Vincent van Gogh

Author profile

born

March 30, 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands

died

December 13, 1901

gender

male

website

http://www.vangoghgallery.com/

genre

Arts & Photography, Poetry, Biographies & Memoirs

influences

Anton Mauve, Jean-François Millet, Jozef Israëls, Adolphe Joseph Thoma...more

About this author

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Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potat...more Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885). In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.

In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. In a fit of epilepsy, van Gogh pursued his friend with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.

In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.(less)

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Books by Vincent van Gogh

Average rating: 4.05 · 5,609 ratings · 164 reviews · 113 distinct works

	The Letters of Vincent van Gogh by Vincent van Gogh, Ronald De Leeuw (Editor), Arnold J. Pomerans (Translator) 4.04 avg rating — 3,651 ratings — published 1967 — 30 editions	My rating:
	Dear Theo by Vincent van Gogh, Irving Stone (Editor), Jean Stone (Editor) 4.07 avg rating — 1,806 ratings — published 1937 — 24 editions	My rating:
	Vincent's Colors by Vincent van Gogh, The Metropolitan Museum Of Art 4.13 avg rating — 46 ratings — published 2005	My rating:
	Van Gogh: Avenel Art Library by Vincent van Gogh, Alberto Martini 4.05 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 1988	My rating:
	Letters from Provence by Vincent van Gogh, Martin Bailey (Introduction) 4.11 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 1990 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Van Gogh on Art and Artists: Letters to Emile Bernard by Vincent van Gogh, Douglas Cooper, Douglas Lord (Editor) 3.78 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2003	My rating:
	Van Gogh 4.21 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 1961 — 18 editions	My rating:
	Van Gogh - A Restropective 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1996	My rating:
	Van Gogh in Arles 4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings — 3 editions	My rating:
	The My Life and Love Are One by Vincent van Gogh, Irving Stone, Susan Polis Schutz (Editor) 3.57 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1976	My rating:

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Quotes by Vincent van Gogh

“It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.”
― Vincent van Gogh

tags: art , inspiration , love , strength

1,078 people liked it

“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.”
― Vincent van Gogh

tags: art , dreams , inspiration , painting

599 people liked it

“I don't know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.”
― Vincent van Gogh

tags: stars-dreams

320 people liked it

See all Vincent van Gogh's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

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The History Book ...: * LETTERS OF VAN GOGH	9	71	Mar 27, 2012 06:33pm
GERMAN - Fantasie...: Anagramme raten (Zamonische Schriftsteller)	50	43	Apr 12, 2012 04:26pm
Book Nook Cafe: Art	123	96	Apr 21, 2012 11:17am
The History Book ...: AUTHOR ALPHABET	1102	341	May 24, 2012 03:46am

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Vincent van Gogh

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combine editionsBooks by Vincent van Gogh

Quotes by Vincent van Gogh

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Books by Vincent van Gogh