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He lived for a
short time, thirty-seven years, to be precise. Within the
short span, he made a prolific contribution to the field of
art, having produced around 750 paintings and 1600 drawings.
Of these, he sold just one piece during his lifetime! However,
more than a thousand of his works are on display at the
Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh in Amsterdam.
Vincent van Gogh
was born on March 30, 1853, to Theodorus Van Gogh and Anna
Cornelia in the small village of Groot-Zundertin, Holland. It
was at age eleven that he created his first serious drawing.
Initially, Vincent planned to become a teacher and preacher
and even trained himself in the profession. However, his
association with an art dealer from France, Goupil & Cie, for
whom he worked, threw up a new path for him, but it was years
before he finally decided to devote his life to pencils, oils
and colors.
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Until the year
1875, Vincent’s interest in the Bible was more than a passing
one. It was almost an obsession. When he was working for
Goupil & Cie in London, his preoccupation with Bible study was
so intense that it affected his work. The year 1880 was the
turning point for Vincent. He suddenly bid farewell to religious
pursuits and with financial support from his brother Theo he
enrolled at the arts academy in Brussels. Lack of finance was
something that Vincent experienced always and he had to be
continuously supported by Theo. In fact, his early paintings, done
before joining the academy, depicted the misery of poverty.
While still a student,
he turned his attention to a cousin whose rejection shattered him
and began to affect his mental condition. He did not enjoy good
physical health either. His misery and falling mental and physical
health was however balanced by his mastery in art works, which
continued to flow endlessly.
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A self portrait of
Vincent Van Gogh |
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A few broken
relationships found Vincent’s health deteriorating further and he
had to be hospitalized. After the death of his father in 1885, he
produced his first masterpiece, the Potato Eaters. He also
experimented with heavy colors. Soon he became interested in
Japanese woodcuts. The Japanese printmakers, Hiroshige and Hokusai
influenced him and he began to employ their style of painting.
In 1886, with a view to
improving his work, Vincent enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and
Antwerp academy, but he could not remain in either place for a long
time. After this, he came to Paris. At the Atelier Cormon he met
Bernard and Toulouse-Lautrec. He soon left for Arles, where he
struck a professional relationship with Paul Gauguin.
It had been Vincent’s
dream to set up an artists’ community and Gauguin promised to help
him realize his dream. However, the association did not last long.
Disappointed and depressed, Vincent cut off a portion of his left
ear and had to be hospitalized. He also had to be institutionalized
at Saint Remy. Thereafter his health condition, both mental and
physical, swung wildly – recovering well, only to take a dip again.
In 1890, he shifted to
Auvers-sur-Oise, (near Paris), where a psychiatrist, Dr. Gachet, who
was also an art aficionado, treated him. Ironically, he began to
paint with incredible energy in the last two months of his life,
creating not less than eighty works during the period. So impressed
with the doctor was Vincent, that he made a portrait of him.
Ironically, it was only
during the last few months of his life that his genius began to be
recognized by the art community. A hundred years after his death, in
1990, Vincent’s The
Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold at a
Christie's auction for $82.5 million, the highest price ever paid
for a painting. His pen and ink creation, Garden with Flowers
set a record for the highest price paid for a drawing at another
Christie’s auction.
Vincent was very humane
at heart. Although he hardly had any money, he gave away much to
people poorer than himself. It was rather unfortunate that Vincent
did not enjoy good physical or mental health throughout his
lifetime. He met with a tragic end, when he shot himself on July 29,
1890. |
