From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This page was last modified 23:09, 17 October 2006.
"Van Gogh" redirects here. For other uses, see Van Gogh (disambiguation).
Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch draughtsman and painter, classified as a Post-Impressionist. His paintings and drawings include some of the world's best known, most popular and most expensive pieces.
The fact that he cut off his ear is very well known, as is the belief that he was driven to an early suicide by lack of recognition of his genius. Here reality and myth are intertwined, and although he certainly suffered from recurrent bouts of mental illness, his suicide was preceded by growing praise for his work from radical critics and fellow avant-garde artists?something which paradoxically caused the painter considerable anguish.
Van Gogh spent his early life as an art dealer, teacher and preacher in England, Holland and Belgium. His period as an artist began in 1880 and lasted for a decade, initially with work in sombre colours, until an encounter in Paris with Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism accelerated his artistic development. He produced all of his work, some 900 paintings and 1100 drawings, during the last ten years of his life. Most of his best-known work was produced in the final two years of his life, and in the two months before his death he painted 90 pictures. Following his death, his fame grew slowly, helped by the devoted promotion of it by his widowed sister-in-law.
Largely self-taught, his work was startlingly innovative from the very beginning. Neither his early realist work, though close to the Dutch tradition, nor his later impressionist phase met contemporary expectations. His depictions of everyday life showed a highly personal use of media, marked by a bold and distorted draughtsmanship, and visible dotted or dashed brush marks, sometimes in swirling or wave-like patterns, which are intensely yet subtly coloured. Since his death in 1890, van Gogh has been acknowledged as a pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism and has had an enormous influence on 20th century art, especially on the Fauves and German Expressionists, and with a line that continues through to the Abstract Expressionism of Willem de Kooning and the British painter Francis Bacon.
The central figure in Vincent van Gogh's life was his brother Theo, an art dealer with the firm of Goupil & Cie, who continually and selflessly provided financial support. Their lifelong friendship is documented in numerous letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards, which were published in 1914, by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Theo's widow, who generously supported most of the early Van Gogh exhibitions with loans from the artist's estate.
-----------
Biography
For a timeline, see Vincent van Gogh chronology
[edit]
Early life (1853 ? 1869)
Van Gogh's parents, Theodorus and Anna Cornelia,
and their children Vincent, Anna, Theo, Lies,
Wil and Cor (from left to right)Vincent Willem
van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, a village
close to Breda in the Province of North Brabant
in the southern Netherlands, the son of Anna
Cornelia Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh,
a minister of the Dutch reformed church. He
was given the same name as his grandfather?and
a first brother stillborn exactly one year
before. Some commentators have suggested that
being given the same name as his dead elder
brother might have had a deep psychological
impact on the young Vincent, and that elements
of his art, such as the portrayal of pairs
of male figures, can be traced back to this.
The practice of reusing a name in this way
was not uncommon. The name "Vincent"
was often used in the Van Gogh family: the
baby's grandfather was called Vincent van
Gogh (1789-1874); he had received his degree
of theology at the University of Leiden in
1811. Grandfather Vincent had six sons, three
of whom became art dealers, including another
Vincent, referred to in Van Gogh's letters
as "Uncle Cent." Grandfather Vincent
had perhaps been named after his own father's
uncle, the successful sculptor Vincent van
Gogh (1729-1802).[1] Art and religion were
the two occupations to which the Van Gogh
family gravitated.
Four years after Van Gogh was born, his brother Theodorus (Theo) was born on May 1, 1857. There was also another brother named Cor and three sisters, Elisabeth, Anna and Wil. As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and thoughtful. In 1860 he attended the Zundert village school, where 200 pupils had one teacher, a Catholic. From 1861 he and his sister Anna were taught at home by a governess, until October 1, 1864, when he went away to the elementary boarding school of Jan Provily in Zevenbergen, the Netherlands, about 20 miles away. He was distressed to leave his family home, and recalled this even in adulthood. On September 15, 1866, he went to the new middle school, "Rijks HBS Koning Willem II," in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Constantijn C. Huysmans, who had achieved a certain success himself in Paris, taught Van Gogh to draw at the school and advocated a systematic approach to the subject. In March 1868 Van Gogh abruptly left school and returned home. His comment on his early years was: "My youth was gloomy and cold and barren...."[2]
[edit]
Art dealer and preacher (1869 ? 1878)
In July 1869, at the age of 16, he obtained
a position with the art dealer, Goupil &
Cie in The Hague, through his Uncle "Cent,"
who had built up a good business which became
a branch of the firm. After his training,
Goupil transferred him to London in June 1873,
where he lodged in Stockwell. This was a happy
time for Vincent: he was successful at work,
and was already, at the age of 20, earning
more than his father.[3] He fell in love with
his landlady's daughter, Eugenie Loyer,[4]
but when he finally confessed his feeling
to her, she rejected him, saying that she
was already secretly engaged to a previous
lodger. Vincent became increasingly isolated
and fervent about religion. His father and
uncle sent him to Paris, where he became resentful
at how art was treated as a commodity, and
he manifested this to the customers. On April
1, 1876, it was agreed that his employment
should be terminated.
The house where Van Gogh stayed in Cuesmes
in 1880; it was while living here that he
decided to become an artist.His religious
emotion grew to the point where he felt he
had found his true vocation in life, and he
returned to England to do unpaid work, first
as a supply teacher in a small boarding school
overlooking the harbour in Ramsgate; he made
some sketches of the view. The proprietor
of the school relocated to Isleworth, Middlesex.
Vincent decided to walk to the new location.
This new position did not work out, and Vincent
became a nearby Methodist minister's assistant
in wanting to "preach the gospel everywhere."
At Christmas that year he returned home, and then worked in a bookshop in Dordrecht for six months, but he was not happy in this new position and spent most of his time in the back of the shop either doodling, or translating passages from the Bible into English, French, and German.[5] His roommate from this time, a young teacher called Gorlitz, later recalled that Vincent ate frugally, preferring to eat no meat.[6] [7] In an effort to support his wish to become a pastor, his family sent him to Amsterdam in May 1877 where he lived with his uncle Jan van Gogh, a rear admiral in the navy.[8] Vincent prepared for university, studying for the theology entrance exam with his uncle Johannes Stricker, a respected theologian who published the first "Life of Jesus" available in the Netherlands. Vincent failed at his studies and had to abandon them. He left uncle Jan's house in July 1878. He then studied, but failed, a three-month course at the Protestant missionary school (Vlaamsche Opleidingsschool) in Laeken, near Brussels.
[edit]
Borinage and Brussels (1879 ? 1880)
In January 1879 Van Gogh got a temporary post
as a missionary in the village of Petit Wasmes[9]
in the coal-mining district of Borinage in
Belgium, following his father's profession,
but taking Christianity to a literal extreme,
wishing to live like the poor and share their
hardships to the extent of sleeping on straw
in a small hut at the back of the baker's
house where he was billeted;[10] the baker's
wife used to hear Vincent sobbing all night
in the little hut.[11] His choice of squalid
living conditions did not endear him to the
appalled church authorities, who dismissed
him for "undermining the dignity of the
priesthood." After this he walked to
Brussels,[12] returned briefly to the Borinage,
to the village of Cuesmes, but acquiesced
to pressure from his parents to come "home"
to Etten. He stayed there until around March
the following year,[13] to the increasing
concern and frustration of his parents. There
was considerable conflict between Vincent
and his father, and his father made enquiries
about having his son committed to a lunatic
asylum[14] at Geel.[15] Vincent fled back
to Cuesmes where he lodged with a miner named
Charles Decrucq,[16] with whom he stayed until
October. He became increasingly interested
in the everyday people and scenes around him,
which he recorded in drawings.
In 1880, Vincent followed the suggestion of his brother Theo and took up art in earnest. In autumn 1880, he went to Brussels, intending to follow Theo's recommendation to study with the prominent Dutch artist Willem Roelofs, who persuaded Van Gogh (despite his aversion to formal schools of art) to attend the Royal Academy of Art. There he not only studied anatomy, but the standard rules of modelling and perspective, all of which, he said, "you have to know just to be able to draw the least thing."
[edit]
Etten (1881)
Still-Life, arranged by Anton Mauve and executed
by Van Gogh, December 1881In April 1881, Van
Gogh went to live in the countryside with
his parents in Etten and continued drawing,
using neighbours as subjects. Through the
summer he spent much time walking and talking
with his recently widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker,
the daughter of his mother's older sister
and Johannes Stricker. Stricker had earlier
tutored Vincent in biblical criticism in his
attempt to gain entrance to a university to
study theology, and had shown real warmth
towards his nephew.[17] Kee was seven years
older than Vincent, and had an eight-year-old
son. Vincent proposed marriage, but she flatly
refused with the words: "No, never, never"
(niet, nooit, nimmer).[18] At the end of November
he wrote a strong letter to Uncle Stricker,[19]
and then, very soon after, hurried to Amsterdam
where he talked with Stricker again on several
occasions,[20] but Kee refused to see him
at all. Her parents told him "Your persistence
is disgusting".[21] In desperation he
held his left hand in the flame of a lamp,
saying, "Let me see her for as long as
I can keep my hand in the flame."[22]
He did not clearly recall what happened next,
but assumed that his uncle blew out the flame.
Her father, "Uncle Stricker," as
Vincent refers to him in letters to Theo,
made it clear that there was no question of
Vincent and Kee marrying, given Vincent's
inability to support himself financially.[23]
What he saw as the hypocrisy of his uncle
and former tutor affected Vincent deeply.
At Christmas he quarrelled violently with
his father, even refusing a gift of money,
and immediately left for The Hague.[24]
[edit]
The Hague and Drenthe (1881 ? 1883)
In January 1882 he settled in The Hague, where
he called on his cousin-in-law, the painter
Anton Mauve, who encouraged him towards painting.
He soon fell out with Mauve, however, perhaps
over the issue of drawing from plaster casts;
but Mauve appeared to go suddenly cold towards
Vincent, not returning a couple of his letters.
Vincent guessed that Mauve had learned of
his new domestic relationship with the alcoholic
prostitute, Clasina Maria Hoornik (born February
1850, The Hague;[25] she was known as Sien)
and her young daughter.[26] Van Gogh had met
Sien towards the end of January.[27] Sien
had a five year-old daughter, and was pregnant.
She had already had two other children who
had died, although Vincent was unaware of
this.[28] On 2 July, Sien gave birth to a
baby boy, Willem.[29] When Vincent's father
discovered the details of this relationship,
considerable pressure was put on Vincent [30]
to abandon Sien and her children. Vincent
was at first defiant in the face of his family's
opposition.
Vincent van Gogh: View from his atelier in
The Hague, watercolourHis uncle Cornelis,
an art dealer, commissioned 20 ink drawings
of the city from him; they were completed
by the end of May.[31] In June Vincent spent
3 weeks in hospital suffering gonorrhoea.[32]
In the summer, he began to paint in oil.
In autumn 1883, after a year with Sien, he abandoned her and the two children. Vincent had thought of moving the family away from the city, but in the end he made the break.[33] It is possible that lack of money had pushed Sien back to prostitution; the home had become a less happy one, and Vincent may have felt family life was irreconcilable with his artistic development. When Vincent left, Sien gave her daughter to her mother, and baby Willem to her brother, and moved to Delft and then Antwerp.[34] Willem remembered being taken to visit his mother in Rotterdam at around the age of 12, where his uncle tried to persuade Sien to marry in order to legitimize the child. Willem remembered his mother saying: "But I know who the father is. He was an artist I lived with nearly 20 years ago in The Hague. His name was Van Gogh." She then turned to Willem and said "You are called after him."[35] Willem believed himself to be Van Gogh's son, but the timing of the birth makes this unlikely.[36] In 1904 Sien drowned herself in the river Scheldt.[37]
Van Gogh moved to the Dutch province of Drenthe in the north of the Netherlands, and in December, driven by loneliness, to stay with his parents who were by then living in Nuenen, North Brabant, also in the Netherlands.
[edit]
Nuenen (1883 ? 1885)
The Potato Eaters (1885)In Nuenen, he devoted
himself to drawing, paying boys to bring him
birds' nests[38] and rapidly[39] sketching
the weavers in their cottages. In autumn 1884,
a neighbour's daughter, Margot Begemann, ten
years older than Vincent, accompanied him
constantly on his painting forays and fell
in love, which he reciprocated (though less
enthusiastically). They agreed to marry, but
were opposed by both families. Margot tried
to kill herself with strychnine and Vincent
rushed her to hospital.[40]
On March 26, 1885, Van Gogh's father died of a stroke. Van Gogh grieved deeply. For the first time there was interest from Paris in some of his work. In spring he painted what is now considered his first major work, The Potato Eaters (Dutch De Aardappeleters). In August his work was exhibited for the first time, in the windows of a paint dealer, Leurs, in The Hague. In September he was accused of making one of his young peasant sitters pregnant,[41] and the Catholic village priest forbade villagers from modelling for him.
During his time in Nuenen Van Gogh's palette was of sombre earth tones, particularly dark brown, and he showed no sign of developing the vivid coloration that distinguishes his later, best known work. (When Vincent complained that Theo was not making enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, Theo replied that they were too dark and not in line with the current style of bright Impressionist paintings.) During his two-year stay in Nuenen, he completed numerous drawings and watercolours, and nearly 200 oil paintings.
[edit]
Antwerp (1885 ? 1886)
Backyards in Antwerp, 1885, by Vincent van
GoghIn November 1885 he moved to Antwerp and
rented a little room above a paint dealer's
shop in the Rue des Images.[42] He had little
money and ate poorly, preferring to spend
what money his brother Theo sent to him on
painting materials and models. Bread, coffee,
and tobacco were his staple intake. In February
1886 he wrote to Theo saying that he could
only remember eating six hot meals since May
of the previous year. His teeth became loose
and caused him much pain.[43] While in Antwerp
he applied himself to the study of color theory
and spent time looking at work in museums,
particularly the work of Peter Paul Rubens,
gaining encouragement to broaden his palette
to carmine, cobalt and emerald green. He also
bought some Japanese Ukiyo-e woodcuts in the
docklands, which he imitated and incorporated
into the background of some of his paintings.[44]
It was while he was living in Antwerp that
Vincent began to drink absinthe heavily.[45]
He was treated by Dr Cavenaile whose surgery
was near the docklands,[46] possibly for syphilis;[47]
the treatment of alum irrigations and sitz
baths was jotted down by Vincent in one of
his notebooks.[48]
In January 1886 he matriculated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, studying painting and drawing. Despite disagreements over his rejection of academic teaching, he nevertheless took the higher-level admission exams. For most of February he was ill, run down by overwork and a poor diet (and excessive smoking).
[edit]
Paris (1886 ? 1888)
54, Rue Lepic , ParisIn March 1886 he moved
to Paris to study at Cormon's studio, and
in May 1886 his mother and sister Wil moved
to Breda.[49] The brothers first shared Theo's
apartment Rue Laval on Montmartre. In June
they took a larger flat at 54 Rue Lepic, further
uphill. As there was no longer the need to
communicate by letters, less is known about
Van Gogh's time in Paris than earlier or later
periods of his life.
For some months Vincent worked at Cormon's studio where he frequented the circle of the British-Australian artist John Peter Russell, and met fellow students like Emile Bernard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who used to meet at the paint store run by Julien "Pere" Tanguy, which was at that time the only place to view works by Paul Cezanne.
Vincent van Gogh, pastel drawing by Henri
de Toulouse-LautrecIt was not difficult to
see and study Impressionist works in Paris
at this time. In 1886, for example, two large
vanguard exhibitions were staged, the 8th
and final exhibition of the Impressionists
and an exhibition of the Artistes Independants.
In both exhibitions Neo-Impressionism manifested
for the first time, works of Georges Seurat
and Paul Signac were the talk of the town.
Though Theo, too, kept a stock of Impressionist
paintings in his gallery on Boulevard Montmarte,
by artists including Claude Monet, Alfred
Sisley, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro,
Vincent evidently had problems acknowledging
these recent ways to see and paint. Conflicts
arouse, and at the turn of 1886 to 1887 Theo
found shared life with Vincent "almost
unbearable," but in spring 1887 they
made peace. Then Vincent set out for a campaign
in Asnieres, where he became personally acquainted
with Paul Signac. Vincent and his friend Emile
Bernard, who lived with parents in Asnieres,
adopted elements of the "pointille"
(pointillism) style, where many small dots
are applied to the canvas, resulting in an
optical blend of hues, when seen from a distance.
The theory behind this also stresses the value
of complementary colours in proximity?for
example, blue and orange?as such pairings
enhance the brilliance of each colour by a
physical effect on the receptors in the eye.
In November 1887, Theo and Vincent met and befriended Paul Gauguin, who had just arrived in Paris.[50] Towards the end of the year, Vincent arranged an exhibition of paintings by himself, Bernard, Anquetin and (probably) Toulouse-Lautrec in the Restaurant du Chalet, on Montmartre. There, Bernard and Anquetin sold their first painting, and Vincent exchanged work with Gauguin, who soon departed to Pont-Aven. But the discussions on art, artists and their social situation started during this exhibition continued, and expanded to visitors of the show like Pissarro and his son, Signac and Seurat. Finally in February 1888, when Vincent felt worn out from life in Paris, he left the city, having painted over 200 paintings during his two years there. Only hours before his departure, accompanied by Theo, he paid his first and only visit to Seurat in his atelier. [51]
[edit]
Arles (February 1888 ? May 1889)
Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, August
1888 (Neue Pinakothek, Munich).Van Gogh arrived
on 21 February, 1888, at the railroad station
in Arles, crossed Place Lamartine, entered
the city through the Porte de la Cavalerie,
and took quarters a few steps further, at
the Hotel-Restaurant Carrel, 30 Rue Cavalerie.
He had ideas of founding a Utopian art colony.
His companion for two months was the Danish
artist, Christian Mourier-Petersen. In March,
he painted local landscapes, using a gridded
"perspective frame." Three of his
pictures were shown at the annual exhibition
of the Societe des Artistes Independants.
In April he was visited by the American painter,
Dodge MacKnight, who was resident in Fontvieille
nearby.
The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles,
at Night, September 1888.On May 1, he signed
a lease for 15 francs a month to rent the
four rooms in the right hand side of the "Yellow
House" (so called because its outside
walls were yellow) at No. 2 Place Lamartine.
The house was unfurnished and had been uninhabited
for some time so he was not able to move in
straight away. He had been staying at the
Hotel Restaurant Carrel in the Rue de la Cavalerie,
just inside the medieval gate to the city,
with the old Roman Arena in view. The rate
charged by the hotel was 5 francs a week,
which Van Gogh regarded as excessive. He disputed
the price, and took the case to the local
arbitrator who awarded him a twelve franc
reduction on his total bill[52] (the weekly
rate being reduced from five francs to four).
On May 7 he moved out of the Hotel Carrel,
and moved into the Cafe de la Gare.[53] He
became friends with the proprietors, Joseph
and Marie Ginoux. Although the Yellow House
had to be furnished before he could fully
move in, Van Gogh was able to use it as a
studio.[54] His major project at this time
was a series of paintings intended to form
the decoration for the Yellow House.
In June he visited Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. He gave drawing lessons to a Zouave second lieutenant, Paul-Eugene Milliet, who also became a companion. MacKnight introduced him to Eugene Boch, a Belgian painter, who stayed at times in Fontvieille (they exchanged visits in July). Gauguin agreed to join him in Arles. In August he painted sunflowers; Boch visited again.
On September 8, upon advice from his friend the station's postal supervisor Joseph Roulin, he bought two beds,[55] and he finally spent the first night in the still sparsely furnished Yellow House on September 17.[56]
The Red Vineyard (November 1888), Pushkin
Museum, Moscow). Sold to Anna Boch, 1890.On
23 October Gauguin eventually arrived in Arles,
after repeated requests from Van Gogh. During
November they painted together. Uncharacteristically,
Van Gogh painted some pictures from memory,
deferring to Gauguin's ideas in this. Their
first joint outdoor painting exercise was
conducted at the picturesque Alyscamps.[57]
It was in November that Van Gogh painted The
Red Vineyard.
In December the two artists visited Montpellier and viewed works by Courbet and Delacroix in the Musee Fabre. However, their relationship was deteriorating badly. They quarrelled fiercely about art. Van Gogh felt an increasing fear that Gauguin was going to desert him, and what he described as a situation of "excessive tension" reached a crisis point on December 23, 1888, when Van Gogh stalked Gauguin with a razor and then cut off the lower part of his own left ear, which he wrapped in newspaper and gave to a prostitute called Rachel in the local brothel, asking her to "keep this object carefully."[58] Gauguin left Arles and did not speak to Van Gogh again. Van Gogh was hospitalised and in a critical state for a few days. He was immediately visited by Theo (whom Gauguin had notified), as well as Madame Ginoux and frequently by Roulin.
In January 1889 Van Gogh returned to the "Yellow House", but spent the following month between hospital and home, suffering from hallucinations and paranoia that he was being poisoned. In March the police closed his house, after a petition by thirty townspeople, who called him fou roux ("the redheaded madman"). Signac visited him in hospital and Van Gogh was allowed home in his company. In April he moved into rooms owned by Dr. Rey, after floods damaged paintings in his own home. On April 17, Theo married Johanna Bonger in Amsterdam.
