Marcus Chen
Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. The Dutch painter created approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. Van Gogh's stylistic developments are usually linked to the periods he spent living in different places across Europe. He was inclined to immerse himself in local cultures and lighting conditions, although he maintained a highly individual visual outlook throughout. Van Gogh's work was influenced by his religious beliefs, his exposure to religion and social work, and his interest in capturing the vagaries of the human condition. He was also inspired by other painters, including Rembrandt van Rijn, Jean-François Millet, Camille Corot, Peter Paul Rubens, and contemporary French painters such as Gauguin, Pissarro, Monet, and Bernard.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Family background | Van Gogh's grandfather was a prominent art dealer and theology graduate. |
| His mother came from a prosperous family, and his father was a minister. | |
| His family provided him with a house, a maid, two cooks, a gardener, a carriage, and a horse. | |
| Education | Largely self-taught, Van Gogh believed that drawing was fundamental to mastering painting. |
| He worked for Goupil in London and Paris, where he was exposed to the works of Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and other Dutch masters. | |
| He studied under Anton Mauve, a leading member of the Hague School, who introduced him to the work of Jean-François Millet. | |
| He enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he discovered the art of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. | |
| He studied with painter Fernand Cormon, who introduced him to the Impressionists. | |
| Influences | Van Gogh was influenced by the work of Jean-François Millet, Camille Corot, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Georges Seurat. |
| He was also influenced by Japanese artwork and the ideas of Thomas Carlyle and Friedrich Nietzsche. | |
| He was particularly inspired by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists during his time in Paris. | |
| One of his closest friends, Gauguin, influenced him to paint from memory and adopt thicker paint application and heavy brushstrokes. | |
| Style | Van Gogh's style was characterized by bold, striking colors, dramatic and expressive brushwork, and contoured forms. |
| He often depicted rural life, nature, and portraits, including self-portraits. | |
| His work was influenced by his emotional state and personal experiences, such as his spiritual crisis and rejection in love. | |
| He was known for his symbolic use of color and impulsive application of paint to express his subjective emotions. |
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What You'll Learn
Van Gogh's family and early life
Vincent van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Groot-Zundert, in the predominantly Catholic province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. He was the oldest surviving child of Theodorus van Gogh, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and his wife, Anna Cornelia Carbentus. Van Gogh was given the name of his grandfather, who was a prominent art dealer and theology graduate from the University of Leiden. Van Gogh's mother came from a prosperous family in The Hague.
Van Gogh was a serious and thoughtful child. He was taught at home by his mother and a governess, and in 1860, was sent to the village school. In 1864, he was placed in a boarding school at Zevenbergen, where he felt abandoned, and he campaigned to come home. Instead, in 1866, his parents sent him to the middle school in Tilburg, where he was also deeply unhappy. His interest in art began at a young age, and he was encouraged to draw as a child by his mother. His early drawings were expressive but did not approach the intensity of his later work.
Van Gogh worked for Goupil in London from 1873 to May 1875 and in Paris until April 1876. Daily contact with works of art aroused his artistic sensibility, and he soon formed a taste for Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and other Dutch masters. However, his preference was for two contemporary French painters, Jean-François Millet and Camille Corot, whose influence lasted throughout his life. Van Gogh disliked art dealing and became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a missionary in southern Belgium.
In 1880, Van Gogh decided he could be an artist and still remain in God's service. He wrote, "To try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads to God; one man wrote or told it in a book; another, in a picture." At this time, Van Gogh was still a pauper, but his younger brother, Theo, sent him money for survival. Theo financially supported his elder brother throughout his career, as Vincent made virtually no money from making art.
In 1881, dire poverty motivated Van Gogh to move back home with his parents, where he taught himself to draw. He became infatuated with his cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker, and his continued pursuit of her affection eventually split the family. With the support of Theo, Van Gogh moved to The Hague, rented a studio, and studied under Anton Mauve, a leading member of the Hague School. Mauve introduced Van Gogh to the work of the French painter Jean-François Millet, who was renowned for his depictions of peasant life.
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His interest in art and early influences
Vincent van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Zundert, the Netherlands. He was born into an upper-middle-class family with a prominent art dealer as his grandfather. Van Gogh drew as a child and was described as serious, quiet, and thoughtful. He worked for Goupil in London and Paris from 1873 to 1876, where he was surrounded by artworks daily, which aroused his artistic sensibility. He developed a preference for two contemporary French painters, Jean-François Millet and Camille Corot, whose influence lasted throughout his life.
In 1874, his love was rejected by a London woman, after which he became increasingly solitary. He worked as a language teacher and lay preacher in England, and in 1877, he worked for a bookseller in the Netherlands. Impelled by a desire to serve humanity, he considered entering the ministry and took up theology, but he abandoned this project in 1878 for short-term training as an evangelist in Brussels.
In the winter of 1879–80, he experienced a spiritual crisis while doing missionary work among the impoverished population of the Borinage, a coal-mining region in southwestern Belgium. He gave away all his belongings, after which he was dismissed by church authorities. He then sank into despair and withdrew from everyone. It was at this time that he began to draw seriously, discovering his true vocation as an artist. In 1880, he decided he could be an artist and still remain in God's service.
In 1881, Van Gogh moved back home with his parents due to dire poverty, where he taught himself to draw. He then moved to The Hague, rented a studio, and studied under Anton Mauve, a leading member of the Hague School. Mauve introduced him to the work of Millet. In 1885, Van Gogh left the Netherlands for the last time and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he discovered the art of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, whose swirling forms and loose brushwork influenced his style. However, he left due to his dislike for the rigidity of academicism at the school and moved to Paris the following year.
Van Gogh's stylistic developments are usually linked to the periods he spent living in different places across Europe. He often moved homes, perhaps to expose himself to new visual stimuli and develop his technical skills. He moved in with his brother Theo in Montmartre, the artist's district in northern Paris, and studied with painter Fernand Cormon, who introduced him to the Impressionists. The influence of artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Georges Seurat, as well as pressure from Theo to sell paintings, motivated Van Gogh to adopt a lighter palette.
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The impact of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism were two art movements that had a significant influence on Vincent van Gogh's work. Van Gogh's work is considered Post-Impressionist, a movement that emerged as a reaction to the Impressionist movement's focus on the naturalistic depiction of light and colour.
Van Gogh's early work was influenced by Impressionism. After moving to Paris in 1886, he lived with his brother Theo in Montmartre, the artist's district. There, he studied with painter Fernand Cormon, who introduced him to the Impressionists. The influence of artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Georges Seurat, as well as pressure from Theo to sell paintings, motivated Van Gogh to adopt a lighter palette. Van Gogh's work during this period began to reflect the Impressionist style, characterised by softer tones and a focus on natural light and colour.
However, Van Gogh's style evolved beyond Impressionism, and by 1888, his work had become fully Post-Impressionist. Van Gogh's Post-Impressionist style is characterised by the use of contrasting colours, such as a green coat against a red and orange background in his "Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear and Pipe". He also frequently used black for outlines and shadows, a pigment avoided by many Impressionists. Van Gogh's later work is known for its bold, expressionist colours and dramatic, expressive brushstrokes, reflecting his subjective emotions and psychological state.
Van Gogh's work had a significant impact on subsequent art movements, including Fauvism, German Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, and Neo-Expressionism. Artists such as Henri Matisse, the Fauves, and the Abstract Expressionists adopted Van Gogh's use of colour and expressive brushstrokes, solidifying his influence on modern art.
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Van Gogh's mental health and its influence on his art
Vincent van Gogh is considered one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionist era. In his short 10-year career, he created a vivid personal style, characterised by bold colours, dramatic brushwork, and contoured forms. However, his life was marked by mental health struggles, which have since been the subject of much speculation.
Van Gogh experienced a breakdown at the age of 20 when his love was rejected by a London woman. This caused him to become increasingly solitary, and he soon took up theology. However, he abandoned this path in 1878, and in 1880, he decided he could be an artist and still remain in God's service.
In 1888, Van Gogh cut off his own ear after an argument with his friend and roommate, Paul Gauguin. He was diagnosed by his physician with "acute mania with generalised delirium" and "mental epilepsy". Experts believe it's possible that he also experienced periods of catatonia. Van Gogh's mental health struggles were also evident in his behaviour; he frequently reported mental problems, had difficulties relating to people, and did not take care of himself. He also drank heavily, which may have contributed to his health deterioration.
Despite his struggles, Van Gogh's art was a way for him to express his emotions. He once said, "real painters do not paint things as they are... they paint them as they themselves feel them to be." This is evident in his paintings of peasants and labourers in Nuenen, where he used a dull palette and loose brushstrokes to depict the drab living conditions of his subjects.
Van Gogh's mental health has been the subject of much debate, with experts offering various theories about his possible diagnoses. While some believe he had bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder, others argue that he showed signs of psychosis or epilepsy. Despite the lack of consensus, his mental health struggles undoubtedly influenced his art, leaving a lasting impact on the world of modern art.
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His legacy and influence on modern art
Vincent van Gogh is considered one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionist era. In his short 10-year career, he created a vivid personal style, noted for its striking colour, emphatic brushwork, and contoured forms. Van Gogh's oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which he completed in the last two years of his life.
Van Gogh's work has had a powerful influence on the development of modern painting, notably Expressionism, and in particular, on the works of the Fauve painters, including Henri Matisse, who adopted his use of bright colours. The Fauves and the German Expressionists worked immediately after Van Gogh and adopted his subjective and spiritually inspired use of colour. Van Gogh's influence can also be seen in the work of the Abstract Expressionists of the mid-20th century, who made use of his technique of sweeping, expressive brushstrokes to indicate the artist's psychological and emotional state. Even the Neo-Expressionists of the 1980s, like Julian Schnabel and Eric Fischl, were influenced by Van Gogh's expressive palette and brushwork.
Van Gogh's work became extremely popular after his death, especially in the late 20th century, when it sold for record-breaking sums at auctions around the world and was featured in blockbuster touring exhibitions. Van Gogh has also been mythologized in the popular imagination as the quintessential tortured artist, due in part to his extensive published letters, and his mental illness.
Van Gogh's influence can also be seen in popular culture, with his life inspiring music and numerous films, including Vincente Minelli's Lust for Life (1956), which explores Van Gogh and Gauguin's volatile relationship.
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Frequently asked questions
Van Gogh's stylistic developments are usually linked to the periods he spent living in different places across Europe. He was inclined to immerse himself in local cultures and lighting conditions, and his art evolved as he moved home often.
Van Gogh worked for Goupil in London and Paris from 1873 to 1876, where he was exposed to the works of Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and other Dutch masters. However, his preference was for the contemporary French painters Jean-François Millet and Camille Corot, whose influence lasted throughout his life.
Van Gogh moved to Montmartre in Paris in 1886 and studied with painter Fernand Cormon, who introduced him to the Impressionists. He was influenced by painters such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Georges Seurat, and he adopted a lighter palette as a result.
Yes, Van Gogh's first great spiritual crisis occurred while he was doing missionary work in the Borinage, a coal-mining region in southwestern Belgium. He gave away all his belongings, was dismissed by church authorities, and sank into despair. It was during this time that he began to draw seriously, discovering his true vocation as an artist.
Van Gogh's mother came from a prosperous family, and his father was a minister. His family instilled in him a sense of duty to uphold their high social position. His brother Theo financially supported him throughout his career and introduced him to the works of Jean-François Millet.
