Early Life
Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30th, 1853 in a
small town in the Netherlands. He was the oldest of his siblings
to survive and was named after his grandfather, Vincent, who was
a very successful scholar. As a child, Van Gogh was very serious
and very thoughtful towards his family. His passion for art
started at a very young age after his parents sent him to a
private middle school where he became extremely unhappy. His
mother was the one who encouraged his artworks, and at this
middle school, he was taught by a Constantijn C. Huysmans.
Huysmans was a very successful painter in Paris during the early
1800's. However, this did little to ensure his happiness and he
returned home in 1868. He expressed his childhood as "austere
and cold and sterile".
As Van Gogh grew older, he grew more invested in
his paintings. He began working from life and has his first
exhibit of his first group of legit works in 1885. That exhibit
consisted of his first major work "The Potato Eaters" in which a
dealer became interested and bought from him soon after.
His depression grew stronger as he reached his
artistic peak. He began to drink very heavily and was
hospitalized from February to March in 1886. After his
recovery, and despite his antipathy towards academic teaching,
he took the higher-level admission exams at the Academy of Fine
Arts in Antwerp, and in January 1886 matriculated in painting
and drawing. He became ill and run down by overwork, poor diet
and excessive smoking.
The artist began attending different drawing and
modeling classes at the Academy of Fine Arts where he quickly
caused trouble due to his unique painting style. Many of his
mentors and teachers started to clash with him and his obscure
ideas and methods. Rumor has it that Van Gogh was kicked out of
the Arts in the end of 1886 in which he then moved to Paris.
Here he acquired a brighter color scheme and more inspiration
for his pieces. He held two more exhibits to show his works but
kept his impressionist style.
In December of 1888, Van Gogh was hospitalized for
the mutilation of his ear. The events that led to such an act
are still unknown. The wound was bandaged and his ear wrapped in
paper and delivered to a prostitute at a local brothel he
usually attended. Van Gogh did no remember the event at all.
Police said that Van Gogh suffered from an acute mental
breakdown. Because of the events, the artist was placed in
hospital care. During his time here, he painted some of his most
famous pieces including his Iris paintings and Starry Night,
which some say showed the view from his hospital room. He seemed
to be getting better but in February and April of 1890, he
suffered a huge relapse and was unable to write or even paint.
On July 27th, 1890. the 37 year old painter shot
himself in the chest. There was no witnesses and he survived for
over 30 hours after the attempt. His final words were "The
sadness will last forever".
