Vincent Willem van Gogh listen (March 30, 1853-July 29, 1890) was a Dutch painter, classified as a Post-Impressionist. His work now attracts very high prices at auction, and several of his paintings appear in lists of the most expensive paintings in the world. His work shows the objects, people and places in his life with bold, usually distorted, draughtsmanship and visible dotted or dashed brushmarks, which are intensely yet subtly coloured.

He is popularly known as much for his embodiment of the myth of the tortured romantic artist as for his work, which is seen as the visual expression of his life. Three of the most widespread myths about him are that he cut off his ear (it was only the lobe), that he killed himself because no one recognized his talent (in the last six months of his life he received generous accolades which he found very disturbing), and that he painted as he did because he was mad (he painted during his lucid periods).

He produced all of his work (some 900 paintings and 1100 drawings) during the ten year period before he committed suicide. Most of his best-known work was produced in the final two years of his life. In the two months before his death he painted 90 pictures.

He was afflicted with increasingly recurrent periods of mental ill health, spending time in a sanatorium. His state of mind was not helped by overwork (especially as he did much of it outside in the hot sun), bad dietary habits, and dependence on tobacco, coffee, and alcohol. It is widely believed he suffered from a severe case of bipolar disorder. His career was cut short too early for him to reap success during his lifetime; his fame then grew slowly, helped by the devoted promotion of it by his widowed sister-in-law. A major show of 71 paintings was held in Paris eleven years after his death.

Grouped by critics with the Post-Impressionists, a pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism, Van Gogh has had an enormous influence on 20th century art, especially in the early part of the century, when many paintings of the Fauves and German Expressionists, particularly Die Brucke are highly derivative. His energetic approach to the painted surface follows a lineage to the Abstract Expressionism of Willem de Kooning and beyond.

His brother Theo, who worked at the art dealers Goupil & Cie, was a central part of Vincent's life, continually providing financial support. Their lifelong friendship is documented in the large collection of letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards. These letters provide much insight into the life of the painter, and show him to be a talented writer with a keen mind.

Early life 1853-1869

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in Zundert in the Province of North Brabant, in the southern Netherlands, the son of Anna Cornelia Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh, a Protestant minister. He was given the same name as his first brother, who had been born exactly one year before Vincent and had died within a few hours of birth.

Four years after Van Gogh was born, his brother Theodorus (Theo) was born on May 1, 1857. He also had another brother named Cor and three sisters, Elisabeth, Anna and Wil. As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and thoughtful. In 1860 he attended the Zundert village school, where 200 pupils had one teacher, a Catholic. From 1861 he and his sister Anna were taught at home by a governess, until October 1, 1864, when he went away to the elementary boarding school of Jan Provily in Zevenbergen, the Netherlands, about 20 miles away. He was distressed to leave his family home, and recalled this even in adulthood. On September 15, 1866, he went to the new middle school, "Rijks HBS Koning Willem II", in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Constantijn C. Huysmans, who had achieved a certain success himself in Paris, taught Van Gogh to draw at the school and advocated a systematic approach to the subject. In March 1868 Van Gogh abruptly left school and returned home. His comment on his childhood was: "My youth was gloomy and cold and barren..."

Art dealer and preacher 1869-1880

In July 1869, at the age of 16, he obtained a position with the art dealer, Goupil & Cie in the Hague, through his Uncle "Cent", who had built up a good business which became a branch of the firm. After his training, Goupil transferred him, in June 1873, to London (where he lodged in Stockwell). There he became increasingly isolated and fervent about religion, and suffered from unrequited love. His father and uncle despatched him to Paris, where he became increasingly resentful at treating art as a commodity and manifested this to the customers. On April 1, 1876, it was agreed that his employment should be terminated.

His religious emotion grew to the point where he felt he had found his true vocation in life, and went to England to do unpaid work, first as a supply teacher in a small boarding school overlooking the harbour in Ramsgate, and then as a Methodist minister's assistant in Isleworth, Middlesex, wanting to "preach the gospel everywhere".

At Christmas that year he returned home and worked in a bookshop in Dordrecht for six months. His family sent him to university in Amsterdam, where he studied for a year for the theology entrance exam with his unlce Johannes Stricker, a respected theologian who published the first "Life of Jesus" available in the Netherlands. He failed at his studies and had to abandon them. He then studied, but failed, a three-month course at a Brussels missionary school, and returned home yet again in despair about himself.

In 1878 Van Gogh became a preacher in the coal-mining district of Borinage in Belgium, following his father's profession, but taking Christianity to a literal extreme, wishing to live like the poor and share their hardships to the extent of sleeping on straw. This did not endear him to his flock, or to the appalled church authorities, who dismissed him for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood". On his own initiative, he stayed for a further year, during which time he became increasingly interested in the everyday people and scenes around him, which he recorded in drawings.

Beginning artist (Nuenen) 1880-1886

In 1880, Vincent followed the suggestion of his brother Theo and took up art in earnest. In autumn 1880, he went to Brussels, intending to follow Theo's recommendation to study with the prominent Dutch artist Willem Roelofs, who persuaded Van Gogh (despite his aversion to formal schools of art) to attend the Royal Academy of Art. There he not only studied anatomy, but the standard rules of modelling and perspective, all of which, he said, "you have to know just to be able to draw the least thing."

In April 1881, Vincent went to live in the countryside with his parents in Etten and continued drawing, using neighbours as subjects. Through the summer he spent much time walking and talking with his recently widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker, the daughter of her mother's older sister, and Johannes Stricker. Stricker had earlier tutored Vincent in biblical criticism in his attempt to gain entrance to a university to study theology, and had shown real warmth towards his nephew. Kee was seven years older than Vincent, and had an eight-year-old son. Vincent proposed marriage, but she flatly refused with the words: "Never. No. Never." Van Gogh went to the Hague where he called on his cousin-in-law, the painter Anton Mauve, who encouraged him towards colour by giving him a box of watercolours. In the autumn in Amsterdam, Kee refused even to see Van Gogh and he burned his left hand in a candle flame to prove his commitment. Her father, 'Uncle Stricker' as Vincent refers to him in his letters to Theo, made it clear that there was no question of Vincent and Kee marrying, given Vincent's inability to support himself financially., and the apparent hypocrisy of his uncle and former tutor affected Vincent deeply. At Christmas he quarrelled violently with his father, even refusing a gift of money.

In January 1882 he left for the Hague, where he was taught for a while by Mauve, but soon fell out with him, disapproving of drawing from plaster casts. He lived with an alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria Hoornik (known as Sien) and her young daughter. His uncle Cornelis, an art dealer, commissioned 20 ink drawings of the city from him. He spent 3 weeks in hospital suffering gonorrhoea. In the summer, Van Gogh began to paint in oil.

In Autumn 1883, after a year with Sien, he left her reluctantly, feeling family life was irreconcilable with his artistic development.

He moved to the Dutch province of Drenthe in the north of the Netherlands, and in December, driven by loneliness, to stay with his parents who were by then living in Nuenen, North Brabant, also in the Netherlands.

In Autumn 1884, a neighbour's daughter, Margot Begemann, ten years older than Vincent, accompanied him constantly on his painting forays and fell in love, which he reciprocated (though less enthusiastically). They agreed to marry, but were opposed by both families.

On March 26, 1885, Van Gogh's father died of a stroke. Van Gogh grieved deeply. For the first time there was interest from Paris in some of his work. In spring he painted what is now considered his first major work, The Potato Eaters (Dutch De Aardappeleters). In August his work was exhibited for the first time, in the windows of a paint dealer, Leurs, in the Hague. In September he was accused of making one of his young peasant sitters pregnant and the Catholic village priest forbad villagers from modelling for him.

It should be noted that during this time Van Gogh's palette was of sombre earth tones, particularly dark brown, and as yet he had shown no sign of developing the vivid colouration which distinguishes his later, best known work. (When Vincent complained that Theo was not making enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, Theo replied that they were too dark and not in line with the current style of bright Impressionist paintings.) During his two year stay in Nuenen, he had completed numerous drawings and watercolours, and nearly 200 oil paintings.

In November 1885 he moved to Antwerp and rented a little room above a paint dealer's shop in the Rue des Images. He had little money and ate poorly, preferring to spend what money his brother Theo sent to him on painting materials and models. Bread, coffee, and tobacco were his staple intake. In February 1886 he wrote to Theo saying that he could only remember eating six hot meals since May of the previous year. His teeth became loose and caused him much pain. While in Antwerp he applied himself to the study of colour theory and spent time looking at work in museums, particularly the work of Peter Paul Rubens, gaining encouragement to broaden his palette to carmine, cobalt and emerald green. He also bought some Japanese woodblocks in the docklands. It was while he was living in Antwerp that Vincent began to drink absinthe heavily.

In January 1886 he matriculated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, studying painting and drawing. Despite disagreements over his rejection of academic teaching, he nevertheless took the higher level admission exams. For most of February he was ill, run down by overwork and a poor diet (and excessive smoking).

Transitional artist (Paris) 1886-1888

In March 1886 he moved to Paris, soon studying at Cormon's studio, where he meets fellow students, emile Bernard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Later he and Bernard exchanged paintings to commemorate this occasion.

In May 1886 his mother and sister Wil moved to Breda. 70 of Van Gogh's abandoned paintings were bought by a junk dealer, who burnt some and sold others at very low prices.

Theo introduced Vincent to the Impressionist circle, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas, Camille and son Lucien Pissarro (with both of whom he became friends), Paul Signac and Georges Seurat. Van Gogh liked Impressionism's use of light and color, more than its lack of social engagement (as he saw it).

He especially loved the technique known as pointillism (where many small dots are applied to the canvas that blend into different hues when seen from a distance). He was also strongly committed to the use of complementary colours in proximity-especially blue and orange-in order to enhance the brilliance of each. (He wrote in a letter: "I want to use colours that complement each other, that cause each other to shine brilliantly, that complete each other like a man and a woman.")

In June he took a flat with Theo at 54 Rue Lepic in Montmartre, and adopted the pointillist style to paint Paris scenes. He used the paint store run by Julien "Père" Tanguy, who introduced him to more artists.

In the winter of 1886 he met and befriended Paul Gauguin, who had just arrived in Paris. For a time Theo found shared life with Vincent "almost unbearable".

In spring 1887 Tanguy commissioned two portraits of himself.

In 1888, when city life and living with his brother proved too much, Van Gogh left Paris, having painted over 200 paintings during his two years in the city.

Mature artist 1888-1890

He arrived on 21 February, 1888, at the Hotel Carrel in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, France, where he intended to found a Utopian art colony . His companion for two months was the Dutch artist, Christian Mourier-Petersen. In March, he painted local landscapes, using a gridded "perspective frame". Three of his pictures were shown at the Paris Salon des Artistes Independents. In April he was visited by the American painter, Dodge MacKnight, who was resident in Fontvieille nearby.

On May 1 signed a lease for 15 francs a month to rent the four rooms in the right hand side of the "Yellow House" (so called because its outside walls were yellow) at No. 2 Place Lamartine. The house was unfurnished and had been uninhabited for some time so he was not able to move in straight away. He had been staying at the Hôtel Restaurant Carrel in the Rue de la Cavalrie, just inside the medieval gate to the city, with the old Roman Arena in view. The rate charged by the hotel was 5 francs a week, which Van Gogh regarded as excessive. He disputed the price, and took the case to the local arbitrator who awarded him a twelve franc reduction on his total bill (the weekly rate being reduced from five francs to four). On May 7 he moved out of the Hôtel Carrel, and moved into the Cafe de la Gare. He became friends with the proprietors, Joseph and Marie Ginoux. Although the Yellow House had to be furnished before he could fully move in, Van Gogh was able to use it as a studio.

In June he visited Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. He gave drawing lessons to a Zouave second lieutenant, Paul-Eugène Milliet, who also became a companion. He was introduced to Eugen Boch, the Belgian writer and painter, who stayed at times in Fontvieille (they exchanged visits in July). Gauguin agreed to join him in Arles. In August he painted sunflowers; Boch visited again.

On September 8, upon advice from his friend the station's postal supervisor Joseph Roulin, he bought two beds, and he finally spent the first night in the still sparsely furnished Yellow House on September 17.

On 23 October Gauguin eventually arrived in Arles, after repeated requests from Van Gogh. During November they painted together. Uncharacteristicaly, Van Gogh painted some pictures from memory, deferring to Gauguin's ideas in this. Their first joint outdoor painting exercise was conducted at the picturesque Alyscamps.. It was in November that Van Gogh painted The Red Vineyard.

In December the two artists visited Montpellier and viewed works by Courbet and Delacriox in the Musee Fabree. However, their relationship was deteriorating badly. They quarrelled fiercely about art. Van Gogh felt an increasing fear that Gauguin was going to desert him, and what he described as a situation of "excessive tension" reached a crisis point on December 23, 1888, when Van Gogh stalked Gauguin with a razor and then cut off the lower part of his own left ear, which he wrapped in newspaper and gave to a prostitute called Rachel in the local brothel, asking her to "keep this object carefully". Gauguin left Arles and did not speak to Van Gogh again. Van Gogh was hospitalised and in a critical state for a few days. He was immediately visited by Theo (whom Gauguin had notified), as well as Madame Ginoux and frequently by Roulin.

In January 1889 Van Gogh returned to the "yellow house", but spent the following month between hospital and home, suffering from hallucinations and paranoia that he was being poisoned. In March the police closed his house, after a petition by thirty townspeople, who call him fou roux ("the redheaded madman"). Signac visited him in hospital and Van Gogh was allowed home in his company. In April he moved into rooms owned by Dr. Rey, after floods damaged paintings in his own home. Theo married Johanna Bonger in Amsterdam.

Saint-Remy, May 1889 - May 1890

On May 8, 1889, Van Gogh, accompanied by a carer, the Reverend Salles, was admitted to the mental hospital of Saint-Paul-de Mausole in a former monastery in Saint Remy de Provence, a little less than 20 miles from Arles. The monastery was a mile and a half out of the town and was in an area of cornfields, vineyards, and olive trees. The hospital was run by a former naval doctor, Dr Theophile Peyron, who had no specialist qualifications. Theo van Gogh arranged for his brother to have two small rooms, one for use as a studio, although in reality they were simply adjoining cells with barred windows. During his stay there, the clinic and its garden became his main subject. At this time some of his work was characterised by swirls, as in one of his best-known paintings, Starry Night. He took some short supervised walks, which gave rise to images of cypresses and olive trees, but because of the shortage of subject matter due to his limited access to the outside world, he painted interpretations of Millet's paintings, as well as his own earlier work. In September 1889 he painted two new versions of the Bedroom in Arles, and in February 1890 he painted four portraits of L'Arlesienne (Madame Ginoux), based directly on a charcoal sketch Gauguin had produced when Madame Ginoux had sat for both artists at the beginning of November 1888. One of these four portraits sold at auction in May 2006 for more than $40 million.

Auvers-sur-Oise, May - July 1890

In May 1890, Vincent left the clinic and went to the physician Dr. Paul Gachet, in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, where he was closer to his brother Theo. Dr. Gachet had been recommended to him by Pissarro, as he had previously treated several artists and was an amateur artist himself. Here Van Gogh created his only etching, a portrait of the melancholic Doctor Gachet. As it turned out the doctor was as much in need of help as his patient: Van Gogh commented that Gachet was "sicker than I am, I think, or shall we say just as much".

Wheat Field with Crows with its turbulent intensity is often, but mistakenly, thought to be Van Gogh's last work (Jan Hulsker lists seven paintings after it). Daubigny's Garden is a more likely candidate. There are also seemingly unfinished paintings, such as Thatched Cottages by a Hill.

Van Gogh's depression deepened, and on July 27, 1890, at the age of 37, he walked into the fields and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. Without realising that he was fatally wounded, he returned to the Ravoux Inn, where he died in his bed two days later. Theo hastened to be at his side and reported his last words as "La tristesse durera toujours", (French for "the sadness will last forever"). He was buried at the cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise.

Theo had contracted syphilis (though this was not admitted by the family for many years) and, not long after Vincent's death, was himself admitted to hospital. He was not able to come to terms with the grief of his brother's absence, and died six months later on 25 January at Utrecht. In 1914 Theo's body was exhumed and re-buried beside Vincent's.

Notable works

• (1885) The Potato Eaters
• (1888) Bedroom in Arles
• (1888) Cafe Terrace at Night
• (1888) The Red Vineyard
• (1888) The Night Cafe
• (1888) Starry Night Over the Rhone
• (1889) The Starry Night
• (1889) Irises
• (1889) Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers
• (1889) Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe
• (1890) Portrait of Dr. Gachet
• (1890) Wheat Field with Crows
• (1890) Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat

Illness

Debate has raged over the years as to the source of Van Gogh's mental illness and its effect on his work. Over 150 psychiatrists have attempted to label his illness, and some 30 different diagnoses have been suggested. Some of the theories which have been suggested include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, syphilis, poisoning from swallowed paints, and temporal lobe epilepsy. Any of these could have been the culprit and been aggravated by malnutrition, overwork, a fondness for the alcoholic beverage absinthe, and insomnia. Some people have argued, in the case of temporal lobe epilepsy, that the disease may have led to his prolific body of work. (TLE cases tend to show symptoms of hypergraphia and hyperreligiosity and it has been suspected by some as being sources of religious visions and creativity.)

In the November 2005 issue of Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Paul L. Wolf, M.D., presented his analysis of how disease, drugs, and chemicals might have influenced the retinal vision of Van Gogh. Wolf speculates that the Yellow Color Vision defect in van Gogh developed as a side effect of his love of a type of liqueur known as absinthe, containing a neurotoxin called thujone found in wormwood oil.

Another recently proposed illness is lead poisoning. The paints used at the time were lead-based, and one of the symptoms of lead poisoning is a swelling of the retinas which would caused the halo effect seen in many of Van Gogh's works.