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Born: March 30, 1853
City and Country of Origin: Groot Zundert, The Netherlands
Painting School: Post Impressionist
Art Training: His cousin by marriage Anton Mauve
Exhibitions:
Awards:
Major Works: "The Potato Eaters," "Starry Night," "Cafe Terrace at Night," "Iris"
Vincent Van Gogh Biography: Vincent was the son of the pastor of a Dutch Reformed Church. He attended boarding school for 2 years and King Willem II secondary school for 2 years. He left school at 15 never to return. He went to work as an art dealer for Goupil & Cie where he worked for several years. In 1873 he was transferred to their London office where he remained for a few years. In 1875 he was transferred to Paris. It was around this time that he decided leave Goupil's and in 1876 he returned to London where he obtained a job as a teacher. It was during this period that he became interested in the Bible and religion. He began to prepare himself for the ministry, but his sermons lacked the passion sought by church leaders.

Vincent was undaunted and prepared to enter the university in Amsterdam to study for the ministry but he failed the entrance exam. Even though he was able to convince the church to allow him to begin a ministry on a trial basis in the small impoverished coal mining district known as The Borinage, Belgium. He was so sympathetic to their plight that he began to share his own clothes and food with the poverty stricken residents. The church strongly disapproved of his actions and he was dismissed from his post. It was here that young Vincent would begin his career as an artist by chronicling the hardships of the lives of these impoverished people.

He went to Brussels to pursue his art education, but it is unclear whether he ever attended the Ecole des Beaux-Art there. In 1883, while living in The Hague and in one of his many failed relationships, Vincent began to use oil paints as a medium for the first time. He rejoined his family now living in Nuenen where he focused on painting working class people much in the spirit of Millet. After much hard work in 1885 he finally produced his first masterpiece The Potato Eaters. He enrolled at the Academy in Antwerp but left after only one month.

Feeling that he had accomplished all that he could as a painter in The Netherlands Vincent moved to Paris to live with his brother Theo. Here Vincent visited museums and of course the exhibitions of the Impressionists. It was here that he became interested in Japanese prints and his palette moved from the dark and dreary hues of Dutch painting to the bright colors of the Impressionists. Although he benefitted greatly from his 2 years in Paris it became evident that Vincent was not happy in the big city. He moved to Arles in Provence in souther France. It is here that Vincent would explode as an artist producing hundreds of paintings and drawings for which he would one day become famous. His brother Theo infused by a recent inheritance sponsored a trip by the artist Paul Gaugin would bring stability into his brothers life and possibly pay financial rewards from their combined output. However, like all of Vincent's relationships this one ws a disaster ending when Van Gogh too a razor and cut off the lobe of his left ear and to it to a woman in a brothel. After this incident Gaugin telegraphed Theo and left immediately for Paris. Theo consented to have his brother confined to Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Here once again vincent would explode as an artist producing some of his most brilliant works including The Starry Night.
Died: July 29, 1890
To view the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh Please Click Here!