Vincent van Gogh
1853 -1890
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist. His paintings and drawings include some of the world's best known, most popular and most expensive piece. Expressive luminosity of color and blotchy brushwork are Vincent van Gogh's distinguishing characteristics which made him the model of expressionist painters at the turn of the century.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in 1853. He was 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. Art and religion were the two occupations to which the Van Gogh family gravitated. Vincent van Gogh originally planned to study theology.
Van Gogh spent his early life working for a firm of art dealers. After a brief spell as a teacher, he became a missionary worker in a very poor mining region. He did not embark upon a career as an artist until 1880. Professional and personal failure led him to painting, in which he saw a way of giving expression to mental and emotional tension. The central figure in Vincent van Gogh's life was his brother Theo, who continually and selflessly provided financial support. Their lifelong friendship is documented in numerous letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards.
Initially, van Gogh worked only with somber colors, until he encountered Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism in Paris. Although his own painting style was primarily developed autodidactically, he incorporated impressionistic brighter colors and their style of painting into his, uniquely recognizable style. It was fully developed after he settled in Arles, and this stay in Provence. It is seen as the zenith of his creative work.
He produced more than 2,000 works, including around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches, during the last ten years of his life. Most of his best-known works were produced in the final two years of his life, during which time he cut off part of his left ear following a breakdown in his friendship with Paul Gauguin. After this he suffered recurrent bouts of mental illness. In 1890, he died from the consequences of the attempt of suicide.
Van Gogh's pictures, which were not saleable during his lifetime, are today auctioned at very high prices. He is a pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism. He had an enormous influence on 20th century art, especially on the Fauves and German Expressionists.
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