© Copyright 2005 Paul van Rensburg.
IMPRESSIONISM:
BIOGRAPHIES:
NEO-IMPRESSIONISM:
On the evening of the 27th July 1890 van Gogh went at dusk into the fields and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. With all his strength he managed to drag himself back to the inn; here he died two days later in the arms of his brother, who had hurried to his side. Besides Theo and Dr. Gachet some friends from Paris, amongst them Bernard and “Père” Tanguy, took part in the funeral.
Thus ended the singular life of an artist who defies comparison with any other. “I can’t change the fact that my paintings don't sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.” -- Vincent van Gogh
IMPRESSIONISM:
BIOGRAPHIES:
NEO-IMPRESSIONISM:
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/overview.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh
http://www.abcgallery.com/V/vangogh/vangoghbio.html
After the personal failure of 'The Potato Eaters' Vincent decided he needed some professional training in art techniques. He enrolled later that year in an academy in Antwerp where he discovered the art of Peter Paul Rubens, and various Japanese artists. Both of these factors would greatly affect Van Gogh's style in art. By early 1886 he had moved to Paris to live with his brother Theo. Here, van Gogh was immersed in a centrifuge of modern art from the impressionist and post-impressionists. Van Gogh quickly dropped the dark colours he had used to create 'The Potato Eaters' after discovering the palette to be horrendously out of date. He adopted the brighter more vibrant colours with ease and began experimenting with the techniques he saw in the art of the impressionist and post-impressionists. He soon began to research the styles found in the Japanese artwork he had discovered a year earlier.
In January 1886 he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, but already in March he left it and arrived in Paris. He started studies in Cormon studio, the owner of which, the painter Fernand Cormon, was a fairly unknown artist, but a quite successful teacher. Van Gogh studied in the studio for three months. Here he made friends with Toulouse-Lautrec and Emile Bernard. Theo introduced him to Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, Degas, Signac, Seurat, and Gauguin who came to Paris from Pont-Aven. From then on the colours on Vincent’s palette became considerably brighter and under the influence of the Impressionists, his style also changed. View of Paris from Montmartre, Paris Seen from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic, Terrace of the Cafè "La Guinguuette" and others are based on a typical Impressionist interpretation.
Vincent van Gogh 1853-1890
On March 30, 1853 a boy was born to the family of a Dutch village vicar, Theodorus van Gogh (1822-1885) and his wife Anne Cornelia, nèe Carbentus (1819-1907). A year before, exactly the same day, another boy was born to the family, he died, and now the new-born received his name: Vincent Willem van Gogh. What the parents could not foresee, was that this boy would be tormented by severe mental instability for the majority of his life, die from his own hands, and ultimately change the outlook of art for the rest of history. His life was to become one of uncertainty and madness, involving largely his own need to find a niche and the undeniable love for art.
After getting school education, van Gogh started his career as a picture salesman. At The age of 16, he was employed by the Hague gallery, Goupil et Cie, founded originally by his uncle Vincent. Later in 1873 Goupil transferred Vincent to London then again to Paris by 1875. After this relocation, van Gogh lost all desire to become a professional art dealer and he left to try himself as a teacher in Ramsgate near London (April-December 1876). Then again, he worked as an apprentice lay preacher and wanted to devote his life to evangelization of the poor. In 1878 Vincent convinced his father of his religious vocation and in August began a three-month course in preaching in Evangelist school in Laeken, near Brussels. At school he was considered unsuitable for the lay-preaching profession. He persistently followed his inclination, however, and went to Borinage, the Belgian coal mining area close to the French border. There, living in extreme poverty, he visited sick people and read the Bible to the miners. His involvement in the plight of the poor irritated his superiors, however, and his contract was not extended under the pretext that his rhetorical talents were insufficient. He continued to work without any payment, however, until July 1880. In Borinage Vincent experienced a period of deep personal crisis, which was to mold his later life. During this time he was able to identify with the miners, their lifestyles, and their families. This interaction between van Gogh and the worker class is later shown in his works as he becomes fascinated with depicting peasant life.
Meanwhile his four-years younger brother, Theo (1857-1891), began to work at Goupil’s in Paris and started to support Vincent financially, he also encouraged Vincent in his wish to become an artist. Having chosen art as his new profession, van Gogh went to Brussels (October 1880- April 1881), where he studied anatomical and perspective drawing at the Academy of Art. In January 1882 he moved to The Hague and settled there not far from his cousin, the artist Mauvre, whom he admired and who became his teacher. With Mauvre van Gogh for the first time tried oils. Accordingly, his early painting of August 1882, Beach with Figures and Sea with a Ship, is strongly influenced by The Hague School to which Mauvre belonged. During 1883-1885 van Gogh traveled and worked in The Hague, Nueven, where his parents' new home was, and Amsterdam. His models were poor people, slums and hard working peasants. He painted landscapes and town views, all in dark, somber colors.
From the beginning of Van Gogh's artistic career he had the ambition to draw and paint figures, in 1884 he began working on mastering weathered hands, heads and other anatomical features of peasants. He was planning on creating a multiple figure piece that would push his name into a respected name of the artistic community. The piece he created was entitled 'The Potato Eaters' and was completed in 1885, after his father died and left him heart-broken. This painting was the main work of his Dutch period and it proved to be a success, but not in his life time.
Together with Gauguin and Bernard, Van Gogh spent many days in Asnières, a popular spa town on the Seine, not far from Paris. There he painted the views of Asnières and the well-known The Seine with the Pont de la Grande Jatte in summer 1887. In Paris he frequently visited the Café de Tambourin on the Boulevard de Clichy and had a love affair with its owner Agostina Segatori, a former model of Corot and Degas. She sat for van Gogh and he painted her many times, e.g. Agostina Segatori in the Café du Tambourin. In the café, together with Bernard, Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, he exhibited his works; they also decorated the walls with Japanese colored woodcuts. They called themselves “Peintres du Petit Boulevard” (painters of small boulevard) in contrast to the “Peintres du Grand Boulevard” (Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Degas, Seurat), who exhibited in Theo van Gogh’s gallery. That year Vincent painted several pictures using the techniques of Pointillism, e.g. The Vase with Daisies and Anemones. During his two years in Paris van Gogh painted more than 200 pictures.
In 1888 he left Paris and went to Arles. At first Vincent rented a room in a restaurant. The small attic was completely unsuitable for a studio and he mainly worked out of doors. He did not know anybody who could sit as his model, and so the landscapes of area around Arles with its trees, hills, bridges and huts became his main theme. “An endlessly flat landscape – seen from a bird’s eye view from the top of the hill – vineyards, harvested corn fields. All this is multiplied to infinity and spreads like the surface of the sea to the horizon, which is bordered by the hills of Grau,” wrote Vincent van Gogh about his surroundings. He painted many pictures with blooming flowers and trees, which reminded of Japanese landscapes. On receiving the news of Mauvre’s death he dedicated a picture to his memory Peach Tree in Bloom. Soon he moved to the “yellow house”. Gradually he made friends with people, who agreed to sit for him: Zouaves Milliet, a soldier, Joseph Roulin, the country postman, Madame Ginoux an owner of a station restaurant in Arles, and others.
In October, after Vincent’s repeated requests, Gauguin came to stay with him in Arles. Van Gogh was overjoyed. He gladly let Gauguin take the lead-role in art, placing himself in the role of a student. They worked out a lot of motifs together, compared the results and argued over artistic concepts. But their partnership could not last long, as their personalities differed too much, and van Gogh was seriously ill. Gauguin decided to leave, but feared van Gogh's reaction as he appeared to be losing his sanity.
On the 23rd of December Gauguin went for a walk in the evening and heard steps behind him. As he turned, he saw van Gogh, his face distorted, with a razor blade in his hand. Gauguin spoke softly to Vincent and the latter turned and went away. When Gauguin later returned home, he found the whole of Arles already there. Plagued with hallucinations, Van Gogh had cut off the lower part of his left ear. After he managed to stop the bleeding he wrapped the ear in a handkerchief, ran to the town brothel and gave the package to a prostitute. Then he returned home and slept. In this state police found him and took to town hospital. Gauguin left immediately and they never met again.
Theo immediately came to Arles. Epilepsy, dipsomania and schizophrenia were the presumed causes of Vincent’s illness. He stayed in hospital for two weeks. Back in his studio he painted the result of the catastrophe: his Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. Sleeplessness and hallucinations went on. The scared citizens of Arles initiated a petition asking to take Vincent back into hospital. Looked after by a priest and a doctor, he lived in the Arles hospital both as patient and prisoner until the beginning of May 1889. In May, although he felt better, he went on his own desire into the mental hospital Saint-Paul-de-Mausole near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. “I am ready to play the role of a madman, although I have not at all the strength for such a role”. Theo paid for two rooms for Vincent, one as a studio with a view of the garden. He was allowed to paint outdoors under the supervision of the ward attendant Poulet. In the hospital he painted mainly landscapes. On January 31, 1890 Theo’s son was born and baptized Vincent Willem after his uncle and godfather. Van Gogh dedicated the Branches of an Almond Tree in Blossom to his nephew.
In May 1890 Vincent visited Theo and his family in Paris and then settled in Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris. The town was chosen because Dr. Gachet, himself a hobby painter and friend of the Impressionists, was living there and he agreed to take care of Vincent. In Auvers van Gogh painted more than 80 pictures. During these last weeks of his life it was only due to his work that he could forget about his illness, and he painted as if possessed. Among the works of the period are religious works after Delacroix, Pietà and Good Samaritan, the masterpiece The Church in Auvers, multiple landscapes and portraits.
