Artist Van Gogh biography. Vincent Van Gogh – biography and paintings of the artist in the genre of Post-Impressionism – Art Challenge

“It is better to do nothing than to express yourself weakly.” Vincent Van Gogh

Van Gogh spent a long time looking for something in which he could express himself to the fullest. He began painting at the age of 27. And he devoted himself to this business with all his passion. 10 years of working to the limit. He was straining himself. Shaking your physical and mental health.

But in this fire of self-immolation, he created one masterpiece after another.

True, no one took his efforts seriously. Many of his paintings were destroyed by those to whom he gave them. Even his own mother left dozens of her son’s paintings abandoned when she moved. They all disappeared without a trace.

And Van Gogh himself often sold them for pennies to a junk dealer. He resold them for reuse to other artists.

Despite all these losses, 3,000 of his works have reached us. Of these, 800 are oil paintings! One every 1-2 days!

Here are just 5 of his paintings. I took the work of the last 2 years of his life. When he became the Van Gogh we know. It was during this period that most of his masterpieces were created.

1. Sunflowers. August 1888

August 1888. Van Gogh has been living in the south of France for several months now. In the city of Arles. He came here for bright colors. Here he created a series of paintings with “Sunflowers”.

The London version is one of the most widely circulated. We see it on bags, postcards or phone cases.

It is surprising that ordinary flowers have become almost a symbol of the entire world of painting. What is so unusual about them?

The pot and background are drawn very schematically. It’s not clear whether it’s a table, or the distant horizon and sand. Flowers are not beautiful. Some of them have torn petals. And the majority are completely mutating.

Note that they look more like asters than sunflowers. Such flowers are sterile and occasionally appear among healthy flowers. But they were the ones Van Gogh chose for the bouquet.

Maybe that’s why “Sunflowers” ​​evokes conflicting feelings among many? On the one hand, Van Gogh wanted to show the beauty of existence. He liked sunflowers because they bring benefits to humans. But he inadvertently chooses fruitless flowers.

This is very similar to the tragedy of the artist himself. He longed to be useful to others. But people's reactions to his paintings each time showed only one thing: his efforts were fruitless.

He never dared to dream that his paintings would delight millions of people.

You can compare the paintings in this series in the article.

2. Night cafe terrace. September 1888

Van Gogh painted not only flowers in Arles, but also the city itself. “Cafe Terrace at Night” is one such cityscape.

Anyone who has been to Arles will immediately notice how different the city in Van Gogh’s paintings is from the real city.

It was an industrial, dirty town. True, it had an ancient history. It was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 3rd century. In the center of the city there is a Roman amphitheater, very similar to the Colosseum.

It’s strange, but you won’t find this amphitheater in any of Van Gogh’s paintings. Although he captured almost every corner of Arles. And I passed by the main attraction of the city!

This very much characterizes Van Gogh. He looked past ordinary things. He saw the most unusual things. He saw the soul of flowers and stones. He noticed how the stars breathe. But he ignored the obvious.

He wrote the cafe three nights in a row. Right out in the open under the night sky. Have you ever seen an artist painting at night?

But this again is Van Gogh’s unusualness. He believed that the night is richer in colors than the day. And he was able to prove this “ridiculous” statement with his “ Night terrace”.

There's not a drop in the picture black paint. Thick brush strokes make the yellow and blue even more vibrant. These colors are accompanied by purple and orange reflections on the pavement. This is one of Van Gogh's most striking and positive works. Even though it's night before us!

3. Self-portrait with a cut off ear and a pipe. January 1889

“Self-Portrait with a Pipe” was painted in the Arles hospital. Where did the artist end up after his legendary story with his cut off ear?

It all started with the arrival of Gauguin. Van Gogh wanted to create a school-workshop, seeing Gauguin as its leader. They began to live and work under the same roof.

Van Gogh was very impractical in everyday life. This irritated the neat and collected Gauguin. Van Gogh was too emotional, he argued until he was blue in the face. Gauguin was self-confident and did not tolerate anyone doubting his opinion. Can you imagine what it was like for such people to get along? I found a scythe on a stone.

When Van Gogh realized that they were not on the same path, he lost his mind. He attacked his friend with a razor. Gauguin stopped him with his menacing gaze.

Then Van Gogh directed the aggression towards himself, cutting off his earlobe. Such a gesture may seem very strange. If you don’t know one feature of Arles.

A bullfight took place in the already mentioned amphitheater. But it was more humane than in Spain. The defeated bull's ear was cut off. Van Gogh cut off his own ear, considering himself a loser.

The story with Gauguin was only the last straw. Nervous system By that time, Van Gogh was already greatly weakened by the frantic rhythm of work and constant malnutrition.

He once worked for 4 days without sleep, drinking 23 cups of coffee during that time! Imagine what would happen to you after such abuse of your body.

And after the first nervous attack, Van Gogh creates his strange self-portrait. It is written in complementary colors. These are colors that enhance each other. Red becomes even redder next to green. No wonder these colors are used in traffic lights.

But this enhancement is painful for the eyes. The colors become too loud. But they convey the cacophony in the artist’s soul.

4. Starry night. June 1889

The story of the cut off ear greatly frightened Van Gogh's neighbors. They wrote a petition demanding that the “madman” be expelled from Arles. He submitted. And he voluntarily went to a mental hospital in the small town of Saint-Remy.

One of his most famous masterpieces, “Starry Night,” was written here.

This is one of the few works that he did NOT write from life. Van Gogh was not allowed out of the hospital at night. Only during the day, accompanied by a medical professional.

Therefore, “Starry Night” was created in the imagination. Only from the window of his room Van Gogh saw a piece of the sky and stars. And at the same time Venus, which that month was visible to the naked eye. The most bright Star in Vincent's sky is just the planet Venus.

Van Gogh believed that everything in our world has a soul. Both a flower and a stone. Even space breathes. This is what he conveyed in his “Starry Night”. He achieved this by using an unusual arrangement of strokes around each star and moon. The swirls also helped make the sky “alive.”

“Starry Night” is written in my favorite combination of yellow and blue. The attacks subsided. Van Gogh found hope that the disease had gone away. Soon he will leave the medical institution and move to another town of Auvers.

Also read about the painting in the article.

5. Blossoming almond branches. January 1890

Van Gogh painted the painting as a gift to his brother, who had a son. He was named after his uncle, Vincent. Van Gogh wanted his new parents to hang the painting above their bed. Almond blossoms mean the beginning of a new life.

The picture is very unusual. It's like lying under a tree and looking at the branches. Which spread out against the sky.

The picture is decorative. But Van Gogh strove for this in many of his works. He created them to decorate the homes of ordinary people with modest incomes. It is unlikely that he imagined that his paintings would be available only to the very rich.

Six months after writing “Almond Blossoms,” Van Gogh would die. According to the official version, it was suicide.

The version of suicide was almost never disputed by anyone. After all, she made the legend of Van Gogh more dramatic. This only fueled interest in him, and prices for his paintings rose.

But here's what's strange. In the last months of his life, his works were one more positive than the other. Does Almond Blossom sound like the work of someone contemplating suicide?

Moreover, in Auvers, where he moved, his loneliness receded. Here he found many friends. They began to take interest in his paintings. Rave reviews began to appear in the press.

The version of murder by negligence (put forward in 2011 by writers Nayfi and White-Smith) is currently being considered.

When Van Gogh returned wounded to his room, he did not have a pistol with him. His easel and the paints he was working with that day were also not found. At the same time, one of the residents urgently left the city, taking with him two teenage brothers. There was a pistol in this family.

Van Gogh was reluctant to answer police questions about what happened. He insisted that he did it himself. It was as if Van Gogh decided to take all the blame on himself so that the child would not go to prison.

Such self-sacrifice was quite in his spirit. This is what he once did when he was an assistant pastor. He gave his last shirt to the poor. He cared for typhoid patients without thinking about the risk of infection.

PS.

Van Gogh passed away at the age of genius. At 37 years old. Short life. The creative path is even shorter. But during this time he managed to change the vector of development of all painting.

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1853-1890 .

The biography below is by no means a complete and thorough study of the life of Vincent Van Gogh. Instead, this is just a brief overview of some of the important events chronicling the life of Vincent van Gogh. early years

Vincent van Gogh was born in Groot Zundert, the Netherlands on March 30, 1853. A year before Vincent van Gogh was born, his mother gave birth to her first stillborn child, also named Vincent. Thus Vincent, being the second, became the eldest of the children. There has been much speculation that Vincent Van Gogh suffered psychological trauma as a result of this fact. This theory remains a theory because there is no real historical evidence to support it.

Van Gogh was the son of Theodore Van Gogh (1822-85), a Dutch Reformed Church pastor, and Anna Cornelia Carbenthus (1819-1907). Unfortunately, there is practically no information about the first ten years of Vincent van Gogh's life. Since 1864 Vincent spent a couple of years at a boarding school in Zevenbergen, and then continued his studies at the King William II School in Tilburg for about two years. In 1868, Van Gogh left his studies and returned home at the age of 15.

In 1869, Vincent van Gogh began working for Goupil&Cie, a firm of art dealers in The Hague. Van Gogh's family had long been associated with the art world - Vincent's uncles, Cornelis and Vincent, were art dealers. His younger brother Theo worked as an art dealer his entire adult life and, as a result, had a huge influence on the later stages of Vincent's career as an artist.

Vincent was relatively successful as an art dealer and worked for Goupil&Cie for seven years. In 1873 he was transferred to the company's London branch and quickly fell under the spell of England's cultural climate. At the end of August, Vincent rents a room in the home of Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie at 87 Hackford Road. Vincent is believed to have been romantically inclined toward Eugenie, but many early biographers erroneously call Eugenie by her mother's name, Ursula. To add to the years-long confusion of names, recent evidence suggests that Vincent was not in love with Eugenie, but was in love with a fellow countrywoman named Caroline Haanebeek. True, this information remains unconvincing.

Vincent van Gogh spent two years in London. During this time he visited many art galleries and museums and became a great fan of British writers such as George Eliot and Charles Dickens. Van Gogh was also a great admirer of the work of British engravers. These illustrations inspired and influenced Van Gogh in his later life as an artist.

Relations between Vincent and Goupil&Cie became more tense, and in May 1875 he was transferred to the firm's Paris branch. In Paris, Vincent worked on paintings that were of little interest to him from the point of view of personal tastes. Vincent leaves Goupil & Cie at the end of March 1876 and returns to England, remembering where he spent two, for the most part, very happy and fruitful years.

In April, Vincent van Gogh began teaching at the Reverend William P. Stokes' school in Ramsgate. He was responsible for 24 boys aged 10 to 14. His letters show that Vincent enjoyed teaching. After this he began teaching at another boys' school, the parish of the Rev. T. Jones Slade in Isleworth. In his free time, Van Gogh continued to visit galleries and admire many great works of art. He also devoted himself to Bible study - spending many hours reading and re-reading the Gospel. The summer of 1876 marks a time of religious transformation for Vincent Van Gogh. Although he grew up in a religious family, he did not imagine that he would seriously think about dedicating his life to the Church.

As a means of making the transition from teacher to priest, Vincent asks Reverend Jones to give him more responsibilities typical of the clergy. Jones agrees and Vincent began speaking at prayer meetings in the Turnham Green parish. These speeches served as a means of preparing Vincent for a goal he had long been working towards: his first Sunday sermon. Although Vincent himself was delighted with this prospect as a preacher, his sermons were somewhat dull and lifeless. Like his father, Vincent had a passion for preaching, but something was missing.

After visiting his family in the Netherlands for Christmas, Vincent Van Gogh remains in his homeland. After briefly working in a bookshop in Dordrecht at the beginning of 1877, Vincent went to Amsterdam from 9 May to prepare for the entrance exams to the university, where he was to study theology. Vincent learns Greek, Latin, and mathematics, but ultimately drops out after fifteen months. Vincent later described this period as "the worst time of my life." In November, after a three-month probationary period, Vincent fails to enter the missionary school in Laeken. Vincent van Gogh eventually agreed with the church to begin preaching on probation in one of the roughest and poorest areas in Western Europe: the Borinage coal mining region, Belgium.

In January 1879, Vincent began his duties as a minister to miners and their families in the mountain village of Wasmes. Vincent felt a strong emotional attachment to the miners. He saw and sympathized with their terrible working conditions, and as their spiritual leader, he did everything he could to ease the burden of their lives. Unfortunately, this altruistic desire reached such fanatical proportions that Vincent began donating much of his food and clothing to the poor people under his tutelage. Despite Vincent's noble intentions, representatives of the Church strictly condemned Van Gogh's asceticism and removed him from his position in July. Refusing to leave the area, Van Gogh moved to a nearby village, Cuesmes, where he lived in extreme poverty. For the next year, Vincent struggled to live day to day and, although unable to help the human village in any official capacity as a cleric, he still decided to remain a member of their community. The next year was so difficult that the question of survival for Vincent van Gogh was faced every day. And although he could not help people as an official representative of the church, he remains in the village. On a noteworthy occasion for Van Gogh, Vincent decided to visit the home of Jules Breton, a French artist whom he admired. Vincent had only ten francs in his pocket and walked the entire 70 km to Courrières, France, to see Breton. However, Vincent was too timid to get through to Breton. So, without a positive result and completely discouraged, Vincent returned back to Cuesmes.

It was then that Vincent began to draw miners, their families and life in harsh conditions. At this turning point in fate, Vincent Van Gogh chooses his next and final career direction: as an artist.

Vincent Van Gogh as artist

In the autumn of 1880, after more than a year of living in poverty in the Borinage, Vincent went to Brussels to begin his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. Vincent was inspired to begin his studies with financial support from his brother Theo. Vincent and Theo have always been close, maintaining a constant correspondence both as children and throughout most of their adult lives. Based on this correspondence, and there are more than 800 letters, the idea of ​​Van Gogh’s life is based.

1881 would prove to be a turbulent year for Vincent van Gogh. Vincent is successfully studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. Although biographers have different opinions on the details of this period. In any case, Vincent continues to study at his own discretion, taking examples from books. In the summer, Vincent again visits his parents, who already live in Etten. There he meets and develops romantic feelings for his widowed cousin Cornelia Adrian Vos Stricker (Key). But Key's unrequited love and break with his parents lead to his imminent departure to The Hague.

Despite the failures, Van Gogh works hard and improves under the guidance of Anton Mauwe ( famous artist and his distant relative). Their relationship was good, but it deteriorated due to tension when Vincent began living with a prostitute.

Vincent Van Gogh met Christina Maria Hornik, nicknamed Sin (1850-1904) at the end of February 1882 in The Hague. At that time she was already pregnant with her second child. Vincent lived with Sin for the next year and a half. Their relationship was turbulent, partly due to the complexity of the characters of both individuals, but also due to the imprint of a life of complete poverty. From Vincent's letters to Theo, it becomes clear how well Van Gogh treated Sin's children, but drawing is his first and most important passion, the rest fades into the background. Sin and her children posed for dozens of Vincent's drawings, and his talent as an artist grew significantly during this period. His earlier, more primitive drawings of miners in the Borinage give way to a much more refined manner and emotion in the work.

In 1883, Vincent began experimenting with oil paints; he had used oil paints before, but now this was his main direction. In the same year, he breaks up with Sin. Vincent leaves The Hague in mid-September to move to Drenthe. Over the next six weeks, Vincent leads a nomadic life, moving throughout the region working on landscapes and paintings of peasants.

Last time, Vincent returns to his parents' house, now in Nuenen, at the end of 1883. Over the next year, Vincent Van Gogh continued to improve his skills. He created dozens of paintings and drawings during this period: weavers, counters and other portraits. Local peasants turned out to be his favorite subjects - partly because Van Gogh felt a strong kinship with the poor working people. Another episode occurs in Vincent's romantic life. This time it's dramatic. Margot Begemann (1841-1907), whose family lived next door to Vincent's parents, was in love with Vincent and the emotional turmoil in the relationship led her to attempt suicide by poison. Vincent was greatly shocked by this incident. Margot eventually recovered, but the incident greatly upset Vincent. He himself returned to this episode several times in letters to Theo.

1885: First Great Works

In the early months of 1885, Van Gogh continued his series of portraits of peasants. Vincent viewed them as good practice where he could improve his skills. Vincent works productively during March and April. At the end of March, he takes a short break from work due to the death of his father, relations with whom in recent years have been very tense. Several years of hard work, improving skills and technology, and in 1885 Vincent approached his first serious work, “The Potato Eaters.”

Vincent worked on The Potato Eaters during April 1885. He prepared several sketches in advance and worked on this painting in the studio. Vincent was so inspired by the success that even criticism from his friend Anthony Van Rappard only led to a breakup. This new stage in the life and work of Van Gogh.

Van Gogh continued to work in 1885, he did not calm down and at the beginning of 1886 he entered the Art Academy in Antwerp. He once again comes to the conclusion that formal training is too narrow for him. Vincent's choice is practical work, the only way he can hone his skills, as evidenced by his "Potato Eaters". After four weeks of training, Van Gogh left the Academy. He is interested in new methods, technology, self-improvement, all of which Vincent can no longer get in Holland, his path lies to Paris.

New Beginning: Paris

In 1886, Vincent Van Gogh came to Paris without warning to visit his brother Theo. Before this, he wrote in letters to his brother about the need to move to Paris for further development. Theo, in turn, knowing Vincent's complex character, resisted this move. But Theo had no choice and his brother had to be accepted.

The period of life in Paris for Van Gogh is important in terms of his role in transformation as an artist. Unfortunately, this period of Vincent's life (two years in Paris) is one of the least documented. Since the description of Van Gogh’s life is based on his correspondence with Theo, and this Vincent lived with Theo (Montmartre district, 54 Lepic Street) and naturally there was no correspondence.

However, the importance of Vincent's time in Paris is clear. Theo, as an art dealer, had many contacts among artists and Vincent soon entered this circle. During his two years in Paris, Van Gogh visited early Impressionist exhibitions (which included works by Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Georges Seurat and Sisley). There is no doubt that Van Gogh was influenced by the Impressionists, but he always remained true to his own unique style. Over the course of two years, Van Gogh adopted some of the techniques of the Impressionists.

Vincent enjoyed painting around Paris during 1886. His palette began to move away from the dark, traditional colors of his homeland and would include the brighter hues of the Impressionists. Vincent became interested in Japanese art, due to Japan's cultural isolation at that time. The Western world was fascinated by all things Japanese and Vincent acquired several Japanese prints. Consequently japanese art had an influence on Van Gogh and throughout the rest of his life this can be read in his works.

Throughout 1887, Van Gogh honed his skills and practiced a lot. His active and stormy personality does not calm down; Vincent, without sparing his health, eats poorly, abuses alcohol and smoking. His hopes that living with his brother he would be able to control his expenses were not justified. Relations with Theo are tense. .

As has often happened throughout his life, poor weather conditions during the winter months make Vincent irritable and depressed. He is depressed, wants to see and feel the colors of nature. The winter months of 1887-1888 were not easy. Van Gogh decided to leave Paris to follow the sun; his road lies to Arles.

Vincent van Gogh moved to Arles in early 1888 for a number of reasons. Tired of the hectic energy of Paris and the long winter months, Van Gogh strives for the warm sun of Provence. Another motivation is Vincent's dream of creating a kind of artists' commune in Arles, where his fellow Parisians could find refuge, where they could work together and support each other in achieving common goals. Van Gogh boarded a train from Paris to Arles on February 20, 1888, inspired by his dream for a prosperous future, and watched the landscape pass by.

Without a doubt, Van Gogh was not disappointed with Arles in his first few weeks there. While searching for the sun, Vincent saw Arles unusually cold and covered with snow. This must have been disheartening for Vincent, who left everyone he knew to find warmth and restoration in the south. However, the bad weather was short-lived and Vincent began painting some of the most beloved work of his career.

As soon as the weather warmed up, Vincent wasted no time in creating his work outdoors. In March, the trees woke up and the landscape looked somewhat gloomy after winter. However, within a month, buds are visible on the trees and Van Gogh paints blooming gardens. Vincent is pleased with his performance and, together with the gardens, feels renewed.

The following months were happy. Vincent rented a room at the Café de la Gare at 10 Place Lamartine at the beginning of May and rented his famous “Yellow House” (at 2 Place Lamartine) for the studio. Vincent won't actually move into the Yellow House until September.

Vincent works hard throughout the spring and summer and begins sending Theo his works. Van Gogh is often perceived today as an irritable and lonely person. But in reality, he enjoys the company of people and does his best during these months to make friends with many. Although deeply lonely at times. Vincent never gave up hope of creating a commune of artists and began a campaign to persuade Paul Gauguin to join him in the south. The prospect seems unlikely because Gauguin's resettlement would require even more financial assistance from Theo, who have reached their limit.

At the end of July, Van Gogh's uncle died and left an inheritance to Theo. This financial influx allows Theo to sponsor Gauguin's move to Arles. Theo was interested in this move, as a brother and as business man. Theo knows that Vincent would be happier and more relaxed in Gauguin's company, and Theo also hopes that the paintings he will receive from Gauguin, in exchange for his support, will be profitable. Unlike Vincent, Paul Gauguin is not entirely confident in the success of his work.

Despite the improvement in Theo's financial affairs, Vincent remained true to himself and spent almost everything on art supplies and furnishings in the apartment. Gauguin arrived in Arles by train early in the morning of October 23.

Over the next two months, this move would be crucial, with disastrous consequences for both Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Initially, Van Gogh and Gauguin got along well, worked on the outskirts of Arles, and discussed their art. As the weeks passed, the weather worsened, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were forced to stay at home more and more often. The temperament of both artists, forced to work in the same room, gives rise to many conflicts.

Relations between Van Gogh and Gauguin deteriorated during December. Vincent wrote that their heated arguments became more and more frequent. December 23 Vincent Van Gogh, in a fit of madness, mutilated the lower part of his left ear. Van Gogh cut off part of his left earlobe, wrapped it in cloth and gave it to a prostitute. Vincent then returned to his apartment, where he lost consciousness. He was found by police and admitted to the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Arles. After sending the telegram to Theo, Gauguin immediately left for Paris, without visiting Van Gogh in the hospital. They will never meet in person again, although relations will improve..

During his stay in the hospital, Vincent was under the care of Dr. Felix Ray (1867-1932). The first week after the injury was crucial for Van Gogh's life - both psychologically and physically. He suffered major blood loss and continued to suffer from severe seizures. Theo, who rushed from Paris to Arles, was sure that Vincent would die, but by the end of December and in the first days of January Vincent had almost fully recovered.

The first weeks of 1889 were not easy for Vincent van Gogh. After recovering, Vincent returned to his Yellow House, but continued to visit Dr. Ray for observations and wear a headband. After his recovery, Vincent was on the rise, but problems with money and the departure of his close friend, Joseph Roulin (1841-1903), who accepted a better offer and moved with his entire family to Marseille. Roulin was Vincent's dear and loyal friend for most of his time in Arles.

During January and early February, Vincent worked a lot, during which time he created "Sunflowers" and "Lullaby". However, on February 7, another attack Vincent. He was taken to Hotel-Dieu Hospital for observation. Van Gogh is in the hospital for ten days, but then returns to the Yellow House.

By this time, some of the citizens of Arles had become alarmed by Vincent's behavior and signed a petition detailing the problem. The petition was presented to the mayor of Arles, and ultimately the chief of police ordered Van Gogh to return to the Hôtel-Dieu hospital. Vincent remained in hospital for the next six weeks and was allowed to leave the hospital to paint. It was a productive but emotionally difficult moment for Van Gogh. As was the case the year before, Van Gogh returns to blooming gardens around Arles. But even when he creates one of his best works, Vincent realizes that his condition is unstable. And after a discussion with Theo, he agrees to voluntary treatment at a specialized clinic in Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Van Gogh leaves Arles on May 8th.

Upon arrival at the clinic, Van Gogh was placed under the care of Dr. Théophile Zacharie Peyron Auguste (1827-95). After examining Vincent, Dr. Peyron becomes convinced that his patient suffers from epilepsy - a diagnosis that remains one of the most likely to determine Van Gogh's condition, even today. Being in the clinic put pressure on Van Gogh, he was discouraged by the screams of other patients and the bad food. This atmosphere depresses him. Van Gogh's treatment included hydrotherapy, frequent immersion in a large bath of water. Although this “therapy” was not cruel, in any case, it was the least useful in terms of helping to restore Vincent’s mental health.

As the weeks passed, Vincent's mental state remained stable and he was allowed to resume work. The staff was encouraged by Van Gogh's progress, and in mid-June Van Gogh created Starry Night.

Van Gogh's relatively calm state does not last long, until mid-July. This time Vincent tried to swallow his paints, and as a result, access to materials was limited. After this exacerbation, he quickly recovers, Vincent is pulled out by his art. After another week, Doctor Peyron allows Van Gogh to resume his work. The resumption of work coincided with an improvement in mental state. Vincent writes to Theo, describing his poor physical condition.

For two months, Van Gogh was unable to leave his room and writes to Theo that when he goes outside, he is overcome by intense loneliness. In the coming weeks, Vincent again overcomes his worries and resumes work. During this time, Vincent plans to leave the Saint-Rémy clinic. He expresses these thoughts to Theo, who begins to make inquiries about possible alternatives for providing medical care for Vincent - this time much closer to Paris.

Van Gogh's mental and physical health remained fairly stable throughout the remainder of 1889. Theo's health improved and he helped organize the Octave Maus exhibition in Brussels, which featured six of Vincent's paintings. Vincent is delighted with the venture and remains very productive throughout this time.

On December 23, 1889, a year after the attack in which Vincent cut off his earlobe, Van Gogh was struck down by another week-long attack. The exacerbation was serious and lasted about a week, but Vincent recovered quickly enough and resumed painting. Unfortunately, Van Gogh suffered from a large number of seizures during the first months of 1890. These exacerbations become frequent. Ironically, during this time, when Van Gogh was probably at his most mentally depressed, his work finally begins to receive critical acclaim. The news of this pushes Vincent to hope to leave the clinic and return to the north.

After consultations, Theo realizes that best solution for Vincent will return to Paris, under the care of Dr. Paul Gachet (1828-1909), a physician in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. Vincent agrees to Theo's plans and completes his treatment in Saint-Rémy. On May 16, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh left the clinic and boarded an overnight train to Paris.

"Sadness will last forever...

Vincent's journey to Paris was uneventful and he was greeted by Theo upon his arrival. Vincent stayed with Theo, his wife Joanna and their newborn son, Vincent Willem (named Vincent) for three pleasant days. Having never liked the hustle and bustle of city life, Vincent felt some tension and decided to leave Paris for the quieter Auvers-sur-Oise.

Vincent met Dr. Gachet shortly after his arrival in Auvers. And although Van Gogh was initially impressed by Gachet, he later expressed serious doubts about his competence. Despite his misgivings, Vincent finds himself a room in a small hotel owned by Arthur Gustave Ravoux and immediately begins to paint the area around Auvers-sur-Oise.

Over the next two weeks, Van Gogh's opinion of Gache softens. Vincent was pleased with Auvers-sur-Oise, which gave him the freedom denied him at Saint-Rémy, while at the same time providing him with broad themes for his painting and drawing. The first weeks in Auvers were pleasant and uneventful for Vincent Van Gogh. On June 8, Theo, Joe and the child came to Auvers to visit Vincent and Gachet. Vincent spends a very pleasant day with his family. Apparently, Vincent was completely restored - mentally and physically.

During June, Vincent remained in good spirits and was extremely productive, producing Portrait of Dr. Gachet and The Church at Auvers. The initial calm of the first month in Auvers was interrupted when Vincent received news that his nephew was seriously ill. Theo is going through the most difficult time: uncertainty about his own career and future, ongoing health problems and the illness of his son. After the child's recovery, Vincent decided to visit Theo and his family on July 6 and took an early train. Very little is known about the visit. Vincent soon tires and quickly returns to the quieter Auvers.

Over the next three weeks, Vincent resumed his work and, as can be seen from his letters, was quite happy. In his letters, Vincent writes that he is currently feeling well and is calm, comparing his condition with last year. Vincent was immersed in the fields and plains around Auvers and produced some brilliant landscapes during July. Vincent's life becomes more stable and he works a lot.

Nothing foreshadowed such a denouement. On July 27, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh goes to the fields with an easel and paints. There he took out a revolver and shot himself in the chest. Vincent managed to walk back to the Ravoux Inn, where he collapsed into bed. The decision was made not to attempt to remove the bullet in Vincent's chest and Gachet wrote an urgent letter to Theo. Unfortunately, Dr. Gachet did not have Theo's home address and had to write to him at the gallery where he worked. This did not cause any major delay and Theo arrived the next day.

Vincent and Theo remained together during the last hours of Vincent's life. Theo was devoted to his brother, holding him and speaking to him in Dutch. Vincent seemed resigned to his fate and Theo later wrote that Vincent himself wanted to die as Theo sat at his bedside. Vincent's last words were "Sadness will last forever."

Vincent Van Gogh died at 1:30 am. July 29, 1890. Auvers Church refused to allow Vincent to be buried in its cemetery because Vincent had committed suicide. In the nearby village of Meri, however, they agreed to allow the burial and the funeral took place on July 30.

Dutch post-impressionist artist whose work had a timeless influence on 20th-century painting

Vincent Van Gogh

short biography

Vincent Willem van Gogh(Dutch: Vincent Willem van Gogh; March 30, 1853, Grote-Zundert, Netherlands - July 29, 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, France) was a Dutch post-impressionist artist whose work had a timeless influence on 20th-century painting. In just over ten years, he created more than 2,100 works, including about 860 oil paintings. Among them are portraits, self-portraits, landscapes and still lifes, depicting olive trees, cypress trees, wheat fields and sunflowers. Van Gogh was overlooked by most critics until his suicide at the age of 37, which was preceded by years of anxiety, poverty and mental disorders.

Childhood and youth

Born on March 30, 1853 in the village of Groot Zundert (Dutch. 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 (born 02/08/1822), a Protestant pastor, and his mother was Anna Cornelia Carbenthus, 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, located 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 school year, Vincent unexpectedly dropped out of school and returned to his father's house. This ends his formal education. He recalled his childhood as follows: “My childhood was dark, cold and empty...”.

Work in a trading company and missionary activity

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 Saint”). There he received the necessary training as a dealer. Initially, the future artist set to work with great zeal, achieved good results, and 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. At the end of August, Vincent moved to 87 Hackford Road and rented a room in the house of Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie. There is a version that he was in love with Eugenia, although many early biographers mistakenly call her by the name of her mother, Ursula. In addition to this naming confusion that has been going on for decades, recent research suggests that Vincent was not in love with Eugenie at all, but with a German woman named Caroline Haanebeek. What actually happened remains unknown. The lover's refusal shocked and disappointed the future artist; he gradually lost interest in his work and began to turn to the Bible. 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, where he attended exhibitions at the Salon and Louvre and eventually began to try his hand at painting. Gradually, this activity began to take up more of his time, and Vincent finally lost interest in work, deciding for himself that “art has no worst enemies than art dealers." As a result, at the end of March 1876 he was fired from Goupil & Cie due to poor performance, despite the patronage of his relatives who were co-owners of the company.

In 1876 Vincent returned to England, where he found unpaid work as a teacher at a boarding school in Ramsgate. At the same time, he has a desire to become a priest, like his father. 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 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 of Pastor Bokma in Laeken near Brussels, where he completed a three-month course in preaching (however, there is a version that he did not complete the full course of study and was kicked out due to his slovenly appearance, hot temper and frequent fits of rage).

In December 1878, Vincent went for six months as a missionary to the village of Paturage in Borinage, a poor mining area in the south of Belgium, where he began tireless activities: visiting the sick, reading Scripture to the illiterate, preaching, teaching children, and at night drawing maps of Palestine to earn money. Such selflessness endeared him to the local population and members of the Evangelical Society, which resulted in his being awarded a salary of fifty francs. After completing a six-month internship, van Gogh intended to enter the Evangelical School to continue his education, but considered the introduced tuition fees to be a manifestation of discrimination and refused to study. At the same time, Vincent addressed the mine management with a petition on behalf of the workers to improve their working conditions. The petition was rejected, and van Gogh himself was removed from the post of preacher by the Synodal Committee of the Protestant Church of Belgium. This was a serious blow to the artist’s emotional and mental state.

Becoming an artist

Fleeing from the depression caused by the events in Paturage, Van Gogh again turned to painting, began to think seriously about his studies, and in 1880, with the support of his brother Theo, he left for Brussels, where he began attending classes at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. However, after a year, Vincent dropped out of school and returned to his parents. During this period of his life, he believed that an artist does not necessarily have talent, the main thing is to work hard and hard, so he continued his studies on his own.

At the same time, van Gogh experienced a new love interest, falling in love with his cousin, the widow Kay Vos-Striker, who was staying with her son in their house. The woman rejected his feelings, but Vincent continued his courtship, which turned all his relatives against him. As a result, he was asked to leave. Van Gogh, having experienced a new shock and deciding to forever abandon attempts to arrange his personal life, left for The Hague, where he plunged into painting with renewed vigor and began taking lessons from his distant relative, a representative of the Hague school of painting, Anton Mauwe. Vincent worked hard, studied the life of the city, especially the poor neighborhoods. Achieving interesting and surprising color in his works, he sometimes resorted to mixing different writing techniques on one canvas - chalk, pen, sepia, watercolor (“Backyards”, 1882, pen, chalk and brush on paper, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; "Roofs. View from van Gogh's studio", 1882, paper, watercolor, chalk, private collection of J. Renan, Paris). Charles Bargue's manual “Drawing Course” had a great influence on the artist. He copied all the lithographs of the manual in 1880/1881, and then again in 1890, but only a part.

In The Hague, the artist tried to start a family. This time, his chosen one was a pregnant street woman, Christine, whom Vincent met right on the street and, moved by sympathy for her situation, offered to move in with him along with the children. This act finally quarreled the artist with his friends and relatives, but Vincent himself was happy: he had a model. However, Christine turned out to have a difficult character, and soon van Gogh’s family life turned into a nightmare. Very soon they separated. The artist could no longer stay in The Hague and headed to the north of the Netherlands, to the province of Drenthe, where he settled in a separate hut, equipped as a workshop, and spent whole days in nature, depicting landscapes. However, he was not very keen on them, not considering himself a landscape painter - many paintings of this period are dedicated to peasants, their daily work and life.

By topic early works Van Gogh's works can be classified as realism, although the manner of execution and technique can be called realistic only with certain significant reservations. One of the many problems caused by the lack of art education The problem that the artist encountered was the inability to depict the human figure. In the end, this led to one of the fundamental features of his style - the interpretation of the human figure, devoid of smooth or measuredly graceful movements, as an integral part of nature, in some ways even similar to it. This is very clearly visible, for example, in the painting “A Peasant and a Peasant Woman Planting Potatoes” (1885, Kunsthaus, Zurich), where the figures of peasants are likened to rocks, and the high horizon line seems to press on them, not allowing them to straighten up or even raise their heads. A similar approach to the theme can be seen in the later painting “Red Vineyards” (1888, State Museum Fine Arts named after. A. S. Pushkin, Moscow). In a series of paintings and sketches from the mid-1880s. (“Exit of the Protestant Church in Nuenen” (1884-1885), “Peasant Woman” (1885, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo), “The Potato Eaters” (1885, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), “Old Church Tower in Nuenen "(1885), painted in a dark painterly palette, marked by a painfully acute perception of human suffering and feelings of depression, the artist recreated the oppressive atmosphere of psychological tension. At the same time, the artist formed his own understanding of the landscape: an expression of his inner perception of nature through an analogy with man. His own words became his artistic credo: “When you draw a tree, treat it as a figure.”

In the fall of 1885, Van Gogh unexpectedly left Drenthe because the local pastor turned against him, forbidding the peasants to pose for the artist and accusing him of immorality. Vincent went to Antwerp, where he again began to attend painting classes - this time in a painting class at the Academy of Arts. In the evenings, the artist attended a private school, where he painted nude models. However, already in February 1886, van Gogh left Antwerp for Paris to visit his brother Theo, who was engaged in the art trade.

The Parisian period of Vincent's life began, which turned out to be very fruitful and eventful. The artist visited the prestigious private art studio of the famous teacher Fernand Cormon throughout Europe, studied impressionist painting, Japanese engraving, and synthetic works by Paul Gauguin. During this period, van Gogh’s palette became light, the earthy shade of paint disappeared, pure blue, golden yellow, red tones appeared, his characteristic dynamic, flowing brush stroke (“Agostina Segatori in the Tambourine Café” (1887-1888, Vincent Museum van Gogh, Amsterdam), “Bridge over the Seine” (1887, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), “Père Tanguy” (1887, Rodin Museum, Paris), “View of Paris from Theo’s apartment on Rue Lepic” (1887, Museum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam). Notes of calm and tranquility appeared in his work, caused by the influence of the Impressionists. The artist met some of them - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Emile Bernard - soon after his arrival in Paris. to his brother, these acquaintances had the most beneficial effect on the artist: he found a kindred environment that appreciated him, and enthusiastically took part in impressionist exhibitions - in the La Fourche restaurant, the Tambourine cafe, and then in the foyer of the Free Theater. However, the public was horrified by van Gogh's paintings, which forced him to begin self-education again - to study the color theory of Eugene Delacroix, the textured painting of Adolphe Monticelli, Japanese color prints and flat oriental art in general. The Parisian period of his life accounts for the largest number of paintings created by the artist - about two hundred and thirty. Among them are a series of still lifes and self-portraits, a series of six canvases under the general title “Shoes” (1887, Museum of Art, Baltimore), and landscapes. The role of man in Van Gogh's paintings changes - he is not there at all, or he is a staffage. Air, atmosphere and rich color appear in the works, but the artist conveyed the light-air environment and atmospheric nuances in his own way, dividing the whole without merging the forms and showing the “face” or “figure” of each element of the whole. A striking example The painting “The Sea at Sainte-Marie” (1888, State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin, Moscow) can serve as such an approach. The artist's creative search led him to the origins of a new artistic style- post-impressionism.

Last years. Creativity flourishes

Despite van Gogh's creative growth, the public still did not perceive or buy his paintings, which Vincent perceived very painfully. By mid-February 1888, the artist decided to leave Paris and move to the south of France - to Arles, where he intended to create the “Workshop of the South” - a kind of brotherhood of like-minded artists working for future generations. Van Gogh gave the most important role in the future workshop to Paul Gauguin. Theo supported the venture with money, and in the same year Vincent moved to Arles. There the originality of his creative style and art program: “Instead of trying to accurately depict what is in front of my eyes, I use color more freely, in a way that expresses myself more fully.” The consequence of this program was an attempt to develop “ simple technique, which, apparently, will not be impressionistic.” In addition, Vincent began to synthesize drawing and color in order to more fully convey the essence of local nature.

Although van Gogh declared a departure from impressionist methods of depiction, the influence of this style was still very much felt in his paintings, especially in the rendering of light and airiness (Peach Tree in Blossom, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) or in the use of large coloristic spots (“Anglois Bridge in Arles”, 1888, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne). At this time, like the Impressionists, van Gogh created a series of works depicting the same view, however, achieving not the exact transfer of changing light effects and conditions, but the maximum intensity of expression of the life of nature. He also painted a number of portraits from this period, in which the artist tested a new artistic form.

Fiery artistic temperament, a painful impulse towards harmony, beauty and happiness and, at the same time, fear of forces hostile to man are embodied in landscapes shining with sunny colors of the south (“The Yellow House” (1888), “Gauguin’s Chair” (1888), “Harvest. Valley of La Croe" (1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), then in ominous, nightmare-like images ("Cafe Terrace at Night" (1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo); the dynamics of color and brushwork fills with spiritual life and movement not only nature and the people inhabiting it (“Red Vineyards in Arles” (1888, State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin, Moscow)), but also inanimate objects (“Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles” (1888, Vincent van Museum Goga, Amsterdam)). The artist’s paintings become more dynamic and intense in color (“The Sower”, 1888, E. Bührle Foundation, Zurich), tragic in sound (“Night Cafe”, 1888, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven). ; “Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles” (1888, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam).

On October 25, 1888, Paul Gauguin arrived in Arles to discuss the idea of ​​​​creating a southern painting workshop. However, the peaceful discussion very quickly grew into conflicts and quarrels: Gauguin was dissatisfied with van Gogh’s carelessness, and van Gogh himself was perplexed as to how Gauguin did not want to understand the very idea of ​​a single collective direction of painting in the name of the future. In the end, Gauguin, who was looking for peace for his work in Arles and did not find it, decided to leave. On the evening of December 23, after another quarrel, Van Gogh attacked his friend with a razor in his hands. Gauguin accidentally managed to stop Vincent. The whole truth about this quarrel and the circumstances of the attack is still unknown (in particular, there is a version that van Gogh attacked the sleeping Gauguin, and the latter was saved from death only by the fact that he woke up in time), but on the same night Van Gogh cut himself off earlobe. According to the generally accepted version, this was done in a fit of repentance; at the same time, some researchers believe that this was not repentance, but a manifestation of madness caused by frequent use of absinthe. The next day, December 24, Vincent was taken to a psychiatric hospital, where the attack repeated with such force that doctors placed him in a ward for violent patients with a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. Gauguin hastily left Arles without visiting van Gogh in the hospital, having previously informed Theo about what had happened.

During periods of remission, Vincent asked to be released back to the studio to continue working, but the residents of Arles wrote a statement to the mayor of the city asking him to isolate the artist from other residents. Van Gogh was asked to go to the Saint-Paul mental hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, near Arles, where Vincent arrived on May 3, 1889. He lived there for a year, tirelessly working on new paintings. During this time, he created more than one hundred and fifty paintings and about one hundred drawings and watercolors. The main types of paintings during this period of life are still lifes and landscapes, the main differences of which are incredible nervous tension and dynamism (Starry Night, 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York), the juxtaposition of contrasting colors and - in some cases - the use of halftones (Landscape with Olives, 1889, J. G. Whitney Collection, New York; "Wheat Field with Cypress Trees", 1889, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

At the end of 1889, he was invited to participate in the Brussels G20 exhibition, where the artist’s works immediately aroused interest among colleagues and art lovers. However, this no longer pleased van Gogh, just as the first enthusiastic article about the painting “Red Vineyards in Arles” signed by Albert Aurier, which appeared in the January issue of the Mercure de France magazine in 1890, did not please either.

In the spring of 1890, the artist moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, a place near Paris, where he saw his brother and his family for the first time in two years. He still continued to write, but the style of his last works changed completely, becoming even more nervous and depressing. The main place in the work was occupied by a whimsically curved contour, as if pinching one or another object (“Rural road with cypress trees”, 1890, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; “Street and staircase in Auvers”, 1890, City Art Museum, St. Louis; “Landscape in Auvers after the rain”, 1890, State Museum of Fine Arts. A. S. Pushkin, Moscow). The last bright event in personal life Vincent became acquainted with the amateur artist Dr. Paul Gachet.

On the 20th of July 1890, van Gogh painted his famous painting“Wheatfield with Crows” (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), and a week later, on July 27, tragedy occurred. Going out for a walk with drawing materials, the artist shot himself in the heart area with a revolver, bought to scare away flocks of birds while working in the open air, but the bullet passed lower. Thanks to this, he independently reached the hotel room where he lived. The innkeeper called a doctor, who examined the wound and informed Theo. The latter arrived the very next day and spent all the time with Vincent, until his death 29 hours after being wounded from loss of blood (at 1:30 a.m. on July 29, 1890). 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.

According to Theo, the artist's last words were: La tristesse durera toujours(“Sadness will last forever”) Vincent van Gogh was buried in Auvers-sur-Oise on July 30. IN last way The artist was accompanied by his brother and a few friends. After the funeral, Theo set about organizing a posthumous exhibition of Vincent's works, but fell ill with a nervous breakdown and died exactly six months later, on January 25, 1891, in Holland. 25 years later, in 1914, his remains were reburied by his widow next to Vincent's grave.

Heritage

Recognition and sales of paintings

An artist on his way to Tarascon, August 1888, Vincent van Gogh on the road near Montmajour, oil on canvas, 48x44 cm, former Magdeburg Museum; it is believed that the painting was lost in a fire during World War II

It is a common misconception that during Van Gogh's lifetime only one of his paintings was sold - "Red Vineyards at Arles". This painting was only the first to be sold for a significant amount (at the Brussels G20 exhibition at the end of 1889; the price for the painting was 400 francs). Documents have been preserved about the lifetime sale of 14 works by the artist, starting in 1882 (about which van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo: “The first sheep crossed the bridge”), and in reality there should have been more transactions.

Since his first exhibition of paintings in the late 1880s, van Gogh's fame has steadily grown among colleagues, art critics, dealers and collectors. After his death, memorial exhibitions were organized in Brussels, Paris, The Hague and Antwerp. At the beginning of the 20th century, retrospectives took place in Paris (1901 and 1905) and Amsterdam (1905) and significant group exhibitions in Cologne (1912), New York (1913) and Berlin (1914). This had a noticeable influence on subsequent generations of artists. By the mid-20th century, Vincent van Gogh was regarded as one of the greatest and most recognizable artists in history. In 2007, a group of Dutch historians compiled " Canon of Dutch History" for teaching in schools, in which van Gogh was placed as one of fifty topics, along with others national symbols, such as Rembrandt and the art group "Style".

Along with the works of Pablo Picasso, van Gogh's works are among the first on the list of the most expensive paintings ever sold in the world, according to estimates from auctions and private sales. Those sold for more than 100 million (2011 equivalent) include: Portrait of Doctor Gachet, Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin and Irises. “Wheat Field with Cypress Trees” sold in 1993 for $57 million, an incredible price at the time, and his “Self-Portrait with Severed Ear and Pipe” was sold privately in the late 1990s. The sale price was estimated to be $80-90 million. Van Gogh's painting "Portrait of Doctor Gachet" was sold at auction for $82.5 million. “The Plowed Field and the Plowman” was auctioned at Christie’s New York auction house for $81.3 million.

Influence

In his last letter to Theo, Vincent admitted that since he had no children, he viewed his paintings as offspring. Reflecting on this, historian Simon Schama concluded that he "did have a child - expressionism, and many, many heirs." Shama mentions wide circle artists who adapted elements of van Gogh's style include Willem de Kooning, Howard Hodgkin and Jackson Pollock. The Fauves expanded the scope of color and freedom in its use, as did the German Expressionists of the Die Brücke group and other early modernists. Abstract Expressionism of the 1940s and 1950s is seen as partly inspired by van Gogh's broad, gestural brushstrokes. Here's what art critic Sue Hubbard says about the exhibition "Vincent Van Gogh and Expressionism":

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Van Gogh gave the Expressionists a new pictorial language that allowed them to go beyond the external surface vision and penetrate deeper into the essence of truth. It is no coincidence that at that very moment Freud was also discovering the depths of an essentially modern concept - the subconscious. This wonderful, intelligent exhibition gives Van Gogh his rightful place as a pioneer of modern art.

Original text(English)
At the beginning of the twentieth century Van Gogh gave the Expressionists a new painterly language which enabled them to go beyond surface appearance and penetrate deeper essential truths. It is no coincidence that at this very moment Freud was also mining the depths of that essentially modern domain -the subconscious. This beautiful and intelligent exhibition places Van Gogh where he firmly belongs; as the trailblazer of modern art.

Hubbard, Sue. "Vincent Van Gogh and Expressionism". Independent, 2007

In 1957, the Irish artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992) based on a reproduction of a painting by van Gogh "An Artist on the Road to Tarascon", the original of which was destroyed during World War II, wrote a series of his works. Bacon was inspired not only by the image itself, which he described as "obsessive", but also by Van Gogh himself, whom Bacon regarded as "aloof extra person" - a position that resonated with Bacon's mood.

Subsequently, the Irish artist identified himself with Van Gogh's theories in art and quoted lines from van Gogh's letter to his brother Theo: “real artists do not paint things as they are... They paint them because they feel like they themselves.”

From October 2009 to January 2010, an exhibition dedicated to the artist’s letters was held at the Vincent van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, then, from late January to April 2010, the exhibition moved to the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Gallery

Self-portraits

Like an artist

Dedicated to Gauguin

Since the master’s biography is really oversaturated with interesting facts, I would like to structure my story into two parts. The first covers the story of how Vincent Van Gogh became famous, and the second will contain the usual selection of amusing incidents and events from the life of the great artist. The material is not a biographical presentation; the most interesting moments and situations from the artist’s life are collected here.

Priceless correspondence with my brother

The biography of the great artist is rich in interesting facts, most of which he himself spoke about in correspondence with his brother Theo. Thanks to these priceless letters, we know what kind of person Vincent van Gogh was. A total of 903 letters have been preserved from the period of their communication in the period from 1872 to 1890. What is noteworthy is that after Vincent began painting, he illustrated almost every letter he wrote. In this way, the artist demonstrated how the work was progressing; in addition, he told in detail what colors were present in the painting. For art, this is a phenomenal phenomenon when all the interesting facts about van Gogh are described in his own letters. The level of frankness in the correspondence is so high that Vincent talked about all his illnesses, including impotence.

Theodore was sensitive to his correspondence with his brother, saving 820 letters. The same cannot be said about Vincent; only 83 letters were found in his belongings, this is a very small number, considering that their dialogue lasted for 18 years. This is due to the artist’s frequent moves, instability and generally fickle lifestyle.

The woman who started it

Let's start from the end, since the mass dissemination of Vincent's work began only after his death. Meet Theodore's wife, Johanna. At the age of 29, she was left a widow, with a small child in her arms. From material property she had an apartment in Paris, 200 paintings and hundreds of drawings by Vincent, a dozen unsold paintings by other French artists.

Johanna Gesina van Gogh-Bonger

After selling the apartment, she returned to Holland, stayed near Amsterdam, and opened her own small business there. Soon she married a Dutch artist who fully supported her idea of ​​​​popularizing the work of Vincent van Gogh. She established connections with friends of her late husband, organized exhibitions and presentations. She collected letters from the brothers' correspondence from all over the world and began translating them into English language. By the way, Johanna was a foreign language teacher by training, so she prepared for the publication on her own. Unfortunately, in 1912 she became a widow for the second time. After that, she changed her last name back to van Gogh, and transported Theodore's body from Holland to Vincent's grave in France. She planted a sprig of ivy on the grave, which she took nearby from Doctor Gachet’s garden. In the same year, she organized a major presentation of van Gogh’s work in Berlin. This city was not chosen by chance - they already knew about the artist there. The German writer and art connoisseur, Julius Meyer-Graefe, worked on this.

The creators of Vincent van Gogh's romantic story

Julius Meyer-Graefe.

As soon as Western Europe started talking about van Gogh, art critic and writer Julius Meyer-Graefe I immediately became interested in the brilliant artist. After the translation of the brothers’ correspondence fell into his hands, he realized that a big story could be developed from this. In 1920-1921, he published a series of several books dedicated to the life of the artist and his friends. These books told the whole world about the impressionists and post-impressionists of France at the end of the nineteenth century. Julius was immediately dubbed a van Gogh connoisseur, and on this wave he began to buy and then sell his paintings, issuing certificates of authenticity.

In the mid-20s, a certain Otto Wacker, he assured Julius that he had unique collection Van Gogh's paintings. Julius felt the taste big money, even believed in fairy tale story that these paintings were bought from a mysterious Russian aristocrat. It is worth noting that these paintings really replicated the master’s style well, so it was difficult to distinguish them from the original. But soon people began to have doubts, and since tidy sums were involved, the police also became interested in this case. During the checks, a studio was discovered in which several still wet Van Goghs were found. Oddly enough, he was involved in this Otto Wacker. Soon a trial took place, where Otto received 19 months in prison and a huge fine. Since Julius Meyer-Graefe sold counterfeits without malicious intent, he got off with a large fine, but his name was completely discredited. At this point, Johanna had already died, her son was not yet 20 years old, and Julius had lost respect, so no one was actively involved in promoting Van Gogh.

Irving Stone "Lust for Life"

When the scandal with forgeries subsided, the story of the mad artist took up American writer Jewish origin Irving Stone (Tennenbaum), he wrote a novel "Lust for Life". This book is various reasons rejected 17 editions, but it was still released in 1934. The writer himself has repeatedly stated that all the dialogues are fictitious, but basically they correspond to the motives of reality. You need to understand that he planned to release a bestseller, so he did not pursue historical accuracy at all. This novel was made into a Hollywood film 22 years later, which was nominated for an Oscar four times, and finally received it once. Interesting Facts from real life were deliberately replaced with fictional ones in order to give the story a more dramatic and cinematic character.

It was from this point that the story of Vincent van Gogh was historically misinterpreted. After the movie came out, most people referred to the book "Thirst for Life", which was made into an Oscar-winning film, rather than the authentic but “boring” correspondence between two brothers.

1. Wanted to become a priest like his father and grandfather

"Still Life with the Bible" 1885.

All children in their family were instilled with a love of religion from a very early age, since the father of the family was a priest. In his youth, Vincent wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, but in order to be ordained, he had to study at the seminary for five whole years. He was an impulsive person by nature, and it seemed to him that this was too long and unproductive. I decided to enroll in an intensive course at an evangelical school. This course lasted three years, including a six-month missionary mission in a mining town. In the last month of his life under terrible conditions, he realized that religion was not able to help in truly difficult situations.

During his sermon, which he worked on for a long time, the miners did not listen to him at all. Unfortunately, he understood these people, and knew that his words would not make their slave-like working conditions any less difficult. Upon arriving back in Holland, he did not enroll in an evangelical school. He came to his father and told him about his thoughts on this matter, and that he no longer believed in the god about whom he had read so much. Naturally, they had a big quarrel over this and never communicated again. A few years later, after Vincent learned of his father's death, he painted a still life with a Bible and sent it to Theo.

2. Started drawing at a late age

Vincent van Gogh "Burning Grass" 1883.

No matter what angle you look at it, Van Gogh began painting very late, but very intensively, and under the supervision of knowledgeable people. In this he was helped by the best textbooks from all over Europe, the artist Anton Mauwe from The Hague, who was his relative. In addition, the experience he acquired during many years of selling paintings in different cities of Europe came in handy. He entered two different art academies, but several months passed and he quit his studies without regret. He wrote to his brother that academic painting no longer attracted him, and the knowledge of the old masters would not help in realizing his plans as an artist. At that time, he was a big fan of Jean-François Millet, and copied a huge number of his paintings.

3. Sold a lot more than one painting

"Red vineyards in Arles"

There is an established opinion that he and his brother allegedly sold only one painting, “Red Vineyards in Arles.” This is far from true; during his lifetime the van Goghs managed to sell fourteen At the same time, two still lifes with sunflowers were bought by Vincent’s friend, Paul Gauguin. If we return to the “red vineyards”, then this is really the only painting that was sold for big money. This generous buyer was the famous artist and philanthropist Anna Bosch, the purchase took place at a major exhibition of impressionists. Anna Bosch knew about the artist’s serious condition at that time. He was just in the hospital, and she wanted to support him in this way. After Vincent's death, she acquired another painting by him, but a few years later she sold both paintings at exorbitant prices.

4. A business plan for selling paintings was developed

Two brothers in their youth, Vincent on the left.

You shouldn’t be surprised, because Vincent worked in galleries for a long time and sold paintings to wealthy people. Accordingly, he knew the popular genres and styles that sell best. And Theodore owned his own art gallery in the center of Paris, and also understood how you can earn decent money from painting. After Vincent arrived in Paris, he became acquainted with a new genre for himself - impressionism. I communicated a lot with artists who worked in this genre, but soon, due to my hot temper, I quarreled with almost everyone. The brothers decided to work in the field of interior painting, which was focused on middle class. During that period, all the sunflowers and a large number of vases with flowers were painted. But work in this direction was stopped by the very attack that led to Vincent cutting off his earlobe and being admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

5. Van Gogh's severed ear

“Self-portrait with a cut off ear and pipe”, 1888.

This is probably the most popular misconception, so I want to say the following: Vincent van Gogh didn't cut off his ear, but only cut off part of the lobe. After this action, he went to the brothel where he and Gauguin often vacationed. The door was opened for him by a young lady who worked there, Vincent told her: “Take care of this treasure.” After that, he turned around and went home, went up to the second floor and went to bed. What’s interesting is that if he had cut off his entire ear, he would have simply died from blood loss, because he was discovered only ten hours later. This case is described in more detail in the material that I published earlier: Why did van Gogh cut off his ear? Everything is described there in detail, maintaining chronology and cause-and-effect relationships.

6. His brother supported him all his life

Theodore van Gogh

As soon as Vincent decided to become an artist, he immediately began to support brother Theo. Every month he sent money, it most often went towards three things: materials, food, and rent. When unexpected expenses appeared, Vincent asked to send more, describing the reason in detail. When the artist lived in places where it was difficult to get paints and canvases, he would make a whole list, and Theo would send him huge parcels in return. Vincent was not ashamed to ask for money, because in return he sent finished paintings, which he called goods. His brother kept Vincent’s paintings at his home, where he brought potential clients, art connoisseurs and collectors to try to sell at least something.

But it was impossible to make significant money on such paintings at that time, so he actually supported Vincent. Every month he sent 200 francs To roughly understand what kind of money this is, I’ll say that Vincent paid 15-20 francs a month for housing, and a good book on anatomy cost 3 francs. Here's another good example: The postman, who became famous as Vincent's friend, received a salary of 100 francs, and with this money he supported a family of four.

7. Recognition came after death

"Starry Night" at the Museum

All serious artists in France knew Vincent since 1886, and followed his work to the best of their ability. It was impossible not to know about the artist, whose brother owns a large painting salon in the center of Paris. Theo's apartment was a personal exhibition of Vincent's paintings for 5 whole years, all the local artists of those years visited there, including Claude Monet himself. By the way, at the exhibition in 1888, Monet very positively assessed “Starry Night”, calling it the best painting of the show.

The interesting facts do not end there: his relative was involved in popularizing the van Gogh family in Holland, famous landscape artist Anton Mauve. Anton, in turn, knew one of the best landscape painters in Holland, Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch. They even had a meeting where they discussed Vincent's talent. As a result, they agreed that the guy really has potential and can reach great heights. When Vincent learned about this news, he finally realized that he would become an artist, and from that moment he began to paint one painting or drawing a day.

8. Terrible health condition

"Still Life with Absinthe" 1887.

It is difficult to imagine that people in those days did not even realize the catastrophic harmfulness of absinthe. France at that time was the capital of absinthe; it was inexpensive and very popular among creative people. Vincent was incredibly fond of this drink, and dedicated a neat portrait-type still life to it. The situation was also aggravated by smoking; for the last 10 years of his life, he never parted with his pipe. In letters to his brother, he said that in this way he satisfied the hunger that haunted him constantly. This lifestyle gave its generous “results”.

Vincent van Gogh's illnesses:

• Bipolar affective disorder;
• Affective insanity;
• Borderline personality disorder;
• Sunstroke;
• Meniere's disease;
• Lead poisoning;
• Acute intermittent porphyria;
• Syphilis;
• Gonorrhea;
• Impotence;
• Lost more than 15 teeth.

He told his brother about half of his illnesses, the rest was taken from hospital medical records. He received sexually transmitted diseases from his common-law wife, who was a prostitute. After they separated, Vincent spent two weeks in the hospital, but did not blame his former love for anything. Teeth quickly deteriorated from absinthe and smoking, which is why there are no self-portraits of van Gogh where his teeth would be visible. Lead poisoning occurred from white paints; by the way, nowadays lead white paint is considered highly toxic, is prohibited, and is no longer manufactured.

9. Worked only with the best materials of those times

Fragment from a painting

The brothers were very well versed in art products, since they were closely in the environment of painting. Due to the fact that Vincent used only high-quality paints, his paintings have survived so well to this day. IN online museum from Google you can examine any painting in detail, every stroke is visible on it, evaluate its purity and brightness. These paintings are over a hundred years old, but they look like new, only a few cracks. What is noteworthy is that he himself never created oil paint from pigments, but only bought ready-made ones in tubes. Unlike his friend, Paul Gauguin, who was an adherent of the old approach to the production of artistic materials.

10. Death of Vincent van Gogh

The last painting of the master. Fields with dark clouds.

It is erroneously believed that his last work is “Wheatfield with Crows.” In 1890, Theodore's entire family fell ill, most importantly, including the baby. Due to this, he had less time for Vincent, and the brothers gradually began to move away from each other. Theo sent him money less and less, and described in detail how difficult it was for him. Vincent often thought about suicide Last year life, and was deeply disappointed at how poorly things were going for them. One day he decided that the game was not worth the candle, and that he had become too much of a burden.

Everyone knows the Dutch painter. His difficult fate was 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, which excites the minds of contemporaries, this 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 as a result he is 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 in his paintings depicted the difficult lot of the poor, their work and difficult situation in society. Van Gogh painted from Millet's black and white drawings, conveying his own vision into 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 painter’s brush; 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. In the moment serious condition he sent 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.

"Starlight Night"

In a state of severe depression, the artist went into psychiatric clinic, where a room was assigned to him. And there he painted his paintings. There he created one of the most recognizable paintings " Starlight Night" Characterizing 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 his sister suffered from schizophrenia. The answer is increasingly being confirmed in the artist’s constant depression. He was oppressed hard labour miners, he was worried about the plight of the plowmen, and that he could do nothing to help them.

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, never having received recognition for his work. During the funeral, only a few people followed the coffin.