Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh  ( 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch  post-impressionist  painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of  Western art . In just over a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860  oil paintings , most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include  landscapes ,  still lifes ,  portraits  and  self-portraits , and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive  brushwork  that contributed to the foundations of  modern art . He was not commercially successful, and his suicide at 37 came after years of mental illness and poverty.

Sunflowers painted in August 1888

• Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet, and thoughtful. As a young man he worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a  Protestant  missionary in southern Belgium. He drifted in ill health and solitude before taking up painting in 1881, having moved back home with his parents.

His younger brother  Theo  supported him financially, and the two kept up a  long correspondence by letter .

The Starry Night painted in June 1889

Vincent’s early works, mostly  still lifes  and depictions of  peasant labourers , contain few signs of the vivid colour that distinguished his later work. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the  avant-garde , including  Émile Bernard  and  Paul Gauguin , who were reacting against the  Impressionist  sensibility.

Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles, 1889

Almond Blossom painted in 1890

As his work developed he created a new approach to still lifes and  local landscapes . His paintings grew brighter in colour as he developed a style that became fully realised during his stay in  Arles  in the south of France in 1888. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include series of  olive trees ,  wheat fields  and  sunflowers .

Poppies and Iris Collage

Trees in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital painted in October 1889

Wheat Field with Crows

Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries , June 1888

Poppies 1886 Vase with Carnations 1886

The Church at Auvers 1890

Van Gogh suffered from  psychotic episodes  and  delusions  and though he worried about his mental stability, he often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he severed part of his own left ear. He spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at  Saint- Rémy . After he discharged himself and moved to the  Auberge Ravoux  in  Auvers -sur-Oise  near Paris, he came under the care of the  homeopathic  doctor  Paul Gachet . His depression continued and on 27 July 1890, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a  Lefaucheux  revolver.

He died from his injuries two days later.

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