Vincent Van Gogh

By Mr. Jackson & Ms. Barnhill

Vincent Van Gogh was born 1853. He was raised in Holland.

He grew up in a religious family his father was a minister.

But instead of following in his father foot steps he decided to follow under his uncles and become a art dealer.

Van Gogh begin learning how to trade and began working in England & France

When he first started Van Gogh was happy with his job but eventually he got tired of doing art and stop doing trades.

New Beginning

Van Gogh returned back home to start studying theology

Theology is the study of religion such as Christianity which makes sense because his father is a preacher.

But despite how passionate he was about his new career he could not pass any of the exams to get into any of the programs.

This forced him to work as a missionary in a coal mine community

Coal Mining

Romance

His hopes of becoming a preacher was ending but his hope of becoming a painter was just beginning

He also was beginning to fall in love with people around him

Van Gogh first love was his cousin who rejected him in a painful way.

Van Gogh came to the point where he tried to burn himself with an oil lamp to show his love for his cousin but his Uncle blew the candle out before he could do it.

Eventually Van Gogh found the right woman for him….a prostitute.

They moved in together along with her two kids but the relationship only lasted for two years

That relation ship caused him to be emotionally devastated.

Despite his bad encounters of being in relationships Van Gogh was hitting his peak in being an artist.

Van Gogh was painting but his success commercially was flopping because no one was buying his paintings.

Van Gogh whole life was going down the drain from family, finding love and being a successful painter.

At his lowest point of his life he started doing the best work of his life with paintings such as “Skull with Burning Cigarette" and "The Potato Eaters,"

Skull with Burning Cigarettes

The Potatoe Eaters

The Potatoe Eaters Painting shows his talent in small pieces.

It shows five peasants sitting in a shed or basement eating potatoes.

Van Gogh can relate to this life style because during times of his life he was poor.

Another aspect in the painting is how the woman are dressed, it gives it kind of a religious view towards the painting because his father was a preacher and Van Gogh pursed becoming one.

Overall it seems he is trying to make people or even the wealthy people who buy the paintings to see how people are living everyday

Van Gogh later moved to France where he lived on the country side of Paris.

Van Gogh health was becoming unsteadily because he would spend money on art supplies instead of food.

While living in Paris he met a successful painter by the name of Paul Gaugin

Paul Gaugin was more known in painting than Van Gogh.

Paul Gaunin And Van Gogh were roommates for months.

Van Gogh was beginning to become an alcoholic and his friendship with Gaugin was fading.

It lead to arguments about art the friendship ended when Gaugin and Van Gogh got the arguing before Christmas in 1888.

Gaugin left town causing Van Gogh to break down it lead to Van Gogh starting to have a disorder in the brain causing him to start hearing things.

He decided the solution was to cut his left ear off.

He attempted to give his piece of his ear to a prostitute.

He was later hospitalized because of him cutting part of his ear off.

All the blood he lost from his ear almost killed him.

After getting out of the hospital his brother convinced him to enter a asylum.

The treatment for illness was to leave him soaking in a tub

While in the asylum he was allowed to paint where he created one of his most famous paintings “Starry Night”

After creating his most famous painting he later tried a suicide attempt by trying to eat his paint this lead to him not to have privileges while painting.

He was stuck in that asylum for 2 years.

Finally on July 27, 1890 Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver.

Despite shooting himself he was able to walk home where he collapsed.

A ink keeper found him in a pool of blood and called his brother and doctor. The bullet wound was to close to the heart to be removed, he died 2 days later