Vincent van gogh a story of life and death. Vincent Van Gogh: biography, interesting facts, video

Dutch post-impressionist painter whose work had a timeless influence on 20th century painting

Vincent van gogh

short biography

Vincent Willem van Gogh(Dutch. Vincent Willem van Gogh; March 30, 1853, Grotto-Zundert, Netherlands - July 29, 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, France) - Dutch post-impressionist painter, whose work had a timeless influence on painting of the XX century. In a little over ten years, he created more than 2,100 works, including about 860 oil paintings. Among them - portraits, self-portraits, landscapes and still lifes, depicting olive trees, cypresses, fields of wheat and sunflowers. Most critics did not notice van Gogh until his suicide at the age of 37, which was preceded by years of anxiety, poverty and mental disorders.

Childhood and youth

Born March 30, 1853 in the village of Groot Zundert (Dutch. Groot Zundert) in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, near the Belgian border. Vincent's father was Theodore Van Gogh (born 02/08/1822), a Protestant pastor, and his mother was Anna Cornelia Carbentus, the daughter of a venerable bookbinder and bookseller from The Hague. Vincent was the second of seven children of Theodore and Anna Cornelia. He received his name in honor of his paternal grandfather, who also devoted his entire life to the Protestant church. This name was intended for the first child of Theodore and Anna, who was born a year earlier than Vincent and died on the first day. So Vincent, although he was born the second, became the eldest of the children.

Four years after Vincent's birth, on May 1, 1857, his brother Theodorus van Gogh (Theo) was born. In addition to him, Vincent had a brother Cor (Cornelis Vincent, May 17, 1867) and three sisters - Anna Cornelia (February 17, 1855), Liz (Elizabeth Hubert, May 16, 1859) and Wil (Willemin Jacob, March 16, 1862). Households remember Vincent as a wayward, difficult and boring child with "strange manners", which was the reason for his frequent punishments. According to the governess, there was something strange about him that distinguished him from others: of all the children, Vincent was less pleasant to her, and she did not believe that something worthwhile could come out of him. Outside the family, on the contrary, Vincent showed the other side of his character - he was quiet, serious and thoughtful. He hardly played with other children. In the eyes of his fellow villagers, he was a good-natured, friendly, helpful, compassionate, sweet and humble child. When he was 7 years old, he went to a village school, but a year later he was taken away from there, and together with his sister Anna he studied at home, with the governess. On October 1, 1864, he left for a boarding school in Zevenbergen, which was 20 km from his home. Leaving home caused a lot of suffering for Vincent, he could not forget it, even as an adult. On September 15, 1866, he began his studies at another boarding school - Willem II College in Tilburg. Vincent is good at languages ​​- French, English, German. There he also received drawing lessons. In March 1868, in the middle of the school year, Vincent unexpectedly dropped out of school and returned to his father's house. This is where his formal education ends. He recalled his childhood like this: "My childhood was dark, cold and empty ...".

Trading Firm and Missionary Work

In July 1869, Vincent got a job at the Hague branch of the large art and trade firm Goupil & Cie, owned by his uncle Vincent ("Uncle Saint"). There he received the necessary training as a dealer. Initially, the future artist took to work with great zeal, achieved good results, and in June 1873 he was transferred to the London branch of Goupil & Cie. Through daily contact with works of art, Vincent began to understand and appreciate painting. In addition, he visited city museums and galleries, admiring the works of Jean-Francois Millet and Jules Breton. At the end of August, Vincent moved to 87 Hackford Road and rented a room at the house of Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie. There is a version that he was in love with Eugene, although many early biographers mistakenly call her by the name of her mother, Ursula. In addition to this name confusion that has been around for decades, recent research suggests that Vincent was not in love with Eugene, but with a German woman named Caroline Haanebik. What actually happened remains unknown. The refusal of his beloved shocked and disappointed the future artist; gradually he lost interest in his work and began to turn to the Bible. In 1874, Vincent was transferred to the Paris branch of the firm, but after three months of work, he again left for London. Things were getting worse for him, and in May 1875 he was again transferred to Paris, where he attended exhibitions in the Salon and the Louvre, and in the end he himself began to try his hand at painting. Gradually, this occupation began to take more of his time, and Vincent finally lost interest in work, deciding for himself that "art has no worse enemies than the art dealers." As a result, at the end of March 1876, he was fired from the Goupil & Cie firm because of poor work, despite the patronage of the relatives who co-owned the company.

In 1876, Vincent returned to England, where he found unpaid work as a teacher at a boarding school in Ramsgate. At the same time, he has a desire to become a priest, like his father. In July, Vincent moved to another school in Isleworth (near London), where he worked as a teacher and assistant pastor. On November 4, Vincent delivered his first sermon. His interest in the gospel grew, and he was fired up with the idea of ​​preaching to the poor.

At Christmas, Vincent drove home, and his parents talked him into not returning to England. Vincent stayed in the Netherlands and worked for six months in a bookstore in Dordrecht. This work was not to his liking; he spent most of his time sketching or translating Bible passages into German, English, and French. Trying to support Vincent's aspirations to become a pastor, the family sent him in May 1877 to Amsterdam, where he settled with his uncle, Admiral Jan van Gogh. Here he studied diligently under the guidance of his uncle Johannes Stricker, a respected and recognized theologian, preparing to take the university entrance exam for theology department. He eventually became disillusioned with his studies, dropped out of his studies, and left Amsterdam in July 1878. The desire to be useful to ordinary people sent him to the Protestant missionary school of Pastor Bokma in Laeken near Brussels, where he took a three-month course in preaching fits of rage).

In December 1878, Vincent went for six months as a missionary to the village of Paturage in Borinage, a poor mining area in southern Belgium, where he developed tireless activities: visiting the sick, reading the Scriptures to the illiterate, preaching, teaching children, and drawing maps of Palestine to earn money at night. This dedication endeared the local population and members of the Evangelical Society to him, which resulted in the appointment of a salary of fifty francs. After completing six months of experience, van Gogh intended to enter the Evangelical school to continue his education, but he considered the introduced tuition fees a manifestation of discrimination and refused to study. At the same time, Vincent turned to the management of the mines with a petition on behalf of the workers to improve their working conditions. The petition was rejected, and van Gogh himself was removed from his post as preacher by the Synod Committee of the Protestant Church in Belgium. This was a serious blow to the emotional and mental state of the artist.

Becoming as an artist

Fleeing from the depression caused by the events in Paturage, Van Gogh again turned to painting, seriously thought about studying and in 1880, with the support of his brother Theo, left for Brussels, where he began to attend classes at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. However, a year later, Vincent dropped out and returned to his parents. During this period of his life, he believed that it was not at all necessary for an artist to have talent, the main thing was to work hard and hard, so he continued his studies on his own.

At the same time, van Gogh experienced a new love interest, falling in love with his cousin, the widow Kee Vos-Stricker, who was staying with her son at their house. The woman rejected his feelings, but Vincent continued courting, which turned all his relatives against him. As a result, he was asked to leave. Van Gogh, experiencing a new shock and deciding to give up forever attempts to arrange his personal life, left for The Hague, where he plunged into painting with renewed vigor and began to take lessons from his distant relative, the representative of the Hague school of painting, Anton Mauve. Vincent worked hard, studied the life of the city, especially the poor neighborhoods. In pursuit of an interesting and surprising color in his works, he sometimes resorted to mixing different writing techniques on one canvas - chalk, pen, sepia, watercolors (Backyards, 1882, pen, chalk and brush on paper, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; "Roofs. View from the workshop of van Gogh", 1882, paper, watercolor, chalk, private collection of J. Renan, Paris). The artist was greatly influenced by Charles Bargh's textbook “Drawing training course”. He copied all the lithographs of the manual in 1880/1881, and then again in 1890, but only a part.

In The Hague, the artist tried to start a family. This time, his chosen one was the pregnant street woman Christine, whom Vincent met right on the street and, driven by sympathy for her position, offered to move in with him with the children. This act finally quarreled the artist with his friends and relatives, but Vincent himself was happy: he had a model. However, Christine turned out to be a difficult character, and soon the family life of van Gogh turned into a nightmare. They broke up very soon. The artist could no longer stay in The Hague and went to the north of the Netherlands, to the province of Drenthe, where he settled in a separate hut, equipped as a workshop, and spent whole days in nature, depicting landscapes. However, he was not very fond of them, not considering himself a landscape painter - many paintings of this period are devoted to peasants, their daily work and life.

In terms of their subject matter, van Gogh's early works can be attributed to realism, although the manner of performance and technique can be called realistic only with certain significant reservations. One of the many problems caused by the lack of art education that the artist faced was the inability to portray a human figure. In the end, this led to one of the fundamental features of his style - the interpretation of the human figure, devoid of smooth or measuredly graceful movements, as an integral part of nature, in some way even similar to it. This is very clearly seen, for example, in the painting A Peasant and a Peasant Woman Planting Potatoes (1885, Kunsthaus, Zurich), where the figures of peasants are likened to rocks, and the high horizon seems to press on them, not allowing them to straighten or even raise their heads. A similar approach to the topic can be seen in the later painting "Red Vineyards" (1888, State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. Pushkin, Moscow). In a series of paintings and sketches from the mid-1880s. ("Exit from the Protestant Church in Nuenen" (1884-1885), "Peasant Woman" (1885, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo), "The Potato Eaters" (1885, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), "Old Church Tower in Nuenen "(1885), painted in a dark painterly scale, marked by a painfully acute perception of human suffering and feelings of depression, the artist recreated an oppressive atmosphere of psychological tension. At the same time, the artist formed his own understanding of the landscape: the expression of his inner perception of nature through an analogy with man His own words became his artistic credo: "When you draw a tree, treat it as a figure."

In the fall of 1885, van Gogh unexpectedly left Drenthe, because a local pastor took up arms against him, forbidding the peasants to pose for the artist and accusing him of immorality. Vincent left for Antwerp, where he again began to attend painting classes - this time in a painting class at the Academy of Arts. In the evenings, the artist attended a private school, where he painted nude models. However, already in February 1886, van Gogh left Antwerp for Paris to his brother Theo, who was engaged in the art trade.

The Parisian period of Vincent's life began, which turned out to be very fruitful and eventful. The artist visited the prestigious private art studio of the famous throughout Europe teacher Fernand Cormon, studied impressionist painting, Japanese engraving, synthetic works by Paul Gauguin. During this period, van Gogh's palette became light, the earthy shade of paint disappeared, pure blue, golden yellow, red tones appeared, his characteristic dynamic, as if flowing smear ("Agostina Segatori in the Tambourine cafe" (1887-1888, Vincent Museum van Gogh, Amsterdam), "Bridge over the Seine" (1887, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), "Papa Tanguy" (1887, Musée Rodin, Paris), "View of Paris from Theo's apartment on rue Lepic" (1887, Museum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam) .In his work there were notes of calmness and serenity, caused by the influence of the Impressionists.Some of them - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Emile Bernard - the artist met soon after arriving in Paris thanks to These acquaintances had the most beneficial effect on the artist: he found a kindred environment that appreciated him, enthusiastically took part in the exhibitions of the Impressionists - in the restaurant "La Fourche", cafe "Tambourine", then - in the foyer of the "Free Theater". However, the audience was horrified by the paintings of van Gogh, which made him again engage in self-education - to study the theory of color by Eugene Delacroix, textured painting by Adolphe Monticelli, Japanese color prints and flat oriental art in general. The Parisian period of his life accounts for the largest number of paintings created by the artist - about two hundred and thirty. Among them stand out a series of still lifes and self-portraits, a series of six paintings under the general title "Shoes" (1887, Art Museum, Baltimore), landscapes. The role of a person in Van Gogh's paintings is changing - he is not at all, or he is a staffage. Air, atmosphere and rich color appear in his works, however, the artist conveyed the light-air environment and atmospheric nuances in his own way, dismembering the whole, not merging forms and showing the "face" or "figure" of each element of the whole. A striking example of this approach is the painting "The Sea in Saint-Mary" (1888, State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. Pushkin, Moscow). The artist's creative searches led him to the origins of a new artistic style - post-impressionism.

Last years. The flowering of creativity

Despite the creative growth of van Gogh, the public still did not perceive or buy his paintings, which was very painful for Vincent. By mid-February 1888, the artist decided to leave Paris and move to the south of France - to Arles, where he intended to create the “Workshop of the South” - a kind of brotherhood of like-minded artists working for future generations. The most important role in the future workshop, Van Gogh gave to Paul Gauguin. Theo supported the venture with money, and in the same year Vincent moved to Arles. There, the originality of his creative manner and artistic program were finally determined: "Instead of trying to accurately depict what is in front of my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily, so as to most fully express myself." The consequence of this program was an attempt to develop "a simple technique, which, apparently, will not be impressionistic." In addition, Vincent began to synthesize pattern and color in order to better convey the very essence of the local nature.

Although van Gogh declared a departure from impressionistic methods of depiction, the influence of this style was still very strongly felt in his paintings, especially in the transmission of light air (Peach Tree in Bloom, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) or in the use of large coloristic spots ("Bridge of Anglois at Arles", 1888, Walraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne). At this time, like the Impressionists, van Gogh created a series of works depicting the same species, however, achieving not an accurate transfer of changing light effects and conditions, but the maximum intensity of expressing the life of nature. His brush of this period also belongs to a number of portraits in which the artist tried out a new art form.

A fiery artistic temperament, a painful impulse for harmony, beauty and happiness and, at the same time, fear of forces hostile to man are embodied in landscapes shining with sunny colors of the south (The Yellow House (1888), Gauguin's Armchair (1888), The Harvest. Valley of La Cros ”(1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), sometimes in ominous, nightmare-like images (“ Cafe Terrace at Night ”(1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo); dynamics of color and brushstroke fills with soulful life and movement not only nature and the people inhabiting it ("Red Vineyards in Arles" (1888, State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin, Moscow)), but also inanimate objects ("Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles" (1888, Museum of Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam)). The artist's paintings become more dynamic and intense in their color ("The Sower", 1888, E. Bührle Foundation, Zurich), tragic in sound ("Night Cafe", 1888, Art Gallery of Yale University, New Haven ; "Van Gogh's bedroom in Arles ”(1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam).

On October 25, 1888, Paul Gauguin came to Arles to discuss the idea of ​​creating a southern painting workshop. However, a peaceful discussion very quickly turned into conflicts and quarrels: Gauguin was dissatisfied with van Gogh's carelessness, while van Gogh himself was perplexed how Gauguin did not want to understand the very idea of ​​a single collective direction of painting in the name of the future. In the end, Gauguin, who was looking for peace in Arles for his work and did not find it, decided to leave. On the evening of December 23, after another quarrel, van Gogh attacked a friend with a razor in his hands. Gauguin accidentally managed to stop Vincent. The whole truth about this quarrel and the circumstances of the attack is still unknown (in particular, there is a version that van Gogh attacked the sleeping Gauguin, and the latter was saved from death only by the fact that he woke up in time), but on the same night Van Gogh cut himself off earlobe. According to the generally accepted version, this was done in a fit of remorse; at the same time, some researchers believe that this was not remorse, but a manifestation of insanity caused by the frequent use of absinthe. The next day, December 24, Vincent was taken to a psychiatric hospital, where the attack was repeated with such force that the doctors placed him in a ward for violent patients diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. Gauguin hastily left Arles without visiting van Gogh in the hospital, having previously reported the incident to Theo.

During periods of remission, Vincent asked to be released back to the workshop in order to continue working, but the residents of Arles wrote a statement to the mayor of the city asking him to isolate the artist from the rest of the residents. Van Gogh was asked to go to the hospital for the mentally ill Saint-Paul in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, near Arles, where Vincent arrived on May 3, 1889. There he lived for a year, tirelessly working on new paintings. During this time, he created more than one hundred and fifty paintings and about a hundred drawings and watercolors. The main types of paintings during this period of life are still lifes and landscapes, the main differences of which are incredible nervous tension and dynamism ("Starry Night", 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York), contrasting contrasting colors and, in some cases, the use of halftones ( Landscape with Olives, 1889, J. G. Whitney Collection, New York; Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

At the end of 1889 he was invited to participate in the Brussels exhibition of the Group of Twenty, where the artist's works immediately aroused the interest of colleagues and art lovers. However, this did not please van Gogh, nor did the first enthusiastic article about the painting "Red Vineyards in Arles" signed by Albert Aurier, which appeared in the January issue of the magazine "Mercure de France" in 1890.

In the spring of 1890, the artist moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, a place near Paris, where for the first time in two years he saw his brother and his family. He continued to write as before, but the style of his last works changed completely, becoming even more nervous and depressing. The main place in his work was occupied by a whimsically curved contour, as if clutching one or another object ("Country road with cypresses", 1890, Museum Kröller-Mueller, Otterlo; "Street and stairs in Auvers", 1890, City Museum of Art, St. Louis ; "Landscape in Auvers after the rain", 1890, State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. Pushkin, Moscow). The last bright event in Vincent's personal life was his acquaintance with the amateur artist Dr. Paul Gachet.

In the 20th of July 1890, van Gogh painted his famous painting "Wheat Field with Crows" (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), and a week later, on July 27, tragedy occurred. Going out for a walk with drawing materials, the artist shot himself in the heart area with a revolver bought to scare away flocks of birds while working in the open air, but the bullet passed below. Thanks to this, he independently reached the hotel room where he lived. The innkeeper called a doctor who examined the wound and informed Theo. The latter arrived the next day and spent all the time with Vincent, until his death, 29 hours after being wounded from blood loss (at 1:30 am on July 29, 1890). In October 2011, an alternative version of the artist's death appeared. American art historians Stephen Nayfeh and Gregory White Smith have suggested that van Gogh was shot by one of the teenagers who regularly accompanied him in drinking establishments.

According to Theo, the artist's last words were: La tristesse durera toujours(“The sadness will last forever.”) Vincent van Gogh was buried in Auvers-sur-Oise on 30 July. On his last journey, the artist was accompanied by his brother and a few friends. After the funeral, Theo took up the organization of a posthumous exhibition of Vincent's works, but fell ill with a nervous breakdown and exactly six months later, on January 25, 1891, died in Holland. 25 years later, in 1914, his remains were reburied by a widow next to Vincent's grave.

Heritage

Recognition and sales of paintings

The artist on the way to Tarascon, August 1888, Vincent van Gogh on the road near Montmajour, oil on canvas, 48 ​​× 44 cm, former museum of Magdeburg; the painting is believed to have died in a fire during World War II

It is a common misconception that during the lifetime of van Gogh, only one of his paintings was sold - Red Vineyards in Arles. This canvas was only the first to be sold for a substantial amount (at the Brussels exhibition of the Group of Twenty at the end of 1889; the price for the painting was 400 francs). Documents have been preserved about the lifetime sale of 14 works by the artist, starting in 1882 (which van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo: “The first sheep passed through the bridge”), and in reality more transactions should have taken place.

After the first exhibition of paintings in the late 1880s, van Gogh's fame grew steadily among colleagues, art historians, dealers and collectors. After his death, memorial exhibitions were organized in Brussels, Paris, The Hague and Antwerp. At the beginning of the 20th century, retrospectives took place in Paris (1901 and 1905) and Amsterdam (1905) and significant group exhibitions in Cologne (1912), New York (1913) and Berlin (1914). This had a noticeable impact on subsequent generations of artists. By the mid-20th century, Vincent van Gogh is regarded as one of the greatest and most recognizable artists in history. In 2007, a group of Dutch historians compiled “ The Canon of Dutch History " for teaching in schools, in which van Gogh was placed as one of fifty themes, along with other national symbols such as Rembrandt and the art group "Style".

Along with the works of Pablo Picasso, van Gogh's works are among the first on the list of the most expensive paintings ever sold in the world, according to estimates from auctions and private sales. Sold for over 100 million (2011 equivalent) include: Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin and Irises. Wheat Field with Cypresses was sold in 1993 for $ 57 million, an incredibly high price at the time, and his Self-Portrait with Ear and Pipe Cut Off was sold privately in the late 1990s. The estimated sale price was $ 80- $ 90 million. Van Gogh's painting "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" was auctioned for $ 82.5 million. The Plowed Field and the Plowman was auctioned off at Christie's New York auction house for $ 81.3 million.

Influence

In his last letter to Theo, Vincent admitted that since he had no children, he considers his paintings as offspring. Reflecting on this, the historian Simon Schama came to the conclusion that he "really had a child - Expressionism, and many, many heirs." Schama mentions a wide range of artists who have adapted elements of van Gogh's style, including Willem de Kooning, Howard Hodgkin, and Jackson Pollock. The Fauves expanded the scope of color and the freedom to use it, as did the German expressionists of the Die Brücke group and other early modernists. Abstract Expressionism of the 1940s and 1950s is seen as partly inspired by van Gogh's broad, gestural strokes. Here's what art critic Sue Hubbard says about the exhibition "Vincent Van Gogh and Expressionism":

At the beginning of the twentieth century, van Gogh gave the expressionists a new pictorial language that allowed them to go beyond external superficial vision and penetrate deeper into the essence of truth. It is no coincidence that at that very moment Freud also discovered the depths of the essentially modern concept - the subconscious. This beautiful intellectual exhibition gives Van Gogh the place that rightfully belongs to him - the pioneer of modern art.

Original text(English)
At the beginning of the twentieth century Van Gogh gave the Expressionists a new painterly language which enabled them to go beyond surface appearance and penetrate deeper essential truths. It is no coincidence that at this very moment Freud was also mining the depths of that essentially modern domain -the subconscious. This beautiful and intelligent exhibition places Van Gogh where he firmly belongs; as the trailblazer of modern art.

Hubbard, Sue. Vincent Van Gogh and Expressionism. Independent, 2007

In 1957, Irish artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992) based on a reproduction of a painting by van Gogh "An artist on the way to Tarascon", the original of which was destroyed during the Second World War, wrote a series of his works. Bacon was inspired not only by the image itself, which he described as "intrusive," but also by Van Gogh himself, whom Bacon regarded as an "alienated superfluous person" - a position that resonated with Bacon's mood.

Later, the Irish artist identified himself with the theories of Van Gogh in art and quoted lines from a letter from van Gogh to his brother Theo: "Real artists do not paint things as they are ... They paint them because they themselves feel like them."

From October 2009 to January 2010, an exhibition dedicated to the artist's letters was held at the Vincent van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, then, from the end of January to April 2010, the exhibition moved to the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Gallery

Self-portraits

As an artist

Dedicated to Gauguin

"The sadness will last forever" ... In 2015, Europe celebrates 125 years since the death of Van Gogh. Exhibitions, excursions, festivals and performances serve one thing - to remind us who this amazing, extraordinary person was.

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 1. Only 10 years of creativity

The world famous artist, whose work is bought today for tens of millions of dollars, was engaged in painting for the last 10 years of his life.

Van Gogh. "The Potato Eaters" (1985)

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 2. Art dealer

Before finding something to his liking, Vincent Van Gogh tried himself in the commercial and artistic field, working in his uncle's firm in London. Dealing with painting, Van Gogh learned to understand and love it. But due to his careless nature, he was fired from his job, despite family ties with the owner himself.

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 3. Is Van Gogh a preacher?

For a long time, Van Gogh seriously wanted to become a priest like his father. He showed a keen interest in the Bible, was engaged in its translation. He was preparing for the exams at the University of Amsterdam at the Faculty of Theology, but quickly lost interest in his studies. Later he attended a Protestant missionary school near Brussels, and was even sent to the south of Belgium for six months to preach sermons to the poor. There, Van Gogh showed extraordinary zeal, for which he was awarded the trust of local residents. They even instructed him to petition on behalf of the workers to the management of the mines to improve working conditions. But in this case, Van Gogh failed. The petition was not only rejected, but Van Gogh himself was removed from service. The already eccentric and hot-tempered young man endured this event painfully.

Van Gogh. Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles (1888)

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 4. Grief-disciple

Depression after a bad pastoral experience pushed Van Gogh to look for himself in painting. He even enters Brussels at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, but after studying for a year, he gives up. Instead, Vincent works a lot on his own, takes private lessons, learns different techniques.

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 5. Rejected in Paris

The artist's most productive period is in Paris. Here he meets the Impressionists, who have a significant influence on him. Here Van Gogh participates in many exhibitions, but the public categorically rejects his work, forcing him to return to his studies.

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 6. The severed ears myth

In 1889, in the process of searching for a concept for a common workshop, a conflict took place between Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, during which Van Gogh attacked Gauguin with a razor in his hands. Gauguin was not injured, but Van Gogh cut off his earlobe that night. What it was - the pangs of remorse or the consequences of excessive consumption of absinthe - is not known for certain. However, after this incident, Van Gogh ends up in a psychiatric hospital with a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. Residents of the town of Arles, where the razor incident took place, asked the mayor of the city to isolate Van Gogh from society, so the artist was sent to the San Rémy de Provence settlement for the mentally ill. But even there, Van Gogh works hard, creating, among other things, the famous work "Starry Night".

Van Gogh. "Self-portrait with severed ear and pipe" (1898)

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 7. Confession after death

The first public recognition came to Van Gogh in the last year of his life, after participating in the "Group of Twenty" exhibition, when the first positive article about his work "Red Vineyards in Arles" was published.

Van Gogh. "Red Vineyards at Arles" (1888)

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 8. Mysterious death

Van Gogh passed away at the age of only 37. The circumstances of his death are still controversial. He died of blood loss after a gunshot wound to the chest from a pistol, which the artist used to drive the birds away during the plein air. It is not known exactly whether it was suicide or attempted murder. Van Gogh's last words were: "The sadness will last forever."

Van Gogh. Last job. "Wheat field with crows" (1890)

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 9. The closest person

A special person in the life of Van Gogh was his brother Theo. It was he who supported him more than others, helped in organizing the "southern" workshop. It was he who tried to organize a posthumous exhibition of the artist, but fell ill with a mental disorder and followed his brother exactly six months later.

Van Gogh. 10 interesting facts. Fact number 10. The myth of the only painting sold

There is a version that in his entire short life, Van Gogh sold only one work - "Red Vineyards in Arles". The myth, of course, is spectacular, but there are documents showing that the artist had previously sold his paintings, albeit for more modest money.

Vincent Willem van Gogh is a Dutch artist who laid the foundations of the Post-Impressionist movement, largely defining the principles of creativity of modern masters.

Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in the village of Groot Zundert in the province of Noord-Brabant, bordering Belgium.

Father Theodore Van Gogh is a Protestant clergyman. Mother Anna Cornelia Carbentus is from the family of a respected bookseller and bookbinder from the city (Den Haag).

Vincent was the 2nd child, but his brother died immediately after birth, so the boy turned out to be the eldest, and after him five more children were born in the family:

• Theodorus (Theo) (Theodorus, Theo);
• Cornelis, Cor;
• Anna Cornelia;
• Elizabeth (Liz);
• Willamina, Vil.

The baby was named after his grandfather, a Protestant minister. The first child was supposed to bear this name, but due to his early death, Vincent got it.

Memories of loved ones paint Vincent's character as very strange, capricious and wayward, disobedient and capable of unexpected antics. Outside of home and family, he was brought up, quiet, polite, modest, kind, distinguished by an amazing intelligent look and a heart full of sympathy. However, he avoided peers and was not included in their games and fun.

At the age of 7, his father and mother enrolled him in school, but a year later he and his sister Anna were transferred to home schooling, and a governess was engaged with the children.

At the age of 11, in 1864, Vincent was assigned to a school in Zevenbergen. Although it was only 20 km from his native place, the child could hardly bear the separation, and these experiences were remembered forever.

In 1866, Vincent was assigned a student at the College Willem II in Tilburg. The teenager made great strides in mastering foreign languages, spoke and read fluently French, English, German. Teachers also noted Vincent's ability to draw. However, in 1868 he suddenly dropped out of school and returned home. They did not send him to educational institutions anymore, he continued to receive his education at home. Memories of the famous artist about the beginning of life were sad, childhood was associated with darkness, coldness and emptiness.

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In 1869, in The Hague, Vincent was recruited by his uncle, who bore the same name, whom the future artist called "Uncle Saint". Uncle was the owner of the department of the company Goupil & Cie, which was engaged in the examination, assessment and sale of art objects. Vincent acquires the profession of a dealer and makes significant progress, so in 1873 he was sent to work in London.

Working with works of art was very interesting to Vincent, he learned to understand the fine arts, became a regular visitor to museums and exhibition halls. His favorite authors were Jean-François Millet and Jules Breton.

The story of Vincent's first love belongs to the same period. But the story was incomprehensible and confusing: he lived in a rented apartment with Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugene; biographers argue about who was the object of love: one of them or Carolina Haanebeek. But whoever the beloved was, Vincent was refused and lost interest in life, work, art. He begins to read the Bible thoughtfully. During this period, in 1874, he had to transfer to the Paris branch of the company. There he again becomes a frequenter of museums and is fond of creating drawings. Hating the dealer's activities, he ceases to generate income for the company, and he was fired in 1876.

Teachers and religion

In March 1876, Vincent moved to Great Britain, entered a free-of-charge teacher at a school in Ramsgate. At the same time, he is thinking about a career as a clergyman. In July 1876, he transferred to the school in Isleworth, where he additionally assisted the priest. In November 1876, Vincent reads a sermon and is convinced of the mission to carry the truth of religious teaching.

In 1876, Vincent came to his home for the Christmas holidays, and his mother and father begged him not to leave. Vincent got a job in a bookstore in Dordrecht, but he does not like the trade, he devotes all his time to translating biblical texts and painting.

Father and mother, rejoicing in his desire for religious service, send Vincent to Amsterdam, where, with the help of a relative, Johaness Stricker, he is trained in theology for admission to the university, and lives with his uncle, Jan Van Gogh. Gogh), who had the rank of admiral.

After admission, Van Gogh was a student of theology until July 1878, after which, disappointed, he refused further studies and fled Amsterdam.

The next phase of the quest was associated with the Protestant missionary school in the city of Laken near Brussels. The school was led by Pastor Bokma. Vincent has been gaining experience in composing and preaching sermons for three months, but he also leaves this place. The biographers' information is contradictory: either he quit his job himself, or was fired due to carelessness in his clothes and unbalanced behavior.

In December 1878, Vincent continued his missionary service, but now in the southern region of Belgium, in the village of Paturi. Mining families lived in the village, Van Gogh disinterestedly worked with children, visited houses and talked about the Bible, looked after the sick. To feed himself, he drew maps of the Holy Land and sold them. Van Gogh showed himself as an ascetic, sincere and tireless, as a result he was assigned a small salary from the Evangelical Society. He planned to enter the Evangelical school, but education was paid, and this, according to Van Gogh, is incompatible with true faith, which cannot be associated with money. At the same time, he submits a request to the management of the mines to improve the working conditions of the miners. He was refused, deprived of the right to preach, which shocked him and led to another disappointment.

The first steps

Van Gogh finds comfort at the easel, in 1880 he decides to try himself at the Brussels Royal Academy of Arts. He is supported by his brother Theo, but a year later, training is abandoned again, and the eldest son returns under the parental roof. He is absorbed in self-education, works tirelessly.

He feels love for his widowed cousin Kee Vos-Stricker, who raised her son and came to visit the family. Van Gogh is rejected, but persists, and he is kicked out of his father's house. These events shocked the young man, he flees to The Hague, immerses himself in creativity, takes lessons from Anton Mauve, comprehends the laws of fine art, makes copies of lithographic works.

Van Gogh spends a lot of time in neighborhoods inhabited by the poor. The works of this period are sketches of courtyards, roofs, alleys:

• "Backyards" (De achtertuin) (1882);
• “Roofs. View from the workshop of Van Gogh "(Dak. Het uitzicht vanuit de Studio van van Gogh) (1882).

An interesting technique combines watercolors, sepia, ink, chalk, etc.

In The Hague, he chooses to wife a woman of easy virtue named Christine(Van Christina), which he picked up right on the panel. Khristin moved to Van Gogh with her children, became a model for the artist, but she had a terrible character, and they had to leave. This episode leads to a final break with parents and loved ones.

After breaking up with Christine, Vincent leaves for Drenth, in the countryside. During this period, landscape works by the artist appeared, as well as paintings depicting the life of the peasantry.

Early work

The period of creativity, representing the first works executed in Drenthe, is notable for realism, but they express the key characteristics of the artist's individual manner. Many critics believe that these features are due to the lack of elementary art education: Van Gogh did not know the laws of depicting a person, therefore, the characters of paintings and sketches seem to be angular, illiterate, as if they came out of the bosom of nature, like rocks, on which the firmament presses:

• "Red Vineyards" (Rode wijngaard) (1888);
• Peasant Woman (Boerin) (1885);
• "Eaters of potatoes" (De Aardappeleters) (1885);
• "The old church tower in Nuenen" (De Oude Begraafplaats Toren in Nuenen) (1885) and others.

These works are distinguished by a dark palette of shades that convey the painful atmosphere of the surrounding life, the painful situation of ordinary people, sympathy, pain and drama of the author.

In 1885, he was forced to leave Drenthe, as he displeased the priest, who considered drawing to be debauchery and forbade local residents to pose for paintings.

Paris period

Van Gogh travels to Antwerpen, takes lessons at the Academy of Arts and additionally at a private educational institution, where he works a lot on the image of nude.

In 1886, Vincent moved to Paris to Theo, who worked in a dealership specializing in the sale of art objects.

In Paris in 1887/88, Van Gogh takes lessons at a private school, comprehends the basics of Japanese art, the basics of the impressionistic manner of painting, the work of Paul Gauguin (Pol Gogen). This stage in the creative biography of Vag Gog is called light, in the works the leitmotif is soft blue, bright yellow, fiery shades, the manner of writing is light, betraying movement, the "flow" of life:

• Agostina Segatori in het Café Tamboerijn;
• "Bridge over the Seine" (Brug over de Seine);
• Papa Tanguy and others.

Van Gogh admired the Impressionists, got acquainted with celebrities thanks to his brother Theo:

• Edgar Degas
• Camille Pissarro
• Anri Tuluz-Lautrec;
• Paul Gauguin;
• Emile Bernard and others.

Van Gogh found himself among good friends and like-minded people, got involved in the preparation of expositions, which were organized in restaurants, bars, theater halls. The audience did not appreciate Van Gogh, they recognized them as terrible, but he immerses himself in learning and self-improvement, comprehends the theoretical basis of the color technique.

In Paris, Van Gogh created about 230 works: still lifes, portrait and landscape painting, cycles of paintings (for example, the series "Shoes" in 1887) (Schoenen).

It is interesting that the person on the canvas acquires a secondary role, and the main thing is the light world of nature, its airiness, richness of colors, and their subtlest transitions. Van Gogh discovers the newest trend - post-impressionism.

Flourishing and finding your own style

In 1888, Van Gogh, worried about the misunderstanding of the audience, left for the southern French city of Arles. Arles became the city in which Vincent understood the purpose of his work: not strive to reflect the real visible world, but with the help of color and simple techniques to express your inner "I".

He decides to break with the Impressionists, but the peculiarities of their style have been manifested for many years in his works, in the ways of depicting light and air, in the manner of placing color accents. Typical for Impressionist works are a series of paintings on which the same landscape, but at different times of the day and under different lighting conditions.

The attractiveness of the style of Van Gogh's works of the heyday is in the contradiction between the desire for a harmonious outlook and the realization of one's own helplessness in front of a disharmonious world. The works of 1888, full of light and festive nature, coexist with gloomy phantasmagoric images:

• "Yellow House" (Gele huis);
• "Armchair of Gauguin" (De stoel van Gauguin);
• "Cafe terrace at night" (Cafe terras bij nacht).

The dynamism, movement of color, the energy of the master's brush is a reflection of the artist's soul, his tragic searches, impulses to understand the surrounding world of the living and inanimate:

• "Red Vineyards in Arles";
• The Sower (Zaaier);
• "Night cafe" (Nachtkoffie).

The artist plans to establish a society uniting novice geniuses who will reflect the future of mankind. To open society, Vincent is helped by Theo's funds. Van Gogh assigned the leading role to Paul Gauguin. When Gauguin arrived, they quarreled to the point that Van Gogh nearly cut his throat on December 23, 1888. Gauguin managed to escape, and Van Gogh, repenting, cut off part of his own earlobe.

Biographers evaluate this episode differently, many believe that this act was a sign of insanity, provoked by excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages. Van Gogh was sent to a mental hospital, where he is kept in strict conditions in a ward for the violent. Gauguin leaves, Theo takes care of Vincent. After a course of treatment, Vincent dreams of returning to Arles. But the residents of the city protested, and the artist was offered to settle near the Saint-Paul hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, near Arles.

Since May 1889, Van Gogh has been living in Saint-Remy, in a year he writes more than 150 large pieces and about 100 drawings and watercolors, demonstrating his mastery of halftones and contrast techniques. Among them, the landscape genre prevails, still lifes that convey the mood, contradictions in the author's soul:

• Nightlights;
• Landscape with Olive Trees (Landschap met olijfbomen) and others.

In 1889, the fruits of Van Gogh's work were exhibited in Brussels, met with rave reviews from colleagues and critics. But Van Gogh does not feel the joy of the finally come recognition, he moves to Auvers-sur-Oise, where his brother lives with his family. There he constantly creates, but the depressed mood and nervous excitement of the author are transmitted to the canvases of 1890, they are distinguished by broken lines, distorted silhouettes of objects and faces:

• “Village road with cypress trees” (Landelijke weg met cipressen);
• "Landscape at Auvers after the rain" (Landschap in Auvers na de regen);
• "Wheat field with crows" (Korenveld met kraaien) and others.

On July 27, 1890, Van Gogh was fatally wounded from a pistol. It is not known whether the shot was planned or accidental, but the artist died a day later. In the same town he was buried, and after 6 months his brother Theo died of nervous exhaustion, whose grave is next to Vincent.

Over 10 years of creativity, more than 2,100 works have appeared, of which about 860 are made in oils. Van Gogh became the founder of Expressionism, Post-Impressionism, his principles formed the basis of Fauvism and Modernism.

A series of triumphal exhibition events took place posthumously in Paris, Brussels, The Hague, Antwerp. At the beginning of the 20th century, another wave of shows of the famous Dutchman's works took place in Paris, Cologne (Keulen), New York (New York), Berlin (Berlijn).

Paintings

It is not known exactly how many paintings Van Gogh wrote, but art critics and researchers of his work tend to figure about 800. In the last 70 days of his life alone, he painted 70 paintings - one a day! Let's recall the most famous paintings with names and descriptions:

The Potato Eaters appeared in Nuenen in 1885. The author described the task in a letter to Theo: he sought to show people of hard work who received little remuneration for their work. The hands that cultivate the field receive its gifts.

Red vineyards in Arles

The famous painting dates back to 1888. The plot of the picture is not fictional, Vincent tells about it in one of the messages to Theo. On the canvas, the artist conveys the rich colors that amazed him: deep red grape leaves, a piercing green sky, a bright purple road washed by the dog with golden reflections from the rays of the setting sun. The colors seem to flow into one another, convey the author's anxious mood, his tension, the depth of philosophical thoughts about the world. Such a plot will be repeated in the work of Van Gogh, symbolizing the eternally renewed life in work.

Night cafe

The Night Cafe appeared in Arles and presented the author's thoughts about a man who destroys his own life on his own. The idea of ​​self-destruction and a steady movement towards madness is expressed by the contrast of blood-burgundy and green colors. To try to penetrate the secrets of twilight life, the author worked on the painting at night. The expressionistic manner of writing conveys the fullness of passions, anxiety, and the painfulness of life.

In the legacy of Van Gogh, there are two series of works depicting sunflowers. In the first cycle - flowers laid out on the table, they were painted in the Parisian period in 1887 and were soon acquired by Gauguin. The second series appeared in 1888/89 in Arles, on each canvas - sunflower flowers in a vase.

This flower symbolizes love and fidelity, friendship and warmth of human relationships, good deeds and gratitude. The artist expresses the depths of his understanding of the world in sunflowers, associating himself with this sunny flower.

Starry Night was created in 1889 in Saint-Remy, it depicts the stars and the moon in dynamics framed by the boundless sky, eternally existing and rushing into the infinity of the Universe. The cypresses in the foreground strive to reach the stars, and the village in the valley is static, motionless and devoid of aspirations for the new and infinite. Expression of color approaches and the use of different types of strokes conveys the multidimensionality of space, its variability and depth.

This famous self-portrait was taken in Arles in January 1889. An interesting feature is the dialogue of red-orange and blue-violet colors, against the background of which there is a plunge into the abyss of a distorted human consciousness. Attention rivets the face and eyes, as if looking deep into the personality. Self-portraits are the artist's conversation with himself and with the universe.

"Blossoming almond branches" (Amandelbloesem) are created in Saint-Remy in 1890. The spring flowering of almond trees is a symbol of renewal, emerging and growing life. The unusualness of the canvas is that the branches soar without a foundation, they are self-sufficient and beautiful.

This portrait was painted in 1890. Bright colors convey the significance of every moment, brushwork creates a dynamic image of man and nature, which are inextricably linked. The image of the hero of the picture is painful and nervous: we peer into the image of a sad old man, immersed in his thoughts, as if absorbed the painful experience of years.

"Wheat Field with Crows" was created in July 1890 and expresses the feeling of approaching death, the hopeless tragedy of life. The picture is filled with symbolism: the sky before a thunderstorm, approaching black birds, roads leading into the unknown, but inaccessible.

Museum

(Van Gogh Museum) opened in Amsterdam in 1973 and presents not only the most fundamental collection of his creations, but also the work of the Impressionists. This is the first most popular exhibition center in the Netherlands.

Quotes

1. Among the clergy, as well as among the masters of the brush, despotic academism reigns, dull and full of prejudices;
2. Thinking about future hardships and hardships, I could not create;
3. Painting is my joy and comfort, giving an opportunity to escape from the troubles of life;
4. I want to express in my paintings everything that is hidden in the heart of an insignificant person.

😉 Greetings to regular readers and art lovers! In the article "Vincent Van Gogh: biography, interesting facts" - about the life of the famous Dutch post-impressionist painter and his work.

The works of this master had a timeless influence on the painting of the twentieth century. For 10 years, he created more than 2,100 works: portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, still lifes ...

Biography of Van Gogh

The future famous artist, whose works today are estimated at thousands and millions of dollars, Vincent Willem Van Gogh was born in the village of Groth-Zundert (Holland) in the spring of 1853 in the family of Pastor Theodor and his wife Cornelia.

Vincent Van Gogh at a young age

Men in this family chose the path of a priest or a seller of paintings. In 1869, the young man got a job at the firm "Gupil & Co" in The Hague, selling various works of art. One of the owners of the company was his uncle.

However, Van Gogh had no talent for such work. He loved painting, was intelligent and knew how to win over literally any interlocutor. Thanks to this alone, he achieved some success. He also had good ability to learn foreign languages.

In the summer of 1873, a 20-year-old boy was sent for two years to work in a branch of the company, which was located in the capital of Great Britain.

London-Paris

He rented an apartment, lived without worries and enjoyed the delights of the capital city, and visited the so-called hot spots. With a decent salary, he could become a successful salesperson. But he desperately fell in love with the beautiful daughter of the landlady, and here he was in for deep disappointment.

It turned out the object of his passion was betrothed. It was a hard blow. Refusal in a matter of days changed the young man beyond recognition, he became gloomy and taciturn. This was the beginning of failure in relationships with all women who subsequently met on his short life path.

In 1875, Van Gogh changed branches of the company several times, lived and worked in Paris, then again in London. However, nothing can bring back the old Vincent with a cheerful character. He loses faith in himself forever, he is not interested in anything, and even work. The result was a dismissal.

Finding yourself

Religion came to the rescue. Vincent wanted to help the poor. In 1876 he came to Britain and took a job as a schoolteacher, first at Ramsgate and then at Isleworth. A year later, he gets bored with this occupation and he leaves for his homeland.

Self-portrait - 1887

He worked as a clerk in one of the firms in Dordrecht, then went to Amsterdam and entered the theological faculty of the university. The severity that reigned here forced him to quit his studies and return to his parents in the summer of 1878. In a family of relatives and friends for eight years, he almost completely finds peace.

In the spring of 1886, Vincent arrived in Paris to see his only brother, Theo, who was renting an apartment in the Rue Lepic district. He paid for several lessons from the famous artist F. Cormon, made a close acquaintance with Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin.

Here, 33-year-old Van Gogh is gaining popularity, as he completely discards gloom and unsociability. He successfully imitates the works of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Their canvases are exhibited at the Theo Gallery and attract deep interest from the French public.

Van Gogh "Irises" 1889. Getty Museum, Los Angeles

But in the fate of a novice artist, the unexpected happens. He settles in a Brussels evangelical school and leaves as a preacher in Borinage, a huge miners' district. Vincent, having no job and not a penny to his soul, gives out all his clothes and everything that still remains with him.

Van Gogh with all his heart wanted to convey to the poor the true teaching of Christ, but the church considered him a fanatic, and in the summer of 1879 banned his activities.

Van Gogh remained in this area for some time, making sketches, sketches and studies of people and nature. It is here that the 27-year-old Vincent suddenly gets an insight - he wants to become a painter.

"Search a woman"

Although Van Gogh took lessons from renowned painters, he was largely self-taught. He studied craftsmanship when he copied canvases, read many books on this topic and constantly made all kinds of sketches. He wanted to choose the path of an illustrator for himself in the future. In the winter of 1881 he takes lessons from Anton Mouve.

At this time, Van Gogh creates the first oil painting. Although Vincent works hard to master the fundamentals of painting, he has yet to completely rid himself of his past emotional problems.

He is experiencing a new romance, and again the passion did not find reciprocity. His cousin, who recently remained the widow of Kay Vos, becomes a hobby. Again the painful test of rejection follows.

During the celebration of Christmas 1881, Vincent has a serious quarrel with his father over Kea. As a result, he left his homeland and went where he met Klazina Hoornik, a dressmaker who moonlighted providing intimate services to men.

The artist lived with this woman for several months, although he contracted a venereal disease from her. He wanted to legitimize the relationship in order to save the "fallen woman." From this step, his relatives stopped him.

Vincent was constantly morally and financially supported by Theo: he wrote him letters, sent money. In December 1883, Vincent went home (his parents moved to Nuenen).

The Potato Eaters 1885. Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Here he is working on a large canvas - "The Potato Eaters". He realistically depicts a simple peasant family living in the neighborhood. A couple of years later, Vincent Van Gogh leaves for Antwerp. There he studied for some time at the Academy of Arts.

In the spring of 1886, he and his brother rented an apartment in Paris. The artist will not return to his homeland. But here he has no friends except Theo. The reason for this is its unpredictability and difficult, uncontrollable nature. Sometimes he even becomes dangerous, because Van Gogh abuses alcohol.

Arles

By a strange coincidence, almost all of the artist's moves occur every two years. In 1888 he left Paris and moved to the small town of Arles. Locals are not happy with its appearance. He looked strange and they, in the opinion of Van Gogh himself, considered him "a drunkard and a vagabond."

Cafe terrace at night (1888). Written in Arles

The famous long-liver, who was born and lived in Arles for 122 years, describes the artist as "dirty, very poorly dressed, unfriendly, who smelled of booze."

But pretty soon Vincent seemed to warm himself under the sun of Arles. Several friends appeared, including the postal worker J. Roulin, who repeatedly posed for him.

Ear story

The artist decided to organize a special village for people of art in this enchanting area. He persuaded Paul Gauguin to come and discuss some of the details of this plan.

In Arles, on Christmas Day, they quarreled violently. In the heat of a quarrel, Van Gogh wanted to cut Gauguin with a razor, but he, fortunately, ran away. Vincent was beside himself with anger and cut off part of his ear. This was a clear sign of mental illness. Theo put Vincent in a psychiatric hospital for treatment. The artist spent half a month in a hospital bed.

Vincent Van Gogh. Self-portrait with a bandaged ear and a pipe. 1889. Zurich Kunsthaus Museum, Niarchos Private Collection

The doctors noted a significant improvement in his mental state and he returned home. However, less than three weeks later, he began to have terrible hallucinations. He found himself again at the Clinic Saint-Remy-de-Provence. Now for a whole year, under the vigilant supervision of medical personnel.

Between violent bouts of aggravation, Vincent creates new canvases with incredible speed. He depicts everything that he sees from the window of the hospital ward. In the spring of 1890, doctors at a general council called his condition consistently satisfactory.

The last refuge

Vincent, discharged from the clinic, went to the quiet and picturesque village of Auvers-sur-Oise, 40 kilometers from. On the way to a new refuge, the artist met his brother's family, where his first-born had recently appeared. He was given the name Vincent.

Vincent van Gogh, 1889

Van Gogh felt almost at ease in this lovely corner. But mental illness did not release him from his tenacious claws. On July 27, 1890, 37-year-old Vincent fired a shot, aiming the barrel of a pistol in the chest.

The wound turned out to be fatal, two days later he passed away. Six months later, Theo passed away. The siblings found eternal peace at Auvers Cemetery.

The grave of Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theodore at the cemetery in Auvers (France)

In this video additional information "Vincent Van Gogh: biography and his paintings"

Since the master's biography is really oversaturated with interesting facts, I would like to structure my story into two parts. The first covers the story of how Vincent Van Gogh became famous, and the second will be a familiar collection of amusing incidents and events from the life of the great artist. The material is not a biographical calculation, it contains the most interesting moments and situations from the artist's life.

Priceless correspondence with sibling

The biography of the great artist is rich in interesting facts, he himself talked about most in correspondence with his brother Theo. Thanks to these invaluable letters, we know what kind of person Vincent van Gogh was. In total, 903 letters have survived during their communication in the period from 1872 to 1890. Remarkably, after Vincent began painting, he illustrated almost every letter. Thus, the artist demonstrated how the work was going, in addition he told in detail what colors are present in the picture. For art, this is a phenomenal phenomenon, when all the interesting facts about van Gogh are described in his own letters. The level of frankness of the correspondence is so high that Vincent talked about all his illnesses, including impotence.

Theodore was anxious about the correspondence with his brother, having saved 820 letters. What cannot be said about Vincent, only 83 letters were found in his things, this is a very small number, given that their dialogue lasted for 18 years. This is due to the artist's frequent travels, inconstancy and generally windy lifestyle.

The woman who started

Let's start from the end, since the mass distribution of Vincent's work began only after his death. Meet the wife of Theodore - Johanna. At the age of 29, she was left a widow, with a small child in her arms. From material possessions she had an apartment in Paris, 200 paintings and hundreds of drawings by Vincent, a dozen unsold paintings by other French artists.

Johanna Gezina van Gogh-Bonger

After the sale of the apartment, she returned to Holland, stayed near Amsterdam, and opened her own small business there. Soon she married a Dutch artist who fully supported her idea of ​​popularizing the work of Vincent van Gogh. She made connections with friends of her late husband, organized exhibitions and presentations. I collected letters from the brothers' correspondence from all over the world, and began to translate them into English. By the way, by education, Johanna was a teacher of foreign languages, so she prepared for the publication herself. Unfortunately, in 1912 she became a widow for the second time. After that, she changed her surname back to van Gogh, and transported the body of Theodore from Holland to Vincent's grave in France. I planted an ivy twig on the grave, which I took nearby, in the garden of Dr. Gachet. In the same year, she organized a major presentation of van Gogh's work in Berlin. This city was not chosen by chance - they already knew about the artist there. The German writer and art connoisseur Julius Meyer-Graefe tried to do this.

The creators of Vincent van Gogh's romantic story

Julius Meyer-Graefe.

As soon as Western Europe started talking about van Gogh, art critic and writer Julius Meyer-Graefe immediately became interested in the brilliant artist. After he got his hands on the translation of the brothers' correspondence, he realized that from this he could unleash a great story. In 1920-1921 he published a series of several books dedicated to the life of the artist and his friends. These books told the whole world about the impressionists and post-impressionists of France in the late nineteenth century. Julius was immediately dubbed the connoisseur of van Gogh, and on this wave he began to buy and then sell his paintings, writing out certificates of authenticity.

In the mid-1920s, a certain Otto Wacker, he assured Julius that he possesses a unique collection of paintings by van Gogh. Julius, having felt the taste of big money, even believed in the fairy tale that these paintings were bought from a mysterious Russian aristocrat. It is worth noting that these canvases really repeated the master's style well, so it was difficult to distinguish them from the original. But soon people began to have doubts, and since it was about tidy sums, the police also became interested in this case. During the checks, a studio was found, in which they found several still wet "Van Goghs". Oddly enough, he was involved in this Otto Wacker. A trial soon took place, where Otto received 19 months in prison and a huge fine. Since Julius Meyer-Graefe sold forgeries without an evil thought, he got off with a large fine, but his name was completely discredited. At this point, Johanna had already died, her son was not yet 20 years old, and Julius had lost respect, so no one was actively promoting van Gogh.

Irving Stone "Lust for Life"

When the forgery scandal subsided, an American writer of Jewish descent took on the story of the insane artist Irving Stone (Tennenbaum), he wrote a novel "Lust for Life"... This book was rejected by 17 editions for various reasons, but it still managed to be released in 1934. The writer himself has repeatedly stated that all the dialogues are invented, but basically they correspond to the motives of reality. You need to understand that he was planning to release a bestseller, so he did not pursue historical accuracy at all. Based on this novel, 22 years later, a Hollywood film was shot, which was nominated for an Oscar four times, and received it once. Interesting facts from life were deliberately substituted for fictional ones in order to give the story a more dramatic and cinematic character.

It was from that moment on that Vincent van Gogh's story was historically misinterpreted. After the movie was released, most people referred to the book. "Lust for life", on which an Oscar-winning film was filmed, and not on the genuine, but "boring" correspondence of the two brothers.

1. Wanted to become a priest like his father and grandfather

"Still life with the Bible" 1885.

A love of religion was instilled in all children in their family from a very early age, since the father of the family was a priest. In his youth, Vincent wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, but to get ordained, it was necessary for five whole years to study at the seminary. By nature, he was an impulsive person, and it seemed to him that it was too long and unproductive. I decided to enroll in an intensive course at an evangelical school. This course lasted three years, including a half-year missionary work in a mining town. In the last month of his life under terrible conditions, he realized that religion was not able to help in really difficult situations.

During his sermon, on which he worked for a long time, the miners did not listen to him at all. Unfortunately, he understood these people, and knew that his words would not make their slave working conditions any less difficult. Upon his return to Holland, he did not enroll in an evangelical school. He came to his father, and told about his thoughts on this matter, and that he no longer believes in the god he had read so much about. Naturally, they quarreled strongly on this basis, and never spoke again. Several years later, after Vincent learned of his father's death, he painted a still life with the Bible and sent it to Theo.

2. Began to paint at a late age

Vincent van Gogh "Burning Grass" 1883.

No matter what angle you look at, van Gogh started painting very late, but very intensively, and under the supervision of knowledgeable people. In this he was helped by the best textbooks from all over Europe, the artist Anton Mauve from The Hague, who was his relative. In addition, the experience that he gained during many years of trading in paintings in different cities of Europe came in handy. He entered two different Art Academies, but several months passed, and he dropped out of training without regret. He wrote to his brother that academic painting no longer attracted him, and the knowledge of the old masters would not help in realizing his plans as an artist. During this period, he was a great admirer of Jean-Francois Millet, and copied a huge number of his canvases.

3. Sold a lot more than one painting

"Red Vineyards in Arles"

There was an opinion that supposedly he and his brother sold only one painting "Red Vineyards in Arles". This is far from the case, during his lifetime the van Goghs managed to sell fourteen his paintings, while two still lifes with sunflowers were bought by Vincent's comrade - Paul Gauguin. If we go back to the "red vineyards", then this is really the only painting that was sold for big money... The famous artist and philanthropist Anna Bosch became this generous buyer; the purchase took place at a major impressionist exhibition. Anna Bosch knew about the serious condition of the artist at that time. He was in the hospital once, and she wanted to support him in this way. After Vincent's death, she acquired another of his paintings, but a few years later sold both paintings at exorbitant prices.

4. A business plan for the sale of paintings was developed

Two brothers in their youth, Vincent on the left.

Do not be surprised, because Vincent worked in galleries for a long time and sold paintings to wealthy people. Accordingly, I knew the popular genres and styles that are best sold. And Theodore owned his own art gallery in the center of Paris, and he also understood how to earn decent money from painting. After Vincent's arrival in Paris, he got acquainted with a new genre for himself - impressionism. He talked a lot with artists who worked in this genre, but soon, due to his hot-tempered nature, he quarreled with almost everyone. The brothers decided to work in the field of interior painting, which was aimed at the middle class. During this period, all the sunflowers were painted, and a large number of vases with flowers. But work in this direction was stopped by the same attack that led to the fact that Vincent cut off his earlobe and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

5. Van Gogh's severed ear

"Self-portrait with a severed ear and a pipe" 1888.

This is probably the most popular misconception, so I want to say the following: Vincent van Gogh didn't chop off his ear, but only cut off part of the lobe. After this action, he went to a brothel in which they often rested with Gauguin. The young lady who worked there opened the door for him, Vincent told her: "Take care of this treasure." After that, he turned around and went home, went up to the second floor and went to bed. Interestingly, if he cut off his whole ear, he would simply die of blood loss, because he was discovered only ten hours later. This case is described in more detail in the material that I published earlier: Why did van Gogh cut off his ear? Everything is described in detail there, preserving the chronology and cause-and-effect relationship.

6. His brother kept him all his life

Theodore van Gogh

As soon as Vincent decided to become an artist, he was immediately supported by his brother Theo. Every month he sent money, most often it went to three things: materials, food, and rent. When unforeseen waste appeared, Vincent asked for more, detailing the reason. When the artist lived in places where it was difficult to get paints and canvases, he made a whole list, and Theo in response sent him huge parcels. Vincent was not ashamed to ask for money, because in return he sent ready-made paintings, which he called a commodity. His brother kept Vincent's paintings at home, where he brought potential clients, art connoisseurs and collectors to try to sell at least something.

But it was impossible to make significant money on such paintings at that time, so he actually contained Vincent. Every month he sent 200 francs To roughly understand what kind of money it is, I will say that Vincent paid 15-20 francs a month for housing, and a good book on anatomy cost 3 francs. Here's another good example: the postman, who became famous as a friend of Vincent, received a salary of 100 francs, and with this money he supported a family of four.

7. Recognition came after death

"Starry Night" at the Museum

Vincent was known by all serious artists of France since 1886, and to the best of their ability they followed his work. It was impossible not to know about the artist, whose brother owns a large painting salon in the center of Paris. Theo's apartment was a personal exhibition of Vincent's paintings for 5 years, all the local artists of those years, including Claude Monet himself, visited it. By the way, at the exhibition in 1888, Monet very positively assessed the "Starry Night", calling it the best picture of the show.

Interesting facts do not end there: the popularization of the van Gogh family in Holland was carried out by his relative, the famous landscape painter Anton Mauve. Anton, in turn, was familiar with one of the best landscape painters in Holland, Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch. They even had a meeting where they discussed Vincent's talent. As a result, they agreed that the guy really has potential and he can achieve great high. When Vincent found out about this news, he finally understood that he would become an artist, and from that moment he began to paint one picture or drawing a day.

8. Terrible state of health

"Still life with absinthe" 1887.

It is difficult to imagine that people in those days did not even know about the catastrophic harmfulness of absinthe. France in those days was the capital of absinthe, it was inexpensive and was very popular among creative people. Vincent was incredibly fond of this drink, and dedicated a neat portrait-style still life to it. The situation was aggravated by smoking, for the last 10 years of his life, he never parted with his pipe. In letters to his brother, he said that in this way he satisfies the hunger that constantly pursued him. This way of life has given its generous "results."

Vincent van Gogh's diseases:

• Bipolar disorder;
• Affective insanity;
• Borderline personality disorder;
• Sunstroke;
• Meniere's disease;
• Lead poisoning;
• Acute intermittent porphyria;
• Syphilis;
• Gonorrhea;
• Impotence;
• He lost more than 15 teeth.

He told his brother about half of the sores, the rest was taken from the medical records of hospitals. He received sexually transmitted diseases from his common-law wife, who was a prostitute. After they separated, Vincent spent two weeks in the hospital, but did not blame his former love for anything. Teeth quickly deteriorated from absinthe and smoking, which is why there are no self-portraits of van Gogh, where his teeth would be visible. Lead poisoning came from white paints, by the way, nowadays lead whitewash is recognized as highly toxic, prohibited, and is no longer manufactured.

9. I worked only with the best materials of those times

Fragment from the picture

The brothers were very well versed in art supplies, since they were closely involved in the painting environment. Due to the fact that Vincent used only high-quality paints, his paintings have survived so well to this day. V online museum from Google, you can examine in detail any picture, every stroke is visible on it, appreciate its purity and brightness. These paintings are over a hundred years old, and they look like new, only a few cracks. Remarkably, he himself never created oil paint from pigments, but bought only ready-made in tubes. Unlike his friend, Paul Gauguin, who was an adherent of the old approach to the production of art materials.

10. Death of Vincent van Gogh

The last painting of the master. Fields with dark clouds.

It is mistakenly believed that his last work is "Wheat Field with Crows". In 1890, the whole family of Theodore fell ill, most importantly - including the baby. Due to this, he had less time for Vincent, and the brothers began to gradually move away from each other. Theo sent him money less and less, and described in detail how difficult it was for him. Vincent often thought about suicide in the last year of his life, and was deeply disappointed at how bad things were going with them. One day he decided that the game was not worth the candle, and as if he had become too much of a burden.