The Life Of Vincent Van Gogh Essay

, Research Paper

On March 30, 1853 Vincent Van Gogh was born in the small village of Groot-Zundert, Holland. When he is eleven, he begins schooling where he starts to draw for the first time. People begin to notice how magnificent his works were, and after he finishes school he begins to sell his paintings to art dealers. Van Gogh starts spending more time with his brother Theo. They create a deep bond with each other and discuss things, which today, help us understand Van Gogh much better. In 1873, he joins the London branch of the art dealers he originally started out with. He spends most of his time in museums and learns a great deal of information. He likes living in London and soon falls in love with the daughter of the owner at the boarding house where he was living at the time. He gets rejected which puts him in a deep depression, which distracts him from his work. He is soon transferred to the Paris branch of the art dealer. There is not much for him Paris so within a year he returns to London. Even though he is back in London, he is still very distracted in his work. At the same time, he becomes obsessed with bible studies. Van Gogh resigns from his position in 1876 and leaves for Ramsgate, England. There, he takes a job as a teacher and curates with the local minister. The more obsessive his interest in religion gets, the worse his physical and mental state get. He leaves England a year later to take up religious studies in Amsterdam. He soon comes to an end of his formal religious studies, and travels to a small coal-mining district in Belgium. Conditions for the miners are terrible, but Van Gogh reads them the bible and gives them hope. Soon enough, he devotes all of his time to helping the miners by bringing food and clothing to the miners. Although his superiors like what he is doing, they believe that his behavior and religious belief is extreme. His position in the mining district is discontinued and he suffers great depression. In 1880 comes the turning point of Van Gogh s Life. He once again becomes interested in art and takes up further education at the academy of Brussels. He spends time with another painter Anton Mauve who introduces him to water colors. He soon moves in with Clasina Maria Hoornik. Although he is now out of depression, his physical state takes a turn for the worst. He is hospitalized for three weeks with the disease gonorrhea. After about a year his relationship with Clasina ends and Van Gogh devotes all of his time to painting. In 1886 he moves back to Paris to live with his brother and takes up more formal education at Antwerp Academy. He does not fit in at the academy, and soon leaves. Theo introduces him to the work of impressionist artists and Van Gogh is very inspired. His friend, Paul Gauguin moves in with him and they have very productive year. During this period of time Van Gogh paints some of his best works. However, the longer they live to together the worse off Gauguin and Van Gogh s friendship becomes. In December of 1888, Van Gogh supposedly attacked Gauguin with a razor. He fails, and then takes the razor and cuts off his own earlobe. After this he had many mental breakdowns and was put in the Saint-Pual-de-Mausole mental asylum. When he was in the asylum he painted whenever he got the chance, and his works soon received recognition. He was now respected in the art community and it was suggested that he move closer to his brother Theo. It seams that with his brother, Van Gogh is finally happy. But things were not going so well for Theo. His newborn son becomes ill and he is experiencing financial difficulties. Because Theo had financially supported Van Gogh his whole life, Van Gogh becomes angry at himself and shoots himself in the chest. The bullet cannot be removed and he dies a few days later on July 29, 1890.