Van Gogh's work short message. Van Gogh - Interesting facts. Test of the pen. Beginning of an artist's career

These days, few people do not know about the great artist Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh's biography was destined to be not too long, but eventful and full of hardships, brief ups and desperate downs. Few people know that in his entire life, Vincent managed to sell only one of his paintings for a significant amount, and only after his death did contemporaries recognize the enormous influence of the Dutch post-impressionist on 20th-century painting. Van Gogh's biography can be briefly summarized in the dying words of the great master:

The sadness will never end.

Unfortunately, the life of this amazing and original creator was full of pain and disappointment. But who knows, maybe if it weren’t for all the losses in life, the world would never have seen his amazing works, which people still admire?

Childhood

A brief biography and work of Vincent Van Gogh was restored through the efforts of his brother Theo. Vincent had almost no friends, so everything we now know about the great artist was told by a man who loved him immensely.

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in North Brabant in the village of Grote-Zundert. The firstborn of Theodore and Anna Cornelia Van Gogh died in infancy - Vincent became the eldest child in the family. Four years after Vincent was born, his brother Theodorus was born, with whom Vincent was close until the end of his life. In addition, they also had a brother, Cornelius, and three sisters (Anna, Elizabeth and Willemina).

An interesting fact in Van Gogh’s biography is that he grew up as a difficult and stubborn child with extravagant manners. At the same time, outside the family, Vincent was serious, soft, thoughtful and calm. He did not like to communicate with other children, but his fellow villagers considered him a modest and friendly child.

In 1864 he was sent to a boarding school in Zevenbergen. The artist Van Gogh recalled this part of his biography with pain: his departure caused him a lot of suffering. This place doomed him to loneliness, so Vincent began studying, but already in 1868 he left his studies and returned home. In fact, this is all the formal education that the artist managed to receive.

A brief biography and work of Van Gogh is still carefully preserved in museums and a few testimonies: no one could have imagined that the enfant terrible would become a truly great creator - even if his importance was recognized only after his death.

Work and missionary activity

A year after returning home, Vincent goes to work at the Hague branch of his uncle's art and trading company. In 1873, Vincent was transferred to London. Over time, Vincent learned to appreciate and understand painting. He later moved to 87 Hackford Road, where he rented a room from Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie. Some biographers add that Van Gogh was in love with Eugenie, although the facts suggest that he loved the German Carlina Haanebeek.

In 1874, Vincent was already working in the Paris branch, but he soon returned to London. Things are getting worse for him: a year later he is transferred to Paris again, visits art museums and exhibitions, and finally plucks up the courage to try his hand at painting. Vincent cools down to work, fired up by a new business. All this leads to the fact that in 1876 he was fired from the company for poor work.

Then there comes a moment in the biography of Vincent van Gogh when he returns to London again and teaches at a boarding school in Ramsgate. During the same period of his life, Vincent devoted a lot of time to religion; he developed a desire to become a pastor, following in the footsteps of his father. A little later, Van Gogh moved to another school in Isleworth, where he began working as a teacher and assistant pastor. Vincent preached his first sermon there. His interest in writing grew, and he became inspired to preach to the poor.

At Christmas, Vincent went home, where he was begged not to go back to England. So he stayed in the Netherlands to help in a bookshop in Dordrecht. But this work did not inspire him: he mainly occupied himself with sketches and translations of the Bible.

His parents supported Van Gogh's desire to become a priest, sending him to Amsterdam in 1877. There he settles with his uncle Jan Van Gogh. Vincent studied hard under the supervision of Yoganess Stricker, a famous theologian, preparing for exams for admission to the theology department. But very soon he quits his studies and leaves Amsterdam.

The desire to find his place in the world led him to the Protestant Missionary School of Pastor Bokma in Laeken near Brussels, where he took a course in preaching. There is also an opinion that Vincent did not complete the full course because he was expelled due to his unkempt appearance, hot temper and fits of anger.

In 1878, Vincent became a missionary for six months in the village of Paturage in Borinage. Here he visited the sick, read the Scriptures for those who could not read, taught children, and spent his nights drawing maps of Palestine, earning his living. Van Gogh planned to enroll in an Evangelical school, but he considered paying for tuition discriminatory and abandoned the idea. Soon he was removed from the rank of preacher - this was a painful blow for the future artist, but also an important fact in Van Gogh’s biography. Who knows, perhaps, if not for this high-profile event, Vincent would have become a priest, and the world would never have known the talented artist.

Becoming an artist

Studying the short biography of Vincent Van Gogh, we can conclude: fate seemed to push him all his life in the right direction and led him to painting. Seeking salvation from despondency, Vincent again turns to painting. He turns to his brother Theo for support and in 1880 goes to Brussels, where he attends classes at the Royal Academy fine arts. A year later, Vincent is forced to leave his studies again and return to his family. It was then that he decided that an artist does not need any talent, the main thing is to work hard and tirelessly. Therefore, he continues painting and drawing on his own.

During this period, Vincent experiences a new love, this time for his cousin, the widow Kay Vos-Stricker, who was visiting the Van Goghs' house. But she did not reciprocate, but Vincent continued to look after her, which caused the indignation of her relatives. Eventually he was told to leave. Van Gogh experiences another shock and abandons attempts to improve his further personal life.

Vincent leaves for The Hague, where he takes lessons from Anton Mauve. Over time, the biography and work of Vincent van Gogh was filled with new colors, including in painting: he experimented with mixing different techniques. Then such works of his as “Backyards” were born, which he created with chalk, pen and brush, as well as the painting “Roofs. View from Van Gogh's studio", painted in watercolor and chalk. The development of his work was greatly influenced by Charles Bargue’s book “A Course in Drawing,” lithographs from which he diligently copied.

Vincent was a man of fine spiritual organization, and, one way or another, was drawn to people and emotional return. Despite his decision to forget about his personal life, in The Hague he still made another attempt to start a family. He met Christine right on the street and was so imbued with her plight that he invited her to live in his house with the children. This act finally broke Vincent’s relationship with all his loved ones, but they maintained a warm relationship with Theo. This is how Vincent got a girlfriend and a model. But Christine turned out to have a nightmare character: Van Gogh’s life turned into a nightmare.

When they parted, the artist went north to the province of Drenthe. He equipped his home as a workshop, and spent whole days outdoors, creating landscapes. But the artist did not call himself a landscape painter, dedicating his paintings to peasants and their everyday life.

Van Gogh's early works are classified as realism, but his technique does not quite fit into this direction. One of the problems that Van Gogh faced in his work was the inability to correctly depict the human figure. But this only played into the hands of the great artist: it became characteristic feature his manners: interpretation of man as an integral part of the surrounding world. This can be clearly seen, for example, in the work “A Peasant and a Peasant Woman Planting Potatoes.” Human figures are like mountains in the distance, and the elevated horizon seems to press on them from above, preventing them from straightening their backs. A similar technique can be seen in his later work “Red Vineyards”.

During this period of his biography, Van Gogh writes a series of works, including:

• "Leaving the Protestant Church in Nuenen";
• "Potato Eaters";
• "Peasant Woman";
• "Old church tower in Nuenen."

The paintings are created in dark shades, which symbolize the author’s painful perception of human suffering and a feeling of general depression. Van Gogh depicted the heavy atmosphere of hopelessness of the peasants and the sad mood of the village. At the same time, Vincent formed his own understanding of landscapes: in his opinion, landscapes express a person’s state of mind through the connection between human psychology and nature.

Parisian period

The artistic life of the French capital is thriving: it was there that the great artists of the time flocked. A landmark event was the exhibition of impressionists on rue Lafitte: for the first time, works by Signac and Seurat, who heralded the beginning of the post-impressionism movement, were shown. It was impressionism that revolutionized art, changing the approach to painting. This movement presented a confrontation with academicism and outdated subjects: at the head of creativity are pure colors and the very impression of what he saw, which are subsequently transferred to the canvas. Post-Impressionism was the final stage of Impressionism.

The Parisian period, lasting from 1986 to 1988, became the most fruitful in the artist’s life; his collection of paintings was replenished with more than 230 drawings and canvases. Vincent Van Gogh forms his own view of art: the realistic approach is becoming a thing of the past, replaced by a desire for post-impressionism.

With his acquaintance with Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet, the colors in his paintings begin to lighten and become brighter and brighter, eventually becoming a real riot of color, characteristic of his last works.

A landmark place was Papa Tanga's shop, where art materials were sold. Here many artists met and exhibited their works. But Van Gogh’s temper was still irreconcilable: the spirit of competition and tension in society often drove the impulsive artist crazy, so that Vincent soon quarreled with his friends and decided to leave the French capital.

Among the famous works of the Parisian period are the following paintings:

• “Agostina Segatori at the Tambourine Cafe”;
• "Papa Tanguy"
• "Still Life with Absinthe";
• "Bridge over the Seine";
• "View of Paris from Theo's apartment on Rue Lepic."

Provence

Vincent goes to Provence and is imbued with this atmosphere for the rest of his life. Theo supports his brother's decision to become a real artist and sends him money to live on, and he, in gratitude, sends him his paintings in the hope that his brother will be able to sell them profitably. Van Gogh checks into a hotel where he lives and works, periodically inviting random visitors or acquaintances to pose.

With the onset of spring, Vincent goes outside and draws flowering trees and reviving nature. The ideas of impressionism gradually leave his work, but remain in the form of a light palette and pure colors. During this period of his work, Vincent wrote “The Peach Tree in Bloom” and “Anglois Bridge in Arles”.

Van Gogh even worked at night, once inspired by the idea of ​​capturing the special night colors and glow of the stars. It works by candlelight: this is how the famous “Starry Night over the Rhone” and “Night Cafe” were created.

Severed ear

Vincent comes up with the idea of ​​​​creating a common house for the artist, where creators could create their masterpieces while living and working together. An important event is the arrival of Paul Gauguin, with whom Vincent had a long correspondence. Together with Gauguin, Vincent writes works filled with passion:

• "Yellow House";
• "Harvest. La Croe Valley";
• "Gauguin's Chair".

Vincent was overjoyed, but this union ends in a loud quarrel. Passions were heating up, and in one of his desperate moments, Van Gogh, according to some accounts, attacks a friend with a razor in his hands. Gauguin manages to stop Vincent, and he ends up cutting off his earlobe. Gauguin leaves his house, while he wrapped the bloody flesh in a napkin and handed it to a prostitute he knew, Rachelle. His friend Roulin found him in a pool of his own blood. Although the wound soon healed, the deep scar on his heart affected Vincent’s mental health for the rest of his life. Vincent soon finds himself in a psychiatric hospital.

Creativity flourishes

During periods of remission, he asked to return to the studio, but the residents of Arles signed a statement to the mayor asking him to isolate the mentally ill artist from civilians. But the hospital did not forbid him to create: until 1889, Vincent worked on new paintings right there. During this time he created more than 100 drawings in pencil and watercolor. The canvases of this period are distinguished by tension, bright dynamics and juxtaposition of contrasting colors:

• "Landscape with Olives";
• "Wheat field with cypress trees."

At the end of the same year, Vincent was invited to participate in the G20 exhibition in Brussels. His works aroused great interest among art connoisseurs, but this could no longer please the artist, and even a laudatory article about the “Red Vineyards in Arles” did not make the exhausted Van Gogh happy.

In 1890, he moved to Opera-sur-Ourz, near Paris, where he saw his family for the first time in a long time. He continued to write, but his style became increasingly gloomy and depressing. A distinctive feature of that period was the curved and hysterical contour, which can be seen in the following works:

• "Street and stairs in Auvers";
• “Rural road with cypress trees”;
• "Landscape in Auvers after the rain."

Recent years

The last bright memory in the life of the great artist was meeting Dr. Paul Gachet, who also loved to write. Friendship with him supported Vincent during the most difficult periods of his life - besides his brother, the postman Roulin and Doctor Gachet, by the end of his life he had no close friends left.

In 1890, Vincent painted the canvas “Wheat Field with Crows,” and a week later a tragedy occurred.

The circumstances of the artist's death look mysterious. Vincent died from a shot in the heart from his own revolver, which he carried with him to scare away birds. Dying, the artist admitted that he shot himself in the chest, but missed, hitting a little lower. He himself got to the hotel where he lived, and they called a doctor for him. The doctor was skeptical about the suicide attempt version - the angle of entry of the bullet was suspiciously low, and the bullet did not go through, which suggests that it was as if they were shooting from afar - or at least from a distance of a couple of meters. The doctor immediately called Theo - he arrived the next day and was with his brother until his death.

There is a version that on the eve of Van Gogh’s death, the artist had a serious quarrel with Dr. Gachet. He accused him of insolvency, while his brother Theo is literally dying from a disease that is eating him up, but still sends him money to live on. These words could have greatly hurt Vincent - after all, he himself felt enormous guilt before his brother. In addition, in recent years, Vincent had feelings for the lady, which again did not lead to reciprocity. Being as depressed as possible, upset by a quarrel with a friend, and having recently left the hospital, Vincent could well have decided to commit suicide.

Vincent died on July 30, 1890. Theo loved his brother endlessly and experienced this loss with great difficulty. He started organizing the exhibition posthumous work Vincent, but less than a year later he died of severe nervous shock on January 25, 1891. Years later, Theo's widow reburied his remains next to Vincent: she believed that inseparable brothers should be close to each other at least after death.

Confession

Distributed erroneous opinion, that during his lifetime Van Gogh was able to sell only one of his paintings - “Red Vineyards in Arles”. This work was only the first to be sold for a large sum - about 400 francs. However, there are documents indicating the sale of another 14 paintings.

Vincent Van Gogh received truly wide recognition only after his death. His commemorative exhibitions were organized in Paris, The Hague, Antwerp, and Brussels. Interest in the artist began to grow, and at the beginning of the 20th century, retrospectives began in Amsterdam, Paris, New York, Cologne and Berlin. People began to be interested in his work, and his work began to influence the younger generation of artists.

Gradually, prices for the artist's paintings began to increase until they became one of the most expensive paintings ever sold in the world, along with works by Pablo Picasso. Among his most expensive works:

• “Portrait of Doctor Gachet”;
• "Irises";
• “Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin”;
• “Wheat field with cypress trees”;
• "A plowed field and a plowman."

Influence

In his last letter to Theo, Vincent wrote that, having no children of his own, the artist perceived the paintings as his continuation. To some extent this was true: he did have children, and the first of them was Expressionism, which later began to have many heirs.

Many artists subsequently adapted the features of Van Gogh’s style to their own work: Howard Hodgkin, Willem de Koening, Jackson Pollock. Fauvism soon came, which expanded the scope of color, and expressionism became widespread.

The biography of Van Gogh and his work gave the expressionists new language, which helped creators to delve deeper into the essence of things and the world around them. Vincent became, in a sense, a pioneer in modern art, trodden a new path in visual art.

It is almost impossible to tell Van Gogh’s biography briefly: his work during his unfortunately short life was influenced by so many different events that to omit at least one of them would be a terrible injustice. Heavy life path brought Vincent to the pinnacle of fame, but posthumous fame. During life great painter did not know either about his own genius, or about the enormous legacy that he left to the world of art, or about how his family and friends missed him in the future. Vincent spent a lonely and sad life, rejected by everyone. He found salvation in art, but was never able to escape. But, one way or another, he gave the world many amazing works that warm people’s hearts to this day, so many years later.

Vincent Van Gogh, who gave the world his Sunflowers and The Starry Night, was one of the greatest artists of all time. Small grave in rural areas France became his resting place. He fell asleep forever among those landscapes that Van Gogh, an artist who will never be forgotten, left on his own. For the sake of art he sacrificed everything...

A unique talent gifted by nature

"There is something of a delightful symphony in color." There was a creative genius behind these words. Moreover, he was smart and sensitive. The depth and style of this person's life is often misinterpreted. Van Gogh, whose biography has been carefully studied for many generations, is the most incomprehensible creator in the history of art.

First of all, the reader must understand that Vincent is not only the one who went crazy and shot himself. Many people know that Van Gogh cut off his own ear, and others know that he painted a whole series of paintings about sunflowers. But there are very few who really understand what talent Vincent had, what a unique gift nature awarded him.

The sad birth of a great creator

On March 30, 1853, the cry of a newborn child cut through the silence. The long-awaited baby was born into the family of Anna Cornelia and Pastor Theodore Van Gogh. This happened a year after the tragic death of their first child, who died within hours of birth. When registering this baby, identical information was provided, and the long-awaited son was given the name of the lost child - Vincent William.

Thus began the saga of one of the most famous artists in the world in the rural wilderness of the south of the Netherlands. His birth was fraught with sad events. It was a child conceived after a bitter loss, born to people who were still mourning their dead firstborn.

Vincent's childhood

Every Sunday this red-haired, freckled boy went to church, where he listened to his parent's sermons. His father was a minister of the Dutch Protestant Church, and Vincent Van Gogh grew up in accordance with the norms of education accepted in religious families.

In Vincent's time there was unspoken rule. The eldest son must follow in his father's footsteps. This is how it should have happened. This placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the young Van Gogh. As the boy sat in the church pew listening to his father preach, he fully understood what was expected of him. And, of course, then Vincent Van Gogh, whose biography was not yet in any way connected with art, did not know that in the future he would decorate his father’s Bible with illustrations.

Between art and religious desires

The church occupied an important place in Vincent's life and had a huge influence on him. Being a sensitive and impressionable person, throughout his troubled life he was torn between religious zeal and a craving for art.

In 1857 his brother Theo was born. None of the boys knew then that Theo would play a big role in Vincent's life. They spent many happy days. We walked for a long time among the surrounding fields and knew all the paths around.

Young Vincent's talent

Nature in the rural hinterland where Vincent van Gogh was born and raised would later become a red thread running through all of his art. The hard work of the peasants left a deep impression on his soul. He developed a romantic perception of rural life, respected the inhabitants of this area and was proud of his neighborhood. After all, they earned their living by honest and hard work.

Vincent Van Gogh was a man who loved everything related to nature. He saw beauty in everything. The boy often drew and did it with such feeling and attention to detail, which is often characteristic of a more mature age. He demonstrated skill and prowess experienced artist. Vincent was truly gifted.

Communication with my mother and her love for art

Vincent's mother, Anna Cornelia, was a good artist and strongly supported her son's love of nature. He often took walks alone, enjoying the peace and tranquility of the endless fields and canals. When dusk deepened and the fog fell, Van Gogh returned to his cozy home, where the fire crackled pleasantly and his mother’s knitting needles knocked in time.

She loved art and maintained an extensive correspondence. Vincent adopted this habit of hers. He wrote letters until the end of his days. Thanks to this, Van Gogh, whose biography began to be studied by specialists after his death, could not only reveal his feelings, but also recreate many events related to his life.

Mother and son spent long hours together. They drew with pencil and paints, and had long conversations about their uniting love for art and nature. Meanwhile, my father was in the office, preparing for Sunday's sermon in church.

Rural life away from politics

The imposing Zundert administration building was located directly opposite their house. One day Vincent drew buildings while looking out of his bedroom window on the top floor. Later, he repeatedly depicted scenes seen from this window. Looking at his talented drawings of that period, one can hardly believe that he was only nine years old.

Contrary to his father's expectations, a passion for drawing and nature took root in the boy. He collected an impressive collection of insects and knew what they were all called in Latin. Very soon the ivy and moss of the damp, dense forest became his friends. At heart he was a true country boy, he explored the Zundert canals and caught tadpoles with a net.

Van Gogh's life took place far from politics, wars and all other events taking place in the world. His world was formed around beautiful flowers, interesting, and peaceful landscapes.

Communication with peers or home education?

Unfortunately, his special attitude towards nature made him an outcast among other village children. He was not popular. The rest of the boys were mostly the sons of peasants who loved the excitement of rural life. Sensitive and empathetic, Vincent, who was interested in books and nature, did not fit into their society.

Life for young Van Gogh was not easy. His parents were worried that other boys would have a bad influence on his behavior. Then, unfortunately, Pastor Theodore found out that Vincent's teacher was too fond of drinking, and then the parents decided that the child should be freed from such influence. Until the age of eleven, the boy studied at home, and then his father decided that he needed to get a more serious education.

Further education: boarding school

Young Van Gogh, whose biography, interesting facts and personal life are of interest to a huge number of people today, went to boarding school in Zevenbergen in 1864. This is a small village located about twenty-five kilometers from my home. But for Vincent it was like the other end of the world. The boy sat in the cart next to his parents, and the closer the walls of the boarding school approached, the heavier his heart became. Soon he will be separated from his family.

Vincent will miss his home all his life. Isolation from his family left a deep imprint on his life. Van Gogh was a smart child and thirsty for knowledge. While studying at boarding school, he showed great ability for languages, and this later came in handy in life. Vincent spoke and wrote fluently in French, English, Dutch and German. This is how Van Gogh spent his childhood. Brief biography youth would not be able to convey all those character traits that were laid down from childhood and later influenced the artist’s fate.

Studying in Tilburg, or the strange story that happened to a boy

In 1866, the boy turned thirteen years old, and his primary education came to an end. Vincent became a very serious young man, in whose gaze one could read boundless melancholy. He is sent even further from home, to Tilburg. He begins his education at a state boarding school. Here Vincent first became acquainted with city life.

Four hours a week were allocated to study art, which was rare at that time. This subject was taught by Mr. Huismans. He was a successful artist and ahead of his time. He used figurines of people and stuffed animals as models for his students' works. The teacher also encouraged the children to paint landscapes and even took the children out into nature.

Everything went well and Vincent passed his first year exams with ease. But over the next year, something went wrong. Van Gogh's attitude to study and work changed dramatically. Therefore, in March 1868, he left school right in the middle of the school period and came home. What did Vincent Van Gogh experience at the Tilburg school? A brief biography of this period, unfortunately, does not provide any information about this. And yet, these events left a deep mark on the young man’s soul.

Choosing a life path

There was a long pause in Vincent's life. He spent fifteen long months at home, not daring to choose one path or another in life. When he turned sixteen, he wanted to find his calling in order to devote his whole life to it. Days passed in vain; he needed to find a goal. The parents understood that something needed to be done and turned for help to their father’s brother, who lived in The Hague. He headed an art trading company and could have gotten Vincent to work for him. This idea turned out to be brilliant.

If the young man shows hard work, he will become the heir of his rich uncle, who did not have any children of his own. Vincent, tired of the leisurely life of his native place, happily goes to The Hague, the administrative center of Holland. In the summer of 1869, Van Gogh, whose biography will now be directly related to art, begins his career.

Vincent became an employee at the Goupil company. His mentor lived in France and collected works by artists of the Barbizon school. At that time, people in this country were passionate about landscapes. Van Gogh's uncle dreamed of the appearance of such masters in Holland. He becomes the inspirer of the Hague School. Vincent had the opportunity to meet many artists.

Art is the most important thing in life

Having become familiar with the affairs of the company, Van Gogh had to learn how to negotiate with clients. While Vincent was a junior employee, he picked up the clothes of people coming to the gallery and acted as a porter. The young man was inspired by the art world around him. One of the artists of the Barbizon school was His canvas “The Ear Pickers” which resonated in Vincent’s soul. It became a kind of icon for the artist until the very end of his life. Millet depicted peasants at work in a special manner that was close to Van Gogh.

In 1870, Vincent met Anton Mauve, who eventually became his close friend. Van Gogh was a taciturn, reserved man, prone to depression. He sincerely sympathized with people who were less fortunate in life than he was. Vincent took his father's preaching very seriously. After work, he attended private theology classes.

Van Gogh's other passion was books. He gets carried away French history and poetry, and also becomes a fan of English writers. In March 1871, Vincent turns eighteen. By this time, he had already realized that art was a very important component of his life. His younger brother Theo was fifteen at that time, and he came to visit Vincent on vacation. This trip left deep impressions on both of them.

They even made a promise that they would take care of each other for the rest of their lives, no matter what happened. From this period, active correspondence began between Theo and Van Gogh. The artist’s biography will be updated later important facts precisely thanks to these letters. To today 670 messages from Vincent arrived.

Trip to London. An important stage of life

Vincent spent four years in The Hague. It's time to move on. Having said goodbye to friends and colleagues, he prepared to leave for London. This stage of life will become very important for him. Soon Vincent settled in the English capital. The Gupil branch was located in the very center of the business district. Chestnut trees with spreading branches grew on the streets. Van Gogh loved these trees and often mentioned this in his letters to his family.

A month later, his knowledge of English expanded. The masters of art intrigued him, he liked Gainsborough and Turner, but he remained faithful to the art he had come to love in The Hague. To save money, Vincent moves out of the apartment rented for him by the Goupil company in the market area and rents a room in a new Victorian house.

He liked staying with Mrs. Ursula. The owner of the house was a widow. She and her nineteen-year-old daughter Evgenia rented out rooms and ran teaching activities, so that at least somehow Over time, Vincent began to experience very deep feelings for Eugenia, but did not show them in any way. He could only write about this to his family.

Severe psychological shock

Dickens was one of Vincent's idols. He was deeply affected by the death of the writer, and he expressed all his pain in a symbolic drawing made shortly after such a sad event. It was a picture of an empty chair. who became very famous, painted a large number of such chairs. For him, this became a symbol of a person’s departure.

Vincent describes his first year in London as one of his happiest. He was in love with absolutely everything and still dreamed of Evgenia. She won his heart. Van Gogh tried in every possible way to please her, offering his help in various matters. After some time, Vincent finally confessed his feelings to the girl and announced that they should get married. But Evgenia refused him, since she was already secretly engaged. Van Gogh was devastated. His dream of love was shattered.

He kept to himself and spoke little at work and at home. I started eating little. The realities of life dealt Vincent a severe psychological blow. He begins to draw again, and this partly helps him find peace and distracts him from the difficult thoughts and shock that Van Gogh experienced. Paintings gradually heal the artist’s soul. The mind was absorbed in creativity. He went into another dimension, which is typical of many creative people.

Change of scenery. Paris and homecoming

Vincent became lonely again. He began to pay more attention to the street beggars and ragamuffins inhabiting the slums of London, and this only intensified his depression. He wanted to change something. At work he showed apathy, which began to seriously worry his management.

It was decided to send him to the Paris branch of the company in order to change the situation and, possibly, dispel the depression. But even there Van Gogh could not recover from loneliness and already in 1877 he returned home to work as a priest in the church, abandoning his ambitions to become an artist.

A year later, Van Gogh receives the position of parish priest in a mining village. It was a thankless job. The life of miners made a great impression on the artist. He decided to share their fate and even began to dress like them. Church officials were concerned about his behavior and he was removed from his position two years later. But the time spent in the village had a beneficial effect. Life among the miners awakened a special talent in Vincent, and he began to draw again. He created a huge number of sketches of men and women carrying sacks of coal. Van Gogh finally decided to become an artist. It was from this moment that a new period began in his life.

More bouts of depression and returning home

The artist Van Gogh, whose biography repeatedly mentions that his parents refused to provide him with money due to instability in his career, was a beggar. His younger brother Theo, who was selling paintings in Paris, began to help him. Over the next five years, Vincent improves his technique. Provided with his brother's money, he sets off on a trip to the Netherlands. Makes sketches, paints in oils and watercolors.

Wanting to find his own pictorial style, Van Gogh went to The Hague in 1881. Here he rents an apartment near the sea. This was the beginning of a long relationship between the artist and his environment. During periods of despair and depression, nature was a part of Vincent's life. She was for him the personification of the struggle for existence. He had no money and often went hungry. His parents, who did not approve of the artist’s lifestyle, completely turned their backs on him.

Theo arrives in The Hague and convinces his brother to return home. At the age of thirty, Van Gogh, a beggar and full of despair, comes to his parents' house. There he sets up a small workshop for himself and begins to make sketches. local residents and buildings. During this period, his palette becomes muted. Van Gogh's canvases are all in gray-brown tones. In winter, people have more time, and the artist uses them as his models.

It was at this time that sketches of the hands of farmers and people collecting potatoes appeared in Vincent’s work. is Van Gogh's first significant painting, which he painted in 1885, at the age of thirty-two. The most important detail of the work is the hands of people. Strong, accustomed to working in the fields, harvesting crops. The artist's talent finally burst out.

Impressionism and Van Gogh. Self-portrait photo

In 1886, Vincent arrived in Paris. Financially, he also continues to depend on his brother. Here, in the capital of world art, Van Gogh is amazed by a new movement - the Impressionists. A new artist is born. He creates a huge number of self-portraits, landscapes and sketches of everyday life. His palette also changes, but the main changes affected his writing technique. Now he draws with fragmentary lines, short strokes and dots.

The cold and gloomy winter of 1887 took its toll on the artist, and he fell into depression again. His time in Paris had a huge impact on Vincent, but he felt it was time to get back on the road. He went to the south of France, to the provinces. Here Vincent begins to write like a man possessed. His palette is full of bright colors. Sky blue, bright yellow and orange. As a result, canvases with rich colors appeared, thanks to which the artist became famous.

Van Gogh suffered from severe hallucinations. He felt like he was going crazy. The illness increasingly influenced his work. In 1888, Theo convinced Gauguin, with whom Van Gogh was on very friendly terms, to go visit his brother. Paul lived with Vincent for two exhausting months. They often quarreled, and once Van Gogh even attacked Paul with a blade in his hand. Vincent soon self-mutilated himself by cutting off his own ear. He was sent to the hospital. It was one of the most severe attacks of madness.

Soon, on July 29, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh died by committing suicide. He lived his life in poverty, obscurity and isolation, remaining an unrecognized artist. But now he is revered all over the world. Vincent became a legend, and his work influenced subsequent generations of artists.

March 30, 2013 - 160 years since the birth of Vincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853 - July 29, 1890)

Vincent Willem Van Gogh (Dutch. Vincent Willem van Gogh, March 30, 1853, Grot-Zundert, near Breda, the Netherlands - July 29, 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, France) - world famous Dutch post-impressionist artist

Self-portrait (1888, Private collection)

Vincent Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in the village of Groot Zundert in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, near the Belgian border. Vincent's father was Theodore Van Gogh, a Protestant pastor, and his mother was Anna Cornelia Carbentus, the daughter of a venerable bookbinder and bookseller from The Hague. Vincent was the second of seven children of Theodore and Anna Cornelia. He received his name in honor of his paternal grandfather, who also devoted his entire life to the Protestant church. This name was intended for Theodore and Anna's first child, who was born a year earlier than Vincent and died on the first day. So Vincent, although born second, became the eldest of the children.

Four years after Vincent's birth, on May 1, 1857, his brother Theodorus Van Gogh (Theo) was born. In addition to him, Vincent had a brother Cor (Cornelis Vincent, May 17, 1867) and three sisters - Anna Cornelia (February 17, 1855), Liz (Elizabeth Guberta, May 16, 1859) and Wil (Willemina Jacoba, March 16, 1862). Family members remember Vincent as a willful, difficult and boring child with “strange manners”, which was the reason for his frequent punishments. According to the governess, there was something strange about him that distinguished him from the others: of all the children, Vincent was the least pleasant to her, and she did not believe that anything worthwhile could come of him. Outside the family, on the contrary, Vincent showed the other side of his character - he was quiet, serious and thoughtful. He hardly played with other children. In the eyes of his fellow villagers, he was a good-natured, friendly, helpful, compassionate, sweet and modest child. When he was 7 years old, he went to a village school, but a year later he was taken away from there, and together with his sister Anna he studied at home, with a governess. On October 1, 1864, he went to boarding school in Zevenbergen, 20 km from his home. Leaving home caused Vincent a lot of suffering; he could not forget it, even as an adult. On September 15, 1866, he began studying at another boarding school - Willem II College in Tilburg. Vincent is good at languages ​​- French, English, German. There he received drawing lessons. In March 1868, in the middle academic year, Vincent unexpectedly dropped out of school and returned to his father's house. This ends his formal education. He recalled his childhood like this: “My childhood was dark, cold and empty...”.

Vincent van Gogh im Jahr 1866 im Alter von 13 Jahren.

In July 1869, Vincent got a job in the Hague branch of the large art and trading company Goupil & Cie, owned by his uncle Vincent (“Uncle Cent”). There he received the necessary training as a dealer. In June 1873 he was transferred to the London branch of Goupil & Cie. Through daily contact with works of art, Vincent began to understand and appreciate painting. In addition, he visited the city's museums and galleries, admiring the works of Jean-François Millet and Jules Breton. In London, Vincent becomes a successful dealer, and at the age of 20 he already earns more than his father.

Die Innenräume der Haager Filiale der Kunstgalerie Goupil&Cie, wo Vincent van Gogh den Kunsthandel erlernte

Van Gogh stayed there for two years and experienced a painful loneliness, which comes through in his letters to his brother, more and more sad. But the worst comes when Vincent, having exchanged the apartment that has become too expensive for a boarding house, which is maintained by the widow Loyer at 87 Hackford Road, falls in love with her daughter Ursula (according to other sources - Eugenia) and is rejected. This is the first acute love disappointment, this is the first of those impossible connections that will constantly darken his feelings.
During that period of deep despair, a mystical understanding of reality begins to mature in him, developing into downright religious frenzy. His impulse grows stronger, displacing his interest in working at Gupil.

In 1874, Vincent was transferred to the Paris branch of the company, but after three months of work he again left for London. Things were getting worse for him, and in May 1875 he was again transferred to Paris. Here he attended exhibitions at the Salon and the Louvre. At the end of March 1876, he was fired from the company Goupil & Cie, which by that time had passed to partners Busso and Valadon. Driven by compassion and the desire to be useful to his neighbors, he decided to become a priest.

In 1876 Vincent returned to England, where he found unpaid work as a teacher at a boarding school in Ramsgate. In July, Vincent moved to another school - in Isleworth (near London), where he worked as a teacher and assistant pastor. On November 4, Vincent preached his first sermon. His interest in the gospel grew, and he became obsessed with the idea of ​​preaching to the poor.

Vincent Van Gogh at 23

Vincent went home for Christmas and his parents persuaded him not to return to England. Vincent remained in the Netherlands and worked in a bookshop in Dordrecht for six months. This job was not to his liking; he spent most of his time sketching or translating passages from the Bible into German, English and French. Trying to support Vincent's aspirations to become a pastor, his family sent him in May 1877 to Amsterdam, where he settled with his uncle, Admiral Jan Van Gogh. Here he studied diligently under the guidance of his uncle Yoganess Stricker, a respected and recognized theologian, in preparation for passing the university entrance examination for the department of theology. In the end, he became disillusioned with his studies, quit his studies and left Amsterdam in July 1878. The desire to be useful to ordinary people sent him to the Protestant missionary school in Laeken near Brussels, where he completed a three-month course in preaching.

In December 1878, he was sent as a missionary for six months to Borinage, a poor mining area in southern Belgium. After completing a six-month internship, Van Gogh intended to enter an evangelical school to continue his education, but considered the introduced tuition fees to be a manifestation of discrimination, and abandoned the path of a priest.

In 1880, Vincent entered the Academy of Arts in Brussels. However, due to his irreconcilable nature, he very soon leaves her and continues his art education as a self-taught person, using reproductions and regularly drawing. Back in January 1874, in his letter, Vincent listed fifty-six favorite artists to Theo, among whom the names of Jean François Millet, Théodore Rousseau, Jules Breton, Constant Troyon and Anton Mauve stood out.

And now, at the very beginning of his artistic career, his sympathy for realistic French and Dutch school of the nineteenth century have in no way weakened. Moreover, the social art of Millet or Breton, with their populist themes, could not help but find in him an unconditional follower. As for the Dutchman Anton Mauwe, there was another reason: Mauwe, along with Johannes Bosboom, the Maris brothers and Joseph Israels, was one of the largest representatives of the Hague School, the most significant artistic phenomenon in Holland in the second half of the 19th century, which united French realism The Barbizon school, formed around Rousseau, with the great realistic tradition of the Dutch art XVII century. Mauve was also a distant relative of Vincent's mother.

And it was under the guidance of this recognized master that in 1881, upon returning to Holland (to Etten, where his parents moved), Van Gogh created his first two paintings: “Still Life with Cabbage and Wooden Shoes” (now in Amsterdam, in the Vincent Van Gogh Museum) and “Still Life with Beer Glass and Fruit” (Wuppertal, Von der Heydt Museum).

Still life with a mug of beer and fruit. (1881, Wuppertal, Von der Heydt Museum)

For Vincent, everything seems to be working out for the better, and the family seems to be happy with his new calling. But soon relations with parents deteriorate sharply, and then are completely interrupted. The reason for this, again, is his rebellious character and unwillingness to adapt, as well as a new, inappropriate and again unrequited love for his cousin Kay, who recently lost her husband and was left alone with a child.

Having fled to The Hague, in January 1882 Vincent meets Christina Maria Hoornik, nicknamed Sin, an older prostitute, an alcoholic, with a child, and even pregnant. Being at the apogee of his contempt for existing decency, he lives with her and even wants to get married. Despite financial difficulties, he continues to be faithful to his calling and completes several works. Most of the paintings from this very early period are landscapes, mainly sea and urban: the theme is quite in the tradition of the Hague School.

However, its influence is limited to the choice of subjects, since Van Gogh was not characterized by that refined texture, that elaboration of details, those ultimately idealized images that distinguished the artists of this movement. From the very beginning, Vincent gravitated towards an image that was more truthful than beautiful, trying first of all to express sincere feeling, and not just achieve good execution.

By the end of 1883 the burden family life became unbearable. Theo, the only one who has not turned his back on him, convinces his brother to leave Sin and devote himself entirely to art. A period of bitterness and loneliness begins, which he spends in the north of Holland in Drenthe. In December of the same year, Vincent moved to Nuenen, North Brabant, where his parents now live.

Theo van Gogh (1888)

Here, in two years, he creates hundreds of canvases and drawings, even teaches painting to students, takes music lessons himself, and reads a lot. In a significant number of works, he depicts peasants and weavers - the same working people who could always count on his support and who were sung by those who were his authorities in painting and literature (his favorites were Zola and Dickens).

In a series of paintings and sketches from the mid-1880s. (“Exit from the Protestant Church in Nuenen” (1884-1885), “Old Church Tower in Nuenen” (1885), “Shoes” (1886), Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), written in a dark painterly palette, marked by painful With a keen perception of human suffering and feelings of depression, the artist recreated the oppressive atmosphere of psychological tension.

Exit from the Protestant church in Nuenen, (1884-1885, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

Old church tower in Nuenen, (1885, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

Shoes, (1886, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

Starting with the painting “Harvesting Potatoes” (now in private collection in New York), written in 1883, while he was still living in The Hague, the theme of ordinary downtrodden people and their labor runs through his entire Dutch period: the emphasis is on the expressiveness of scenes and figures, the palette is dark, with a predominance of dull and gloomy tones.

The masterpiece of this period is the canvas “The Potato Eaters” (Amsterdam, Vincent Van Gogh Museum), created in April-May 1885, in which the artist depicts an ordinary scene from the life of a peasant family. By that time, this was his most serious work: against custom, he made preparatory drawings of peasant heads, interiors, individual details, compositional sketches, and Vincent painted it in the studio, and not from life, as he was used to.

The Potato Eaters, (1885, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

In 1887, when he had already moved to Paris - a place where, since the 19th century, all those who were in one way or another involved in art had been relentlessly striving - he wrote to his sister Willemina: “I think that of all my works the painting with the peasants who eat potatoes, written in Nuenen, is by far the best thing I have done." By the end of November 1885, after his father unexpectedly died in March and slanderous rumors spread that he was the father of a child who was born to a young peasant woman who posed for him, Vincent moved to Antwerp, where he again came into contact with the artistic environment.

He enters the local School of Fine Arts, goes to museums, admiring the works of Rubens, and discovers Japanese prints, so popular at that time among Western artists, especially the Impressionists. He studies diligently, intending to continue his studies at the higher courses of the School, but an ordinary career is clearly not for him, and the exams turn out to be a failure.

But Vincent will never know about this, because, obeying his impulsive nature, he decides that for an artist there is only one city where it really makes sense to live and create, and he leaves for Paris.

Van Gogh arrives in Paris on February 28, 1886. The brother learns about Vincent's arrival only from a note inviting him to meet at the Louvre, which is delivered to him at the art gallery of Busso & Valadon, the new owners of the company Goupil & Co., where Theo has been working continuously since October 1879, having risen to the rank of director.

Van Gogh begins to act in the city of opportunity and motivation with the help of his brother Theo, who gave him shelter in his house on the Rue Laval (now Rue Victor-Masse). Later a larger apartment will be found on Lepik Street.

View of Paris from Theo's apartment on Rue Lepic (1887, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam).

After arriving in Paris, Vincent began studying with Fernand Cormon (1845-1924) in his atelier. Although, these were not so much classes as communication with his new comrades in art: John Russell (1858-1931), Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) and Emile Bernard (1868-1941). Later, Theo, who was then working as a manager at the Bosso and Valladon gallery, introduced Vincent to the works of impressionist artists: Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro (together with his son Lucien, he would become Vincent's friend), Edgar Degas and Georges Seurat. Their work made a huge impression on him and changed his attitude towards color. In the same year, Vincent met another artist, Paul Gauguin, whose ardent and irreconcilable friendship became the most important event in both of their lives.

The time spent in Paris from February 1886 to February 1888 turned out to be a period of technical research and comparisons with the most innovative trends in modern painting for Vincent. Over these two years, he creates two hundred and thirty canvases - more than during any other stage of his creative biography.

The transition from realism, characteristic of the Dutch period and preserved in the first Parisian works, to a manner testifying to Van Gogh’s submission (though never unconditional or literal) to the dictates of impressionism and post-impressionism, clearly manifested itself in a series of still lifes with flowers (among which are the first sunflowers ) and landscapes painted in 1887. Among these landscapes is “Bridges at Asnieres” (now in a private collection in Zurich), which depicts one of the favorite places in impressionist painting, which repeatedly attracted artists, as did other villages on the banks of the Seine: Bougival, Chatou and Argenteuil. Like impressionist artists, Vincent, in the company of Bernard and Signac, goes to the banks of the river in the open air.

Bridge at Asnieres (1887, Bührle Foundation, Zürich, Switzerland)

This type of work allows him to strengthen his relationship with color. “In Asnieres, I saw more color than ever before,” he notes. During this period, the study of color attracted all his attention: now Van Gogh grasps it separately and no longer assigns it a purely descriptive role, as in the times of narrower realism.

Following the example of the Impressionists, the palette brightens significantly, preparing the ground for that yellow-blue explosion, for those riotous colors that have become characteristic of recent years his creativity.

In Paris, Van Gogh communicates most with people: he meets other artists, talks with them, and visits the same places that his brothers chose. One of them is “Tambourine”, a cabaret on the Boulevard Clichy, in Montmartre, whose owner was the Italian Agostina Segatori, a former model for Degas. Vincent has a short affair with her: the artist makes a beautiful portrait of her, depicting her sitting at one of the tables of his own cafe (Amsterdam, Vincent Van Gogh Museum). She also poses for his only nudes painted in oil, and perhaps for “The Italian” (Paris, Musée d'Orsay).

Agostina Segatori in the Tambourine Café, (1887-1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

Nude in Bed (1887, Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania, USA)

Another meeting place was the shop of “Papa” Tanguy on Rue Clausel, a shop of paints and other artistic materials, the owner of which was an old communard and a generous philanthropist. And there and there, as in other similar institutions of that time, which sometimes served as exhibition spaces, Vincent organized a show of his own works, as well as works by his closest friends: Bernard, Toulouse-Lautrec and Anquetin.

Portrait of Père Tanguy (Father Tanguy), (1887-8, Musée Rodin)

Together they form the group of Small Boulevards - this is how Van Gogh calls himself and his companions in order to emphasize the difference with the more famous and recognized masters of the Grand Boulevards, as defined by Van Gogh. Behind all this is the dream of creating a community of artists on the model of medieval brotherhoods, where friends live and work in complete unanimity.

But the reality in Paris is completely different, there is a spirit of competition and tension. “To succeed you need vanity, and vanity seems absurd to me,” Vincent declares to his brother. In addition, his impulsive nature and uncompromising attitude often involve him in disputes and feuds, and even Theo finally breaks down and complains in a letter to his sister Willemina how it has become “almost unbearable” to live with him. In the end, Paris becomes disgusting to him.

“I want to hide somewhere to the south so as not to see so many artists who disgust me as people,” he admits in a letter to his brother.

That's what he does. In February 1888, he sets off towards Arles, into the warm embrace of Provence.

“The nature here is extraordinarily beautiful,” Vincent writes to his brother from Arles. Van Gogh arrives in Provence in the middle of winter, there is even snow there. But the colors and light of the south make a deep impression on him, and he becomes attached to this region, just as Cezanne and Renoir were later captivated by it. Theo sends him two hundred and fifty francs a month to live and work.

Vincent tries to recoup this money and - as he began to do since 1884 - sends him his paintings and again bombards him with letters. His correspondence with his brother (from December 13, 1872 to 1890, Theo receives 668 of his letters out of a total of 821) is, as always, full of sober introspection regarding his mental and emotional state and is full of valuable information about artistic plans and their implementation.

Arriving in Arles, Vincent checks into the Carrel Hotel, at number 3 on Rue Cavalery. At the beginning of May, for fifteen francs a month, he rents four rooms in a building on Place La Martine, at the entrance to the city: this is the famous Yellow House (destroyed during the Second World War), which Van Gogh depicts in the canvas of the same name, now kept in Amsterdam .

The Yellow House (1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

Van Gogh hopes that in time he will be able to establish a community of artists there along the lines of the one that formed in Brittany, in Pont-Aven, around Paul Gauguin. While the premises are not yet completely ready, he spends the night in a nearby cafe and eats in a station cafe, where he becomes a friend of the owners, the Ginoux couple. Having entered his life, the friends Vincent makes in a new place almost automatically end up in his art.

Thus, Madame Ginoux will pose for him for “La Arlesienne,” the postman Roulin, an old anarchist of a cheerful disposition, described by the artist as “a man with a large Socratic beard,” will be depicted in some portraits, and his wife will appear in five versions of “Lullaby.”

Portrait of the postman Joseph Roulin. (July-August 1888, Museum fine arts, Boston)

Lullaby, portraits of Madame Roulin (1889, Art Institute, Chicago)

Among the first works created in Arles are many images of flowering trees. “These places seem beautiful to me, like Japan, because of the transparency of the air and the play of cheerful colors,” writes Vincent. And it was Japanese prints that served as a model for these works, as well as for several versions of the Langlois Bridge, reminiscent of individual landscapes by Hiroshige. The lessons of impressionism and divisionism of the Parisian period remain behind.

Langlois Bridge near Arles. (Arles, May 1888. State Museum Kröller-Müller, Waterloo)

“I find that what I learned in Paris disappears, and I return to those thoughts that came to me in nature, before meeting the Impressionists,” Vincent writes to Theo in August 1888.

What still remains from the previous experience is fidelity to light colors and work in the open air: the colors - especially yellow, which predominates in the Arlesian palette in such rich and bright colors as in the paintings "Sunflowers" - acquire a special radiance, like would be breaking out from the depths of the image.

Vase with twelve sunflowers. (Arles, August 1888. Munich, Neue Pinakothek)

Working outdoors, Vincent defies the wind, which overturns the easel and raises the sand, and for the night sessions he invents a system as ingenious as it is dangerous, mounting burning candles on his hat and on the easel. Night views painted in this way - note "The Night Cafe" and "Starry Night over the Rhone", both created in September 1888 - become some of his most enchanting paintings and reveal how bright the night can be.

Terrace of the night cafe Place du Forum in Arles. (Arles, September 1888. Kroller-Moller Museum, Oterloo)

Starry night over the Rhone. (Arles, September 1888. Paris, Musee d'Orsay)

The paints, applied with flat strokes and a palette knife to create large and uniform surfaces, characterize - along with the "high yellow note" that the artist claims to have found in the south - such a painting as Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles.

Bedroom in Arles (first version) (1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

Artist on the way to Tarascon, August 1888, Vincent Van Gogh on the road near Montmajour (former Magdeburg Museum; the painting is believed to have been lost in a fire during World War II)

Night cafe. Arles, (September 1888. Connecticut, Yale University of Fine Arts)

And the 22nd of the same month became an important date in the life of Van Gogh: Paul Gauguin arrives in Arles, who was repeatedly invited by Vincent (eventually convinced by Theo), accepting the offer to stay in the Yellow House. After an initial period of enthusiastic and fruitful existence, the relationship between two artists, two opposite natures - the restless, uncollected Van Gogh and the confident, pedantic Gauguin - deteriorates until they break up.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers (1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

The tragic epilogue, as Gauguin will tell, will be Christmas Eve 1888, when, after a stormy quarrel, Vincent grabs a razor in order, as it seemed to Gauguin, to attack his friend. He, frightened, runs out of the house and goes to the hotel. At night, falling into a frenzy, Vincent cuts off his left earlobe and, wrapping it in paper, takes it as a gift to a prostitute named Rachelle, whom they both know.

Van Gogh is discovered on the bed in a pool of blood by his friend Roulin, and the artist is taken to the city hospital, where, against all fears, he recovers in a few days and can be released home, but new attacks repeatedly return him to the hospital. Meanwhile, his difference from others begins to frighten the Arlesians, to such an extent that in March 1889, thirty citizens write a petition asking to free the city from the “red madman.”

Self-portrait with a bandaged ear and a tube. Arles, (January 1889, Niarchos Collection)

So, the nervous illness that had always smoldered in him finally broke through.

Van Gogh's entire life and work were influenced by his physical and mental illness. His experiences were always experiences in superlatives; he was very emotional, reacted with his soul and heart, and threw himself into everything like a whirlwind. From an early age, Vincent’s parents began to worry about their son “with bad nerves,” and they didn’t have much hope that their son could do anything in life. After Van Gogh decided to become an artist, Theo looked after his older brother from a distance. But Theo could not always prevent the fact that the artist completely forgot about himself, working like a man possessed, or due to lack of funds. During such periods, Van Gogh sat for days on end on coffee and bread. In Paris, he abused alcohol. Leading such a lifestyle, Van Gogh acquired all sorts of illnesses: he had problems with his teeth and a bad stomach. There are a huge number of versions regarding Van Gogh's illness. There are suggestions that he suffered from a special form of epilepsy, the symptoms of which progressed as his physical health weakened. His nervous temperament only made matters worse; in a fit he fell into depression and utter despair about himself

Realizing the danger of his mental disorder, the artist decides to do everything to recover, and on May 8, 1889, he voluntarily entered the specialized hospital of St. Paul of the Mausoleum near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (doctors diagnosed “temporal lobe epilepsy”). In this hospital, headed by Dr. Peyron, Van Gogh is still allowed some freedom, and he even has the opportunity to paint in the open air under the supervision of the staff.

This is how the fantastic masterpieces “Starry Night”, “Road with Cypresses and a Star”, “Olive Trees, Blue Sky and White Cloud” are born - works from a series characterized by extreme graphic tension, which enhances the emotional frenzy with frantic swirls, wavy lines and dynamic tufts.

Starry Night (1889. Museum contemporary art, New York)

Landscape with Road, Cypress and Star (1890. Kroller-Müller Museum, Waterloo)

Olive trees against the backdrop of the Alpille (1889. John Hay Whitney collection, USA)

In these paintings - where cypresses and olive trees with twisted branches reappear as harbingers of death - the symbolic significance of Van Gogh's painting is especially noticeable.

Vincent's painting does not fit into the framework of the art of symbolism, which finds inspiration in literature and philosophy, welcoming dream, mystery, magic, rushing into the exotic - that ideal symbolism, the line of which can be traced from Puvis de Chavannes and Moreau to Redon, Gauguin and the Nabis group. .

Van Gogh seeks in symbolism a possible means to reveal the soul, to express the measure of being: that is why his legacy will be perceived by expressionist painting of the 20th century in its various manifestations.

In Saint-Rémy, Vincent alternates between periods of intense activity and long breaks caused by deep depression. At the end of 1889, at a moment of crisis, he swallows paint. And yet, with the help of his brother, who married Johanna Bonger in April, he takes part in the September Salon of Independents in Paris. In January 1890, he exhibited at the eighth Group of Twenty exhibition in Brussels, where he sold “Red Vineyards at Arles” for the very flattering sum of four hundred francs.

Red Vineyards in Arles (1888, State Museum Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin, Moscow)

In the January issue of the Mercure de France magazine in 1890, the first critically enthusiastic article about Van Gogh’s painting “Red Vineyards in Arles” signed by Albert Aurier appeared.

And in March he is again among the participants in the Salon of Independents in Paris, and there Monet speaks highly of his work. In May, his brother writes to Peyron about Vincent’s possible move to Auvers-on-Oise in the vicinity of Paris, where Doctor Gachet, with whom Theo had recently become friends, is ready to treat him. And on May 16, Vincent goes to Paris alone. Here he spends three days with his brother, meets his wife and recently born child - his nephew.

Blooming Almond Trees, (1890)
The reason for painting this picture was the birth of the first child of Theo and his wife Johanna - Vincent Willem. Van Gogh painted almond trees in bloom using decorative compositional techniques in Japanese style. When the painting was finished, he sent it as a gift to his new parents. Johanna later wrote that the baby was impressed by the sky-blue painting that hung in their bedroom.

Then he travels to Auvers-on-Oise and first stops at the Saint-Aubin hotel, and then settles in the cafe of the Ravoux couple on the square where the municipality is located. In Auvers, he energetically gets to work. Doctor Gachet, who becomes his friend and invites him to his home every Sunday, appreciates Vincent's painting and, being an amateur artist, introduces him to the technique of etching.

Portrait of Doctor Gachet. (Auvers, June 1890. Paris, Musée d'Orsay)

In numerous paintings painted by Van Gogh during this period, there is an incredible effort of a confused consciousness, yearning for some rules after the extremes that filled his canvases in tough year, held in Saint-Rémy. This desire to begin again, in an orderly and calm manner, to control one’s emotions and reproduce them on canvas clearly and harmoniously: in portraits (two versions of “Portrait of Doctor Gachet”, “Portrait of Mademoiselle Gachet at the Piano”, “Two Children”), in landscapes (“ Staircase in Auvers") and in still lifes ("Bouquet of Roses").

Mademoiselle Gachet at the piano. (1890)

Village Street with Figures on Stairs (1890. St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri)

Pink roses. (Overs, June 1890. Copenhagen. Carlsberg Glyptotek)

But in the last two months of his life, the artist hardly manages to drown out internal conflict, which drives him somewhere and suppresses him. Hence such formal contradictions, as in “The Church at Auvers,” where the elegance of the composition is dissonant with a riot of colors, or convulsive, disordered brushstrokes, as in “A Flock of Crows over a Grain Field,” where a gloomy omen of imminent death slowly hovers.

Church in Auvers. (Auvers, June 1890. Paris, France, Musée d'Orsay)

Wheatfield with Crows (1890, Vincent Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)
In the last week of his life, Van Gogh wrote his last and famous painting: "Wheat field with crows." It was evidence of the artist's tragic death.
The painting was supposedly completed on July 10, 1890, 19 days before his death in Auvers-sur-Oise. There is a version that Van Gogh committed suicide in the process of painting this painting; This version of the end of the artist's life was presented in the film Lust for Life, where the actor playing Van Gogh (Kirk Douglas) shoots himself in the head in a field while completing work on the canvas. However, there is no evidence to support this theory. For a long time it was believed that this was Van Gogh's last work, but research into Van Gogh's letters suggests with a high degree of probability that the artist's last work was the painting "Wheat Fields", although there is still ambiguity on this issue

By that time, Vincent is already completely possessed by the devil, who breaks out more and more often. In July, he is very worried about family problems: Theo has financial difficulties and poor health (he will die a few months after Vincent, on January 25, 1891), and his nephew is not entirely well.

Added to these worries is the disappointment that his brother will not be able to spend the summer holidays in Auvers, as he promised. And so on July 27, Van Gogh leaves home and goes to the fields to work plein air.

Upon his return, after persistent questioning by the Ravu couple, concerned about his depressed appearance, he admits that he shot himself with a pistol, which he allegedly bought to scare away flocks of birds while working in the open air (the weapon will never be found).

Dr. Gachet arrives urgently and immediately informs Theo of what happened. His brother rushes to his aid, but Vincent’s fate is already sealed: he dies on the night of July 29 at the age of thirty-seven, 29 hours after being wounded, from loss of blood (at 1:30 a.m. on July 29, 1890). Van Gogh's earthly life ended - and the legend of Van Gogh, the last truly great artist on planet Earth, began.

Van Gogh on his deathbed." Drawing by Paul Gachet.

According to brother Theo, who was with Vincent in his dying moments, last words the artist's words were: La tristesse durera toujours (“Sadness will last forever”). Vincent Van Gogh was buried in Auvers-sur-Oise. 25 years later (in 1914), the remains of his brother Theo were buried next to his grave.

In October 2011, an alternative version of the artist’s death appeared. American art historians Steven Nayfeh and Gregory White Smith have suggested that Van Gogh was shot by one of the teenagers who regularly accompanied him in drinking establishments

Everyone knows the Dutch painter. Hard fate reflected in his paintings, the fame of which came only after the artist’s death. He created more than 200 paintings and more than 500 drawings, carefully preserved by his brother, and later by his wife and nephew, and deposited in the museum. Van Gogh lived a short life, but many interesting stories happened in his life that are passed down from generation to generation.

Story about the ear

The most interesting story that excites the minds of contemporaries is about severed ear. But it is reliably known that the artist cut off only his earlobe. What prompted him to do this? And how did it really all happen? The most reliable version is that during a quarrel with the French painter Gauguin, Van Gogh attacked him with a razor. But Gauguin turned out to be more resourceful and managed to stop him.


The quarrel occurred over a woman, and a worried Van Gogh cut off his own earlobe that same night. The artist gave the cut lobe to this woman - she was a prostitute. This event occurred at a moment of madness from frequent use of absinthe - a tincture of bitter wormwood, with large consumption of which hallucinations, aggressiveness, and changes in consciousness occur.

Two Births of Van Gogh

The Dutch pastor had his first child in 1852, named Vincent, but he died a few weeks later. And a year later, on March 30, 1953, a boy was born again, whom they also decided to name Vincent Van Gogh.

Understanding life

Working in different places and constantly observing the difficult lot of the poor, the son of a Protestant pastor decided to also become a priest and celebrate masses in favor of the poor. He helped the poor, cared for the sick, taught children, and painted at night to earn money. The artist decided to write a petition to improve working conditions for the poor, but he was refused. He realized that preaching had no role in combating the plight of the poor. The young priest leaves home, distributes all his savings to those in need, and is eventually deprived of the priesthood. All this affected the artist’s mental state and subsequently decided Van Gogh’s entire fate.

Van Gogh's inspiration

French artist turned out to be Van Gogh's inspiration Millet, who depicted in his paintings hard life the poor, their labor and their plight in society. Van Gogh painted with black and white drawings Millet, conveying his gaze to them. The difference is that Van Gogh's paintings are bright and expressive, in contrast to the melancholy works of Millet. Van Gogh represented the life of the poor as they saw themselves, their attitude to work is what ensures their life, as an admiration for the hard lot that contributes to their existence. Their faces express gratitude to the land that produced the harvest. Gratitude for the harvest that now lies on their table.

Extraordinary vision of color

Van Gogh managed to mix colors on his canvases as no one else had done before. He mixed warm colors with cold ones, basic ones with additional ones, and achieved amazing effects. The main shade of his paintings is yellow. Yellow field, yellow sun, yellow hat, yellow flowers. Yellow color expresses energy, excitement, creative inspiration. Surrounding yourself yellow, he tried to escape from life's troubles, to paint life in bright colors. They say that when drinking absinthe, a person sees the world as if through a yellow prism. Perhaps that's why he yellow even brighter than regular yellow.
Yellow was combined with blue, purple, blue-black. A strange combination - a combination of madness.

Sunflowers in Van Gogh's painting

The artist created 10 paintings with sunflowers. They are in a vase: three, twelve, five, cut sunflowers, sunflowers with roses. 10 paintings have been proven to be authentically the brush of the painter; another painting has not been confirmed; it is believed to be a copy. From letters to his brother it is known that Van Gogh loved sunflowers and considered them his flowers. The yellow sunflower represents friendship and hope. He wanted to decorate the inside of the “yellow house” with them. Since there were very white walls, which he complained to brother Theo about.

Friendship with brother

Van Gogh had five brothers and sisters, but he only maintained relationships and was friends with his brother Theo. They corresponded and exchanged information. More than 900 letters from the artist have been found, and most of them are addressed to his brother. Theo helped him with money. At the moment of his serious condition, he admitted him to the clinic. He was with him and in last days his life.

Attitude to family life

Having experienced disappointment in love, Van Gogh decides for himself that the artist should devote himself to painting. And that’s why he uses random connections.

"Starry Night"

In a state of severe depression, the artist went to a psychiatric clinic, where he was assigned a room. And there he painted his paintings. There he created one of the most recognizable paintings " Starry night" Characterizing the color scheme and the quality of the strokes, it is confirmed that the picture was painted by a person experiencing loneliness, vulnerable, with mood swings to depression. He painted the picture from memory, which is rare for his style, and confirms his serious condition.

Painter's illness

Multiple scientific research they never gave a medical report about Van Gogh’s illness. They claimed that he had epilepsy or schizophrenia, but there was no medical confirmation of this. His aunt suffered from epilepsy, and sister– schizophrenia. The answer is increasingly being confirmed in the artist’s constant depression. He was depressed by the hard work of the miners, he was worried about the hard lot of the plowmen, and that he could not help them in any way.

Van Gogh's suicide

Van Gogh committed suicide - he shot himself in the heart with a revolver. The bullet missed his heart, and he came home and went to bed. He lived two more days and died at the age of 37, without waiting for recognition of his work. During the funeral, only a few people followed the coffin.

Vincent Van Gogh was a post-impressionist artist of exceptional talent. Taking the influence of the Impressionists of that period, he nevertheless developed his own, spontaneous style. He became one of the most famous artists twentieth century and played a key role in the development of modern art. Vincent was born in Groot-Zundert, a small Dutch village, on March 30, 1853. His father was a Protestant pastor. Vincent showed an interest in drawing as a child: his early works are distinguished by realism and expressiveness. The artist’s youth became a period of searching. He worked briefly as an art dealer, then as a boarding school teacher, and then, deeply interested in Christianity, became a preacher in a mining town in southern Belgium. He preached in the poor areas of Brabant, empathizing with the poverty of the local residents and the harshness of their living conditions. He began to sleep on straw in a dilapidated hut, and his face was blackened by coal dust. The church authorities were dissatisfied with such shocking behavior, and Van Gogh was relieved of his post. In 1880, when he was already 27 years old, Van Gogh turned his interest to art. He began painting seriously, and during a stay in Paris in 1886, he was deeply impressed by the work of the Impressionist artists. During this important period in his life, Van Gogh met many artists, including Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Pissarro and Gauguin. His style changed significantly under the influence of the works of the Impressionists, becoming lighter and brighter. At this time, the artist painted a large number of self-portraits. Using the financial assistance of his brother Theo, in 1888 he went to live in picturesque Provence, a region in the south of France. There he created his famous “Sunflowers” ​​series.
After some time, Van Gogh invited his friend Gauguin to stay, but soon the artists began to quarrel. According to one version, one fine day Van Gogh began to threaten his guest with a razor, after which he hastily left. Deeply repenting of what he had done, Van Gogh cut off part of his own ear. This episode became the first serious symptom of the artist’s increasing mental instability. Subsequently, he was treated more than once in psychiatric hospitals. His life alternated between periods of inertia, depression and amazingly concentrated creative activity. The last two years of Van Gogh's life were the most fruitful in terms of painting. The artist felt an irresistible need to paint. “Work is an absolute necessity for me. I can’t put it off, I don’t care about anything except work,” Van Gogh said about himself. He developed a style that was fast and impetuous, leaving the artist no time for contemplation and reflection. He painted with quick movements of the brush, and more and more abstract figures appeared on his canvases - the harbingers of modern art.
On July 27, 1890, under the influence of another depression, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest. However, there were no witnesses to this incident, as well as a pistol, so the version of murder has not yet been ruled out. One way or another, two days later the artist died.