Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose work is among the most recognised and influential in the history of Western art. [1] Over roughly a decade he produced some 2,000 works, including around 900 paintings, most of them in the final two years of his life. [1] Though he sold almost nothing and struggled with poverty and mental illness, his bold colour and expressive brushwork later made him a foundational figure of modern art. [2]
Early life
Van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Zundert, a village in the southern Netherlands, the eldest surviving son of a Protestant pastor. [1] As a young man he worked for the art dealers Goupil & Cie in The Hague, London and Paris, and later pursued religious vocations, serving for a time as a lay missionary among coal miners in the Borinage region of Belgium. [1] It was only in 1880, in his late twenties, that he resolved to become an artist, teaching himself largely through practice and study while receiving guidance from relatives and fellow painters. [2]
Artistic development
His early Dutch period was dominated by sombre, earth-toned depictions of peasants and rural labour, culminating in The Potato Eaters (1885). [1] In 1886 he moved to Paris, where contact with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters transformed his palette, brightening his colours and loosening his brushwork. [2] He briefly studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, though academic training suited him poorly and he soon returned to independent work. [1]
Arles and final years
In 1888 Van Gogh settled in Arles, in the south of France, where the intense light inspired some of his best-known canvases, including the Sunflowers series and views of the surrounding countryside. [1] A planned artists' community collapsed after a violent quarrel with Paul Gauguin, during which Van Gogh mutilated part of his own ear. [1] He voluntarily entered an asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where, despite recurring breakdowns, he painted prolifically, producing The Starry Night in 1889. [3] He died on 29 July 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise from a gunshot wound generally regarded as self-inflicted, aged 37. [1]
Legacy
Van Gogh's extensive correspondence, especially the letters to his younger brother Theo, who supported him financially throughout, provides a detailed record of his artistic aims and struggles. [2] Almost unknown at his death, his reputation grew rapidly in the early twentieth century, and his emotive use of colour and form profoundly influenced Expressionism and later modern movements. [2] Today his works rank among the most valued and widely reproduced in the world, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam holds the largest collection of his art. [3]
