vangogh (2) (1)
TRANSCRIPT
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