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Vincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853 - July 29, 1890)
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"I am risking
my life for my work, and half my reason has gone."
- Vincent van Gogh
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Vincent
van Gogh is definitely one of the greatest and most prolific
artists in the history of art after Rembrandt! Van Gogh's
life and work has been a constant source of inspiration and
influence for many, since his highly tragic death in 1890.
The life led by Vincent van Gogh is considered the
archetypical artist's struggle to gain acceptance via his
work in the society. |
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Vincent Van Gogh's name is taken in the same breath
as that of Cezanne, and Gauguin the greatest of Post-Impressionist
artists, even though he was the torchbearer for Expressionism
in modern art. Surprisingly, Vincent van Gogh art
was produced in just one decade. Van Gogh's art is
haunting in spirit, conveys through its vibrant colors, emphatic
brushwork, and contoured forms the anguish of a mentally ill
genius. Many of Vincent van Gogh paintings are iconic
in status, and are symbols of a cult movement. Van Gogh
painted numerous self-portraits as well as the very famous
'The Starry Night' (1889), 'The Sunflowers' (1888) series,
'The Irises', 'The Café Terrace' and many self portraits.
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Surprisingly, Vincent
Van Gogh oeuvre of best-known creations came together
only during the final two years of his life. More interestingly,
he painted 90 pictures during the last two months just before
he committed suicide. |
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Theo, the younger
brother of Van Gogh, was his support system.
Theo, who worked as an art dealer selflessly, provided
emotional and financial support to his older brother. Their lifelong friendship has been document through
the many letters they exchanged from August of 1872
until Van Gogh's death in 1890. Theo's widow
later published these, in 1914. |
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| Van Gogh spent his early life
working for an art-dealing firm, and after a brief stint
as a teacher, he decided to become a missionary worker
in a poor mining region. |
| In 1880 at the age of 27, Vincent
Van Gogh embarked on his artistic journey and created
paintings in somber colors initially as in 'The Potato Eaters'
(1885). However, an encounter with Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism
in Paris further influenced his artistic sensibilities. Vincent
Van Gogh produced more than 2,000 works, which included
900 paintings and around 1100 sketches in the last ten years
of his life as an artist! |
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In 1873, Vincent
fell in love with the daughter of his landlady in London.
The lady rejected his love. This was also the first
of many unsuccessful attempts at finding lasting happiness
with a woman. Soon afterwards, his experiences of urban
squalor evoked a religious zeal in him and in his passion
made him give away his own possessions to the poor. |
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Vincent Van Gogh suffered from acute poverty,
and went through a personal crisis until 1880, when
he finally found his calling in art. From then on, he
worked at his newfound vocation with a single-minded
frenzy and suffered frequently from extreme poverty
and lack of food. Nevertheless, his creative outputs
in these ten years were prodigious! |
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A self-taught
artist, Van Gogh paintings represent the inner
struggle with his deteriorating mental state and the
lasting impression of a cold and gloomy childhood. In
1888, Vincent moved to Arles and began to paint using
striking colors such as hot reds and yellows which symbolized
his own moods such as 'Sunflowers' (1888). |
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During the
same year, Gauguin visited Van Gogh, but the
visit ended with Van Gogh mutilating his ear
in a bout of hallucination and depression. Soon afterwards,
in 1889, he volunteered to enter asylum at St. Remy
claiming, "I am ready to play the role of a madman,
although I have not at all the strength for such a role".
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He continued to paint,
though his palette softened to pinks and mauves, albeit
his brushstrokes became coarser, his lines became curves
and swirled, twisted and perhaps represented his state
of mind, as in 'Ravine' (1889). In 1890, he moved to Auvers,
to be close to Theo, and painted 70 pictures in the last
70 days of his life!
Vincent Van Gogh died, by
a self-inflicted single gunshot wound in his chest,
materialistically poor and lonely. In his entire life,
Van Gogh sold only one painting 'Red Vineyard
at Arles'! His stormy, dark, and dramatic life defies
comparison to any other while his unwavering devotion
to his ideals have made him one of the greatest cultural
icons of modern times. |
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| "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. |
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