Tess' instructions:
Write at least 3 paragraphs on something of interest about one
Impressionist artist, and make sure you give me your references.
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh was born into a Protestant family in the Netherlands in 1853, he was the son of a
Pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church. He had another brother, Vincent, who was a "still born" child,
this brother was born exactly 12 months before Vincent. He had another younger brother also, his name,
Theo Van Gogh, they wrote letters to each other until the day Vincent died. A lot of the information from
Vincents bio's has been extracted from these letters. Theo was also into art, like most of Vincent's family.
Van Gogh studied at King William Secondary school in Tilburg until the age of 15.
He worked as an Art Trader with "Goupil & Cie" from 1869. Vincent had two Uncles, Uncle Cornilia's
or "Uncle Cor" and an Uncle with the same name, Vincent, he was aptly called "Uncle Cent". Uncle Cent
had a 3rd of a share in the Art dealer business but retired in 1872. Vincent stayed on with the
firm, in this time, he was transferred to the London Office, where he was also an assistant Preacher with
the Protestant Church and was romantically linked to the daughter of the family he was staying
with at the time.
He stayed in London for two years and then moved back to Paris. He wasn't coping with the move and
decided to leave "Goupil & Cie" all together. In 1877, Vincent moved to Amsterdam to study
Theology. He was only there until 1878 before he decided to move back home to Etten, Netherlands.
He moved to Borinage, a coal mining town in Belgium. He was the Pastor to the Coal mining families.
The conditions were harsh and Vincent gave away his food and clothing to the miners. The church did
not approve of this and subsequently let him go. He was relegated to a town close by Borinage where he
struggled to live in the harsh environment. However this is where he got to see first hand how the poor
lived. Theo, eventually sent him money, so he could move to Brussells to began studying art.
Vincent returned home to Etten in the holidays. This is were he met and fell in love with his
cousin, Cornelius or nickname "Kee". She ignored his advances and it soured his relationship with
her and his father. Van Gough had another cousin, who was an artist too, his name was Anton,
he gave Vincent his first set of water colours. Their relationship was also strained when Vincent started
courting a prostitute, Sienne Hoornik.
In 1886, after many years of refining his art Vincent Van Gogh produced the painting, "Potato Eaters".
it seemed to be influenced by his time in the coal mining town. It wasn't a masterpiece until later
on but it did set him in the right direction back to Paris.
"Potato Eaters"
He moved in with his brother Theo on his return to Paris, this part of his life was harder for historians
to document now that his letters had stopped to Theo. Its well known that he befriended Paul Gauguin.
Van Gogh had painted one of his well known peices of art, "Sun Flowers", to decorate his bedroom.
"Sunflowers"
Vincent was hoping Gauguin would be apart of his art school. Their relationship soured though due to
Van Gogh's erattic behaviour, which included psychotic episodes and hallucinations.
During an episode at Gauguin's, Van Gogh allegedly chased Gauguin around with a knife, later that day
he came back and as part of his apology cut off his ear!!
In 1888, Vincent committed himself to a mental asylum. In this time he's art work was confused and
lacked form, he's only shinning light was "Starry night". On 27 June 1890, Vincent Van Gogh shot
himself in the chest as an attempted suicide, 2 days latter he passed away.
"Starry night"
references:
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/vgchr.htm
http://www.vggallery.com/misc/bio.htm
http://www.arthistoryguide.com
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