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Art Boutique - a Supergallery for French Art Prints and Framing
PLEASE VISIT OUR ART BOUTIQUE TO PURCHASE VAN GOGH PRINTS


VINCENT VAN GOGH

Although almost wholly unknown during his brief lifetime, the painter Vincent Willem van Gogh {van goh}, b. Mar. 30, 1853, is today probably the most widely known and appreciated representative of postimpressionism. His work became an important bridge between the 19th and 20th centuries; it was particularly influential in the evolution of both Fauvism and German expressionism.

Self Portrait

"Self Portrait"
by Vincent van Gogh
Musée de l'Impressionisme,
Paris

Van Gogh clearly showed marked artistic talent even as a child, but neither he nor his family (his father was a Dutch clergyman) imagined that painting would become his career. Instead, at the age of 16, he went to work for Goupil and Company, an art gallery with which one of his uncles had long been associated; he was dismissed in 1876. Other false starts included a job in a Dordrecht bookstore during the spring of 1877, theological studies at the University of Amsterdam, and, from November 1878 to July 1879, service as a lay missionary in a coal-mining district in Belgium.

In 1880, Vincent chose art as a vocation and became dependent on his brother for money. Indeed, for the next 10 years Theo, who had also gone to work for Goupil, sent an allowance to Vincent, encouraged him to work, and wrote regularly. Vincent's thinking during his short but prolific career (approximately 750 paintings, 1,600 drawings, 9 lithographs, and 1 etching) is well documented in more than 700 letters that he wrote to Theo and others.

Van Gogh's early period includes all his work from 1879 through 1885. Between August 1879 and November 1885 he worked in Etten, The Hague -- where he received some instruction from his cousin, Anton Mauve -- and in Nuenen, among other places.

Chair and Pipe

"Chair and Pipe"
by Vincent van Gogh
National Gallery, London

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In Nuenen he painted The Potato Eaters (1885; Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam), his first important picture, which underscores his lifelong interest in peasant subjects.

During the winter of 1885-86 van Gogh studied at the academy in Antwerp, where he was forced to draw from plaster casts and to adopt academic principles that did not suit him. He moved to Paris, where he lived with Theo.

The Paris period (March 1886-February 1888) is extremely important because it enabled Vincent to see and to hear discussed the work of virtually every major artist there. Although van Gogh admired many members of the avant-garde, he also admired Eugène Delacroix, Jean François Millet, and the painters of the Barbizon and Hague schools. He respected painters as disparate as Adolphe Monticelli and J. L. E. Meissonier and such Japanese printmakers as Hiroshige, Hokusai, and Kesai Yeisen. Numerous self-portraits, still lifes, and cityscapes date from this period, such as Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (1887; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City), A Pair of Shoes (1886; Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh), and Restaurant de la Sirène at Asnieres (1887; Louvre, Paris). During these years van Gogh's style shifted from the darker manner characteristic of his Nuenen period to a postimpressionist style heavily influenced by divisionism (also called pointillism; see Seurat, Georges).

Still Life with Sunflowers

"Still Life with Sunflowers"
by Vincent van Gogh
National Gallery, London

Van Gogh left Paris and moved to Arles in February 1888. His mature work and many of his most famous paintings date from the ensuing year. For example, he painted numerous blossoming orchards in the spring of 1888 (Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh), The Night Cafe on the Place Lamartine, Arles (1888; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.), Still Life with Sunflowers (several versions), and The Bedroom at Arles (1888; Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh).

In October 1888, Paul Gauguin came to live and work with van Gogh. After only 2 months, however, following the first of Vincent's attacks of dementia, in which he amputated his own earlobe, Gauguin left, having first summoned Theo from Paris. Thereafter, Vincent was hospitalized intermittently until the spring of 1890; he was voluntarily confined in the Asylum of Saint-Paul in Saint-Remy from May 1889 until May 1890. He continued to paint, however, and in June 1889 executed the Starry Night (Museum of Modern Art, New York City) and the extraordinary Self-Portrait (Louvre).

In the three months following his release from the hospital in May 1890, at the village of Auvers-sur-Oise outside Paris, Vincent produced many notable works including the Portrait of Dr. Gachet (private collection, New York City), Field under Thunderclouds, and the famous Crows in the Wheatfields (both Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh).

Although Vincent had finally begun to receive critical praise, he shot himself on July 27, 1890, and died two days later. His grief-stricken brother died only six months thereafter.


Charles Moffett, Associate Curator, European Paintings, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Source: The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Release #9.01, ©1997.
Bibliography: Martin Bailey, ed., Van Gogh: Letters from Provence (1990); J. B. de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, trans. by James Brockway, rev. ed. (1970) and Van Gogh's Complete Works on Paper, 2 vols, rev. ed. (1992); Abraham M. and Renilde Hammacher, Van Gogh (1990); Abraham M. Hammacher, Genius and Disaster: The Ten Creative Years of Vincent van Gogh (1968); Jan Hulsker, Vincent and Theodore van Gogh: A Dual Biography (1990); A. Krauss, Vincent van Gogh (1987); Melissa McQuillan, Van Gogh (1989); H. Nagera, Vincent van Gogh (1990); R. J. Philpott, Van Gogh (1984); Griselda Pollock and Fred Orton, Vincent van Gogh: Artist of his Time (1978); John Rewald, Post-Impressionism from Van Gogh to Gauguin, 2d ed. (1962); Meyer Schapiro, Van Gogh (1950; repr. 1983); David Sweetman, Van Gogh (1990; repr. 1991); Marc Edo Tralbaut, Vincent van Gogh, trans. by Edita Lausanne (1969); Vincent van Gogh, The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, trans. by J. Van Gogh-Bonger and C. de Dood, 3 vols. (1958; repr. 1979); Evert van Uitert, et al., Vincent van Gogh: Paintings and Drawings, 2 vols. (1990); Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov, ed., Van Gogh in Perspective (1974) and Vincent van Gogh, His Paris Period, 1886-1888 (1976); Carol M. Zemel, The Formation of a Legend: Van Gogh Criticisms, 1890-1920 (1980; repr. 1988).
Images: "Self Portrait" (Musée de l'Impressionisme, Paris/Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY); "Chair and Pipe" (National Gallery, London/Photothèque Hachette); "Still Life with Sunflowers" (National Gallery, London/Bridgeman Art Library).
Copyrights Notice and Disclaimer: Images of artists' works displayed throughout this site have been obtained from numerous sources, including digital libraries at educational institutions, educational software, and Mark Harden's Artchive. Credit is attributed when known. Some works are considered to be in the public domain, based on current U.S. and international copyright acts. For more information on copyright laws, please refer to the Artists Rights Society and Benedict O'Mahoney's The Copyright Web Site. [See also: DiscoverFrance.net Copyrights.]

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Paintings of Vincent Van Gogh
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[The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1993 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.]

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