VINCENT VAN GOGHBorn

30 March 1853

Zundert,

Netherlands

Died

29 July 1890 (aged

37)

Auvers-sur-Oise,

France

Education

Anton Mauve

Known for

Painting, drawing

Notable work(s)

Starry Night,

Sunflowers,

Bedroom in Arles,

Portrait of Dr. Gac

het , Sorrow

Movement

BIOGRAPHYVincent Willem van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Groot-Zundert, a village close to Breda in the province of North Brabant in the southern Netherlands, a predominantly Catholic area.[ He was the oldest surviving child of Theodorus van Gogh, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and Anna Cornelia Carbentus. Vincent was given the name of his grandfather, and of a brother stillborn exactly a year before his birth.[note 3] The practice of reusing a name was not unusual. Vincent was a common name in the Van Gogh family: his grandfather, Vincent (1789–1874), 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 who was referred to in Van Gogh's letters as "Uncle Cent". Grandfather Vincent had perhaps been named in turn after his own father's uncle, the successful sculptor Vincent van Gogh (1729–1802).[15][16] Art and religion were the two occupations to which the Van Gogh family gravitated. His brotherTheodorus "Theo" was born on 1 May 1857. He had another brother, Cor, and three sisters: Elisabeth, Anna, and Willemina "Wil".

PARIS

1886-1888Van Gogh traveled to Paris in March 1886, where he shared

Theo's Rue Laval apartment on Montmartre, to study at

Fernand Cormon's studio. In June, they took a larger

apartment further uphill, at 54 Rue Lepic. Because they had

no need to write letters to communicate, little is known

about this stay in Paris.[77] In Paris, he painted

portraits of friends and acquaintances, still-life paintings,

views of Le Moulin de la Galette, scenes in Montmartre,

Asnières, and along the Seine. During his stay in Paris, he

collected more Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints; he

became interested in such works when, in 1885, in Antwerp

he used them to decorate the walls of his studio. He

collected hundreds of prints, which are visible in the

backgrounds of several of his paintings. In his 1887

Portrait of Père Tanguy, several can be seen hanging on the

wall behind the main figure. In The Courtesan or Oiran (after Kesai Eisen) (1887), Van Gogh

traced the figure from a reproduction on the cover of the

magazine Paris Illustre, which he then graphically enlarged

in the painting.[78] His 1888 Plum Tree in Blossom (After Hiroshige) is a vivid example of

the admiration he had for the prints he collected. His

version is slightly bolder than Hiroshige's original.[79]

DEATHOn 22 February 1890, Van Gogh

suffered a new crisis that was

"the starting point for one of

the saddest episodes in a life

already rife with sad events,"

according to Hulsker. From

February until the end of April

he was unable to bring himself

to write, though he did

continue to draw and paint,

[140] which follows a pattern

begun the previous May, in

1889. For a year he "had fits of

despair and hallucination during

which he could not work, and in

between them, long clear

months in which he could and

did, punctuated by extreme

visionary ecstasy."[152]

• On 27 July 1890, aged 37, Van Gogh is believed to

have shot himself in the chest with a revolver

(although no gun was ever found).[153] There were no

witnesses and the location where he shot himself is

unclear. Ingo Walther writes, "Some think Van Gogh

shot himself in the wheat field that had engaged his

attention as an artist of late; others think he did it at a

barn near the inn."[154]Biographer David Sweetman

writes that the bullet was deflected by a rib bone and

passed through his chest without doing apparent

damage to internal organs—probably stopped by his

spine. He was able to walk back to the

Auberge Ravoux, and there was attended by two

physicians; however, without a surgeon present the

bullet could not be removed. After tending to him as

best they could, the two physicians left Van Gogh

alone in his room, smoking his pipe. The following

morning (Monday), Theo rushed to be with Van Gogh

as soon as he was notified, and found him in

surprisingly good shape, but within hours Van Gogh

began to fail due to an untreated infection caused by

the wound. Van Gogh died in the evening, 29 hours

after he supposedly shot himself. According to Theo,

his brother's last words were: "The sadness will last

forever."[153][155]

THE OLD MILL, 1888, ALBRIGHT-KNOX ART GALLERY, BUFFALO, NY.

WHITE HOUSE AT NIGHT, 1890, HERMITAGE MUSEUM, ST. PETERSBURG, PAINTED SIX WEEKS BEFORE THE ARTIST'S DEATH

WHEATFIELD WITH CROWS, 1890, VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM