Vincent van Gogh - Troubled Genius:

Dutch Post Impressionist

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

His Life

Vincent Willem van Gogh was a tortured genius that had an overwhelming influence on 20th Century art with his use of vibrant colors and dramatic passionate effects.

Where do you begin to relate the story of the life of an artist that is larger than life? His story begins in the village of Groot Zundart on March 30, 1853 in the Southern Netherlands. He was born to the family of Anna Cornelia Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh. His father was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church and his grandfather, also named Vincent (1789-1874), was an art dealer. His brother Theo, who played a significant role in Vincent's life, was born in May 1857. Religion and art were the main focus of the Van Gogh family.

A sober, meditative child, he attended a school in 1860 where a sole Catholic teacher taught a class of nearly 200 children. In 1861 he and his sister Anna began to be home schooled by a governess until 1864 when he was sent away to boarding school. This was an agonizing period for him. Leaving his family and living 20 miles from home was a period in his life that was instilled in his memory and haunted him throughout adulthood. In 1866 he attended the new middle school and at that time he studied drawing under Constantijn C. Huysmans, a successful artist in Paris. Vincent left school suddenly in 1868 and returned home. In his later years he commented in a letter to his brother Theo that his youth was gloomy, cold and sterile.

In 1869, Vincent's uncle helped him obtain employment with an art dealer in The Hague and after being trained, he was sent to London to work. At age 20 he was employed and even making more money than his father. According to Theo's wife, it was the happiest time in his life. It was at this point he met and fell very much in love with his landlord's daughter, Eugénie Loyer. Her ultimate rejection of his attentions seemed to be a catalyst to a downward spiral. He began to become more solitary and gradually isolated himself from those around him.

Vincent became increasingly resentful when his father and uncle sent him to Paris to work in an art dealership where he felt strongly that the art was being treated as a commodity. It became apparent to those around him and customers alike. Ultimately he was terminated in 1876.

He then returned to England and worked for no pay. Vincent went from position to position, working as a supply teacher at a boarding school making sketches of the harbor in Ramsgate. He then began working as Methodist minister's assistant fulfilling his desire to preach the Gospel everywhere. From there he traveled home to work in a book shop where he was not happy. He spent a good deal of his time at this point in translating the Bible into English, French and German. Failing to meet the requirements to become a minister he became a missionary in the coal mining district in Belgium. Following what he felt a Christian life should be he lived frugally, sharing hardships of those he preached to. He slept in the straw in a hut in the rear of the baker's house, where the wife of the baker said she could hear him weeping a good deal of the night. He was dismissed by the authorities of the church as being undignified.

At his parents insistence he returned home where his father, with whom Vincent had continual conflict, considered having committed to an insane asylum. In October of 1880 at the urging of his brother Theo, he began to take his art seriously.

While devoting himself to drawing in the town of Nuenen in 1884, a neighbor's daughter fell in love with Vincent. Margot Begemann was ten years his senior and although his love in return was less than enthusiastic, they determined to marry. This union was frowned upon by both families. Being very much grieved, Margot ingested strychnine. Van Gogh rescued her by rushing her to a hospital nearby. Soon after Vincent's father suffered a heart attack and died. The loss of his father caused him great pain and misery.

In the spring of 1885 he completed The Potato Eaters, which is judged to be his first major work and the initial recognition garnered interest from Paris. In 1885 he painted several still life paintings.

Mentally troubled, Vincent in 1889, committed himself to a hospital that was formally a monastery in Saint-Rremy. The location of the monastery was in an area of vineyards, cornfields and olive trees, obviously a favorite subject of his compositions at this point in his life. His most famous painting, Starry Night, was composed while in the asylum.

There are volumes that could be written about Vincent van Gogh's life and the great tragedy's that seemed to follow him, unfortunately too much to encompass in this brief record.

His Artistic Viewpoint

Unlike Georges Seurat's reaction against Impressionism whose dissatisfaction with the lack of logic or scientific formula, Vincent van Gogh portrayed feelings and emotions. The intensity of the heat of the summer sun or views of a field of wheat, he insisted on painting the subject directly. Vincent's paintings represent an abrupt break with the purpose and beliefs of Impressionism. As mentioned previously in this article his art-dealer brother, Theo, encouraged and supported him and especially during critical times in the artist's life. Vincent's astounding and rapid artistic development within a short time was facilitated by Theo's contacts. Regardless there is no explanation for the strange combination of mental instability and idealism that ultimately drew him to the city of Arles where he responded positively and exploded with creative energy.

Unlike the Impressionists, Vincent viewed nature with the passionate gaze of a lover who was seeking to find comparables for this exultation or misery. In his words; "...I devour nature with my eyes. I exaggerate and sometimes alter the subject, but I do not invent..."

Death

Van Gogh had been haunted by mental illness all of his life and as time went by his episodes became more pronounced. When some of these periods occurred he was unable to paint which only added aggravation to an artist that was at the pinnacle of his ability. Gradually the dark depression became profound. At the age of 37, July 27, 1890 he walked into a field and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. Surviving the impact, he managed to walk to an Inn at Ravoux where he died two days later. His brother Theo rushed to his side and was quoted as saying "The sadness will last forever".

— by Gwen Howlett  |  October 1, 2010

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