a razor and then
mutilated his ear.
Depression
In 1889, he became a voluntary patient at the St.
Remy asylum, where he continued to paint, often
making copies of artists he admired.
Cypresses With Two Female Figures
 He moved to Auvers, to be closer to Theo in 1890 Saint-Remy, June 1889
Portrait of Doctor Gachet
his last 70 days spent in a hectic program
of
on 19
canvas,
36 ¼ x 28
inches
Auvers-sur-Oise,
June
1890 spent the Oil
painting. Van
Gogh
last
months
of ¾his
Oil
on fighting
canvas, 68 a
x 57
cm
life
mental
illness that has never been
firmly diagnosed. During this time, periods of deep
depression alternated with periods of staggering
productivity. Realizing that his agonizing mental
condition would not improve, van Gogh committed
suicide on July 29, 1890.

The Starry Night (1889)
Oil on canvas
29 x 36 1/4 in.
Credits
Images and Sources
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/V/vangogh.html
http://www.worldbookonline.com/wbol/wbAuth/jsp/wbArticle.jsp?/na/ar/c
o/ar580700.htm
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/
Music
Frederic Chopin - Nocturne in C Minor
Don McLean - Stary Stary Night