Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh 

  Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of western art. Vincent has painted over Thirty self portraits. 

Vincent painted self portraits, still lives, landscapes, and portraits of other people. 

Vincent was born into an upper-middle-class family. He drew as a child. He was very serious, quiet, and thoughtful. As a young man he worked as an art dealer, Often traveling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion, and spent time as a protestant missionary in southern Belgium. He became severely ill and isolated himself before becoming a painter 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. His early works, mostly still lives, contains 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 Emile Bernard, and Paul Gauguin, who were reaching against the impressionist sensibility. As his worked over time he created a new approach to still lives and landscapes. His paintings grew in color 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. (The sunflowers were a repetition of the 4th version 'yellow background', finished August of 1889. and the Wheatfield with Crows, 1890). 

    Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions and though he worried about his mental stability, He often neglected his physical health, he did not eat properly and drank heavily. His friendship ended after a confrontation with his razor, when in rage, he chopped off his left ear and sent it to his lover who left him. He spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Remy where he painted his most famous landscape...Starry Night. After he discharged himself he moved back to Paris. His depression continued and on July 27th,1890 Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died from his injuries two days later. 

    Vincent was unsuccessful during his lifetime, and was considered a madman and a failure. He became famous after his suicide, and exists in the public imagination as people misunderstood this genius. His reputation began to grow in the 20th century as elements of his painting style came to be incorporated by the Fauves (French for "the Wild Beasts") and German expressionist. He attained widespread critical, commercial and popular success over the ensuing decades, and is remembered as an important but tragic painter, whose troubled personality typifies the romantic idea of a tortured artist.