About van Gogh

"If something in you yourself says "you aren't a painter"

IT'S THEN THAT YOU SHOULD PAINT, old chap, and that voice

will be silenced too, but precisely because of that."

Letter to Theo, Nieuw-Amsterdam, 28 October 1883, nr. 400 [CL336]

Vincent van Gogh, the eldest son of a protestant preacher, was born on March 30, 1853 in the Dutch village of Groot-Zundert. Like several members of his family, he was expected to become an art dealer. At the age of 16, he went to The Hague to work for the important international Goupil et Cie Art Gallery, co-founded by his uncle. But after a promising seven years of employment, he was fired in 1876. After his termination, Vincent moved to England, where he became a teacher and an assistant preacher.

Van Gogh was a very intensely devout man, and his family background and religious fervor no doubt inspired him to try to develop his career as a preacher, but because he lacked in rhetorical talent, he was not selected for a permanent position. Once again unemployed, but unwilling to accept defeat, he travelled to Belgium in order to become an evangelist among the miners of the impoverished Borinage region. But despite his great empathy for their plight, Vincent was soon once again let go.

In 1880, van Gogh enrolled in the Brussels Academy of Art. It was now his declared ambition to become a magazine illustrator. In 1881, he returned to The Hague to learn the principles of painting and drawing with his cousin Anton Mauve, an internationally successful painter. But after Vincent offered shelter (and his affection) to Sien Hoornik -- a pregnant prostitute and mother of a three-year-old daughter -- Mauve withdrew his support.

His art dealer brother Theo, however, continued to help Vincent financially and fraternally. Theo and Vincent would remain very close throughout their lives, and Theo would become Vincent's only regular source of income. Beginning in the early seventies, Theo and Vincent corresponded frequently. Vincent's 800 plus letters are eloquent and precious human documentation of his intentions, his longings and his artistic ambitions.

In 1883, after leaving Sien, Vincent came to live with his parents in the rural Dutch village of Nuenen. He was determined to become a painter of peasant life. In 1885 he completed his first dark and ambitious masterpiece, the "Potato-eaters". But feeling that he lacked the expertise to be a painter of human figures, he enrolled in the Antwerp Academy in 1886. Soon, he travelled on to Paris to stay with his brother who was working there with the Goupil art firm.

In a Parisian art school, he worked with Toulouse-Lautrec and other young impressionist painters. In this period, Van Gogh dramatically brightened his work by using a loaded brush to paint floral still lives in flaming colors. He collected hundreds of Japanese prints that began to inspire his work and painted side by side with the avant-garde painters Emile Bernard and Paul Signac. In the fall of 1887, Van Gogh organised an exhibition of his own work and some of his young colleagues. He felt that he had mastered a modern style of his own.

Sick of city-life, Van Gogh withdrew in 1888 to Arles in the South of France. There, he painted many intense landscapes of the neighboring countryside. His style had become a very personal and powerful mixture of japonaiserie and vibrant brushstrokes. In Arles, he hoped to found a colony of artists. Paul Gauguin came to join him and tried to influence his style and painting methods.

Their incompatibility soon led to a crisis. In a frenzy, Van Gogh injured himself by cutting off part of his left ear. He soon recovered, but this incident would prove to be the first of a series of lapses into insanity. In between, Van Gogh resumed his working power with admirable tenacity. In the long run, however, he felt unable to live independently. He decided to take up residence in the asylum for the insane at nearby Saint-Rémy.

There, in relative isolation, he created some of his most daring works, like Starry Night, reinventing himself once again as an avant-garde artist, creating works with dramatic, swirling, emotive lines. In the beginning of 1890, Theo helped Vincent to exhibit his most recent work in Brussels and Paris. The work was met with great critical acclaim, especially from his fellow artists. He even sold a painting.

In May, Van Gogh was declared to be cured, and it was decided that he would establish himself in Auvers-sur-Oise, a quiet village near Paris. This location would also place him close to his loyal and supportive brother Theo; Theo's wife Jo and their infant son. There, Vincent would work, while the somewhat eccentric Dr. Gachet would keep an eye on him. In the ten weeks that remained of his life, van Gogh painted at the rate of more than one painting a day.

A new calm and harmony dominated his work, but in the end, it was not enough to soothe his despair. Theo had recently decided to quit his secure position and begin his career anew as an independent art dealer. The brother who had long been Vincent's sole source of reliable financial support could no longer guarantee professional cooperation and reliable income. Alone in the countryside, Vincent shot himself in the chest, and died on July 29, 1890. The funeral was attended by Theo, Dr. Gachet, friends and fellow artists.

Theo, who was already severely ill, was transferred In October to an institution in the Netherlands. He died on January 25, 1891, leaving behind his 29-year old wife Johanna and their baby. Johanna decided to dedicate her life to the memory of her husband and her brother-in-law. She took the bulk of Vincent's paintings back to Holland where she facilitated exhibitions and published his letters.

Today, Vincent van Gogh, who was only a marginal painter in the Paris art world, has become one of the most famous artists of the world. His powerful paintings and his moving, intelligent letters give an extraordinary insight into the workings of his hand and mind. Although his life must be considered tragic by any standard, the tenacity with which he wrestled to overcome his setbacks and shortcomings transcends the limits of tragedy.

With uncommon zeal, he set himself to every self-imposed task, even when it seemed totally out of his reach. He kept an unflinching belief in the rightness of his strivings, and refused to yield to the lure of easy success. On the contrary, he was convinced that what he was doing would, in time, create its own success. Alas, his time on earth was short, but the future has proven him more right than he could have possibly ever imagined.

Biography of Vincent van Gogh

by Dr. Fred Leeman

Curator Emeritus: Van Gogh Museum of Amsterdam