VINCENT VAN GOGH: 5 THINGS TO KNOW

Vincent Van Gogh was a mad and visionary painter.
Symbol of the tormented artist who mixes genius with madness, his life was a race towards self-destruction, full of turns of events and violence, but also genial artworks ignored by his contemporaries and considered masterpieces by all those who came after him.

There are a little more than 800 artworks by Van Gogh left, admired by scholars and adored by visitors of the museums housing them.
In this post you’ll find 5 things to know about Vincent Van Gogh.

Vincent van Gogh life and works e opere: 5 things to know

1 – WHEN AND WHERE VINCENT VAN GOGH WAS BORN

Vincent Van Gogh was born in 1853 in Zundert (the Netherlands). His father was a Protestant minister and the information on his childhood is few and fragmentary.
What is certain is that his academic performance was poor, and when he was 15 years old he dropped out of school to start to work at the Goupil art gallery.

2 – VAN GOGH AND HIS BROTHER THEO

To know the life and the works of Van Gogh the letters between the artist and his younger brother Theo are fundamental.
The two brothers had a close relationship, and it was Theo who supported Vincent’s artistic career, especially economically.

READ ALSO – Van Gogh’s masterpieces and works

3 – VAN GOGH BETWEEN ART AND MADNESS

Since he was a child, Vincent Van Gogh developed a passion for drawing, but he began painting only when he was around 30 years old.
His life was marked by mental illness and for a period of time he went through a religious crisis, which obliged him to leave his job at the Goupil art gallery and become the assistant of a Methodist minister.

That’s the life of Vincent Van Gogh.

A whirlpool of emotions that somehow needed to be communicated to the world. His works were a means for Vincent to communicate and try to control his obsessions.

READ ALSO – The starry night by Van Gogh: what it represents 

La Notte Stellata di Van Gogh

4 – VAN GOGH AND THE ARTISTS OF HIS TIME

Vincent lived in Paris for two years, between 1886 and 1888.

In those years Paris was the perfect place where an artist could dedicate himself to art, and Vincent became friends with some young artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Signac and Paul Gauguin.

The two years Vincent spent in Paris were fundamental for the development of his style, because he discovered Impressionist painting and became interested in Japanese art.
In addition, Vincent Van Gogh developed a particular relationship with Gauguin, and the two artists lived together for some months in the south of France, in an attempt to establish a community of artists.

In 1888 at the end of October Gauguin joined Van Gogh in Arles, but the cohabitation between the two artists was difficult, and when Vincent began showing signs of mental illness, until he cut an ear with a razor, Gauguin went away forever.

READ ALSO – Paul Gauguin: 5 things to know

5 – WHEN VAN GOGH DIED

The attempts to cure his mental illness were unsuccessful. Van Gogh died in 1890, at the age of only 37, due to a gunshot.
Some people claim it was a suicide or an accident; other people, instead, say that it was a homicide, for some reason.

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