Vincent Van Gogh is the most famous Dutch artist who forever entered the history of world art as one of the best painters of the 20th century. What is interesting about his biography and personal life?
Biography of Van Gogh
The future great artist was born on March 30, 1853 in the town of Zundert, which is located in Holland. From childhood, Vincent was a very naughty and even a little strange child. At home he behaved aggressively and indulged in a lot, but as soon as he went outside, he became thoughtful and quiet. Van Gogh had five siblings. The youngest brother, Theo, was closest to him.
In 1960, Vincent was sent to study at a village school. But then, after a few years, they are transferred to a boarding school in a neighboring town. This parting with his native land very much hurts the soul of the boy. He begins to get involved in drawing. In 1968, Van Gogh dropped out of school and returned to his home.
At the age of fifteen, Vincent got a job at the Goupil & Co company selling paintings in The Hague. For success in this difficult business, he was transferred to another branch of the company in London. Van Gogh achieves some success there as well. He begins to understand painting perfectly. But in 1875, Vincent was forced to leave the company due to a poor psychological state. It is still unknown why this happened.
Van Gogh returns to his homeland and is closely engaged in religion. First, he entered the Amsterdam Institute for theology department, but after a year he dropped out. At this moment, Vincent goes to the south of Belgium, where he becomes a preacher. In this case, he also goes headlong, and soon he was fired from the post of a preacher for being too passionate about his profession.
Vincent goes home again and goes to study at the Academy of Fine Arts. He begins to enthusiastically create paintings in which he depicts people, as well as various still lifes. A year later, Van Gogh leaves school and continues to receive education on his own.
Over the next several years, Vincent changes his place of residence many times. First he moved to The Hague, then to the province of Drenthe and the city of Nuenen, where his parents live. During this period of his life, the artist is looking for his vocation. He draws a lot. Moreover, his models are poor peasants, ordinary passers-by, as well as girls of easy virtue. Van Gogh met a lady on the street and immediately invites her to stay at his place. This is how an unknown woman becomes a model and muse of the artist.
In 1986, Van Gogh went to Paris. Here he is met by his brother Theo, who rose to the position of director of one of the art galleries. Thanks to his brother Vincent, he got acquainted with many artists of the French capital. But the greatest impression on him is made by a new direction in painting - impressionism. Van Gogh studies this drawing technique and embodies it in his work. This is how another direction appears - post-impressionism. It was in Paris that Vincent created about 250 paintings in two years. But his unbearable nature leads to many problems in communicating with the local nobility, and the artist was forced to leave the capital of France.
In 1888, Van Gogh went to the town of Arles in the province of Provence. Brother Theo sends him money regularly, and Vincent sends him his paintings. At first, the residents of the city are very hospitable to meet the new resident. But then they have many questions about this red-haired madman who behaves very inadequately. Van Gogh agrees to be admitted to a mental hospital in Saint-Remy. There, the artist continues to create new paintings and even sells one of them on his own.
For good behavior, Van Gogh is allowed to visit his brother Theo in Paris. But in the brother's family there are big problems associated with the daughter's illness. Therefore, he meets Vincent without much warmth. This even more strikes the mental state of the artist. He returns to the clinic and on July 27, 1890, as usual, goes to the morning plein air. But a few hours later he returns with a bullet wound. For what reason this happened, no one ever found out. But two days later, on July 29, Van Gogh dies. He was buried in the town of Mary at the local cemetery. Brother Theo could not stand the parting, and six months later he also died.
Personal life of the artist
Van Gogh never had real big love. He was often fond of women and quickly forgot them. But mostly he always suffered from unrequited love. His appearance did not arouse admiration among the representatives of the opposite sex. Vincent often suffered from sexual dissatisfaction, which affected his mental state.
In the last years of his life, Van Gogh often visited prostitutes, and therefore picked up various venereal diseases, which worsened the artist's already poor health.
