Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh painted the way he lived his life: passionately, deeply, dynamically, animatedly, his canvases seeming to explode with emotion.
Born March 30, 1853 in the Dutch village Zundert, his interest in art was aroused at the age of 16 while working for his Uncle Cent in the Goupil et Cie gallery in The Hague.
Influenced by the religious fervor awakened in him by the intense, hardscrabble lives of farmers in Belgium’s Borinage district, Van Gogh’s early sketches movingly depict the reality of the laborer’s toils.
Beginning in 1880, Vincent began to dedicate himself to his art with enormous fervor. In this period he completed hundreds of paintings and drawings, culminating in 1885 in Nuenen, when he painted The Potato Eaters, considered by many his first great oil painting.
In Paris, 1886, the huge influx of Japanoiserie brought Vincent to the wonders of color. Mingling with other impressionists, he experimented with hundreds of canvases soaked in layers of color. In 1887 he moved to Arles, in the south of France, in search of the Mediterranean light. Here he painted with extraordinary dynamism, producing works which seem to pulse and vibrate with energy. For Van Gogh, color was to become his self-expression, as noted in impassioned letters he wrote to his brother, Theo. With a lifelong dream to create an association of artists working, living and painting together, he welcomed Paul Gauguin to his Yellow House in Arles, painting a series of sunflowers canvases to decorate Gauguin’s room. Their temperaments clashed fiercely, and after 2 tumultuous months, in a fit of despondency, Van Gogh used a straight razor to cut off the lobe and tragus of his left ear. This act of despair was followed by a period in which wildly productive moments alternated with depression.
“What’s one more cut to my ear so I don’t have to hear him say he’s turned away…” – from the lyrics to “Obsession”
Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime, The Red Vineyard. He felt increasingly hopeless, and reacted strongly to his mentor-brother’s marriage to Jo Bonger Van Gogh, and birth of their baby Vincent, not wishing to be in their way. On July 27th, 1890, he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Shortly afterwards, Theo also died. His widow, Jo, chose to dedicate her life to perpetuating the work of Vincent van Gogh.