Essay, Research Paper: Van Gogh Biography

Vincent Van Gogh Vincent was born on March 30, 1853, in the village of Groot Zunbert in the Dutch province of North Brabant. At sixteen, he left school. Through the influence of Uncle Cent, a place was found for him in the office of Goupil and Cie at The Hague. Goupil's was a conservative house, specializing in well-made reproductions of famous paintings. When he was twenty Vincent was transferred, with a fine recommendation, to the London branch of Goupil's. He found a room in the home of Mrs. Loyer, who with her daughter Ursula. In 1875 Uncle Cent arranged for him to be transferred to the Paris office in the hope that his spirits might be revived by a change in scene. Here he became increasingly careless in his work. He was given three months notice, and then six years of training as an art dealer ended. He was almost twenty-three, unemployed, and had not the slightest idea what he would do next. Vincent decided to return to England, where he found a job as a teacher in a boarding school. After he gave up that job, he took another teaching job at a school in Isleworth. As a young man, Vincent Van Gogh's strongest compulsion was to love and help mankind. The son of a minister, he chose quite naturally to take up religion. However, his evangelical mission was a disaster. The major reason Van Gogh committed him to being an artist was that through art he could pour out his feelings. If he could not alleviate the hard life of the poor Dutch peasant, at least he could show his compassion in drawing and paintings. Perhaps this was his way to a communion with God. In any case, it was in this crucible that his art was formed. In his short life, Van Gogh wrote nearly a thousand letters, often several a day. However, even as he was writing so expressively Van Gogh apparently felt that words were not as distinct as pictures. Having decided at twenty-seven that his mission in life was to become an artist, he established his first "studio" in the cottage of a Borinage coal miner. He paid the rent with small sums sent by his father and commenced his education in a rage of work. From The Hague the manager of Goupil's branch office Theo sent textbooks on anatomy and perspective. Theo suggested that Vincent join him in Paris, but Vincent seems to have been reluctant to venture into what was then the center of the art world. Instead, in the fall of 1880, he went to Brussels and moved into the cheapest hotel he could find. Vincent remained in Brussels during the winter 1880-1881, struggling with his draftsmanship and reporting his progress to Theo. At this time, Vincent's colors were still dark. The Potato Eaters is ordinarily called Van Gogh's first "masterpiece". There are no references to religion in Vincent's remarks about The Potato Eaters. Eight months after his father's death Vincent left Holland, never to return. The benefit of his three-month visit in Antwerp was an increased exposure to color, or, more accurately, increased thought about it. Van Gogh was soon to be the most intense colorist of his time. He sensed that color has meaning that transcends mere visual impressions. When Van Gogh arrived in Paris in 1886, he was eager to learn and ready to be stimulated by new experiences. In two years, he went through a complete change as a painter. Brightness and lightness flooded his work. He painted serene café interiors and breeze swept landscapes. The dark figures of laborers at work were replaced by close-ups of friends and of him at rest. Vincent worked hard to perfect his technical skill. In 1888, his production was torrential. Between his arrival in February and his hospitalization after his mental collapse in December, he made at least 90 drawings and 100 paintings. Vincent defended himself by referring to the speed of Claude Monet. From February 1888 to May 1889, he produced some 200 paintings, as well as many drawings. His work under the sun at Arles established him as a giant in art, but when it was over, he had only one year left to live. One of Vincent's best-known works, Sunflowers conveys the warmth of color Vincent found at Arles. He made many of these sunflowers studies as decorations for his rooms, and each radiates his passion for light, color and simplicity. In the south, Vincent was a lonely man. Many of his paintings, like the picture of his bedroom, reflect his wanting for companionship. The painting is relaxing, yet signs of his loneliness appear in the way he longingly paired every object: two pillows, two chairs. Even the pictures hang in pairs. When Vincent regained consciousness in the hospital in Arles, it was not the fact that he had suffered a severe mental breakdown that first concerned him. After he recovered from that. He was back to drawing in the fields with his canvas and easel. Vincent was admitted to the hospital again on May 8, 1889. Vincent was assigned not one room but two, one for sleeping and another for painting. Within a few weeks after his admission to the hospital, Vincent, accompanied by a guard, was allowed to go out into the countryside to paint. Vincent's first attack in Saint-Remy after the visit to Arles was a severe one. Had it not been for the presence of the guards he might have killed himself. He tried to swallow his poisonous paints. Once again, he was able to go home. Where very often his doctor asked him over for dinner. Vincent believed that life is endless. Vincent did not kill himself during an attack of insanity. Then he made a journey. At a few hundred yards' distance from the inn he entered a farmyard, and shot himself. He did not put the gun to his head or heart but against his abdomen. Then he walked back to the inn and back into his room. The landlord discovered him there, lying on his bed with his face. Vincent died thirty-six hours after he shot himself. He was only thirty-seven years old. His work was not the work of a madman. His mature style, which flourished at Arles, his last paintings are brilliant in color.