Vincent van Gogh

On March 30, 1853, in the small Dutch village of Groot-Zundert, Vincent Willem van Gogh was born to a Protestant pastor and his wife. The birth came exactly one year after another son, also named Vincent, had been stillborn—a haunting coincidence that would shadow the artist throughout his troubled life.

Vincent’s early years offered little indication of his future genius. He struggled in school, worked unsuccessfully as an art dealer, failed as a missionary in Belgium, and seemed destined for a life of disappointment. Not until age twenty-seven did he seriously begin drawing, inspired by the harsh realities of peasant life and the industrial poor. His early works, dark and somber, reflected his deep sympathy for society’s forgotten people.

The transformation came when Vincent moved to Paris in 1886 to join his brother Theo, an art dealer who would support him financially and emotionally throughout his career. In Paris, Vincent encountered the work of the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, whose bright colors and innovative techniques revolutionized his approach to painting. His palette lightened dramatically, and he began experimenting with the bold brushstrokes that would become his signature.

In 1888, seeking better light and warmer weather, Vincent moved to Arles in southern France. There, his artistic vision reached full flower. Working with almost manic intensity, he completed over three hundred paintings and drawings in just fifteen months. The Yellow House, where he lived and worked, became the setting for masterpieces like “The Bedroom,” “Sunflowers,” and “The Starry Night Over the Rhône.”

Vincent’s understanding of physics and color theory, learned through careful study of scientific treatises, informed his revolutionary use of complementary colors. He applied paint thickly (impasto), creating textures that seemed to vibrate with energy. His brushstrokes didn’t just represent objects—they expressed the emotional and spiritual essence of his subjects.

The dream of establishing an artists’ colony in Arles led Vincent to invite Paul Gauguin to join him. Their collaboration, however, ended in disaster when Vincent suffered his first major mental breakdown, culminating in the infamous incident where he cut off part of his ear. This marked the beginning of a series of psychological crises that would plague his final years.

Despite his deteriorating mental health, Vincent’s artistic productivity never wavered. During his voluntary stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy, he created some of his most celebrated works, including “The Starry Night.” The swirling, dynamic compositions from this period reflected both his inner turmoil and his profound connection to the natural world.

Vincent’s final months were spent in Auvers-sur-Oise, under the care of Dr. Paul Gachet. Even as his mental state declined, he continued painting with desperate urgency, producing sixty-eight paintings in seventy days. On July 27, 1890, at age thirty-seven, Vincent died from a gunshot wound, likely self-inflicted, though some historians debate whether it was accidental.

During his lifetime, Vincent sold only one painting. Yet his 2,100 artworks and 900 letters—primarily to his devoted brother Theo—reveal one of history’s most passionate and innovative artists. His influence on modern art cannot be overstated: Expressionism, Fauvism, and countless individual artists drew inspiration from his emotional intensity and technical innovations.

Today, Vincent van Gogh is among the world’s most beloved artists. His paintings command record prices, museums dedicated to his work draw millions of visitors, and his life story continues to fascinate new generations. He proved that art could be a direct expression of human emotion and that failure in life’s conventional terms need not diminish artistic greatness.

Primary Sources and Research

Letters and Personal Documents

• Van Gogh Museum: Complete letters collection and personal artifacts
• Letters to Theo: Digital archive of correspondence with his brother
• Kröller-Müller Museum: Second-largest Van Gogh collection and letters
• Vincent van Gogh Foundation: Scholarly research and documentation

Medical and Historical Records

• Saint-Paul-de-Mausole: Asylum records and historical context