VINCENT VAN GOGH�03 MARCH 1853

Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləm vɑŋ ˈɣɔx] (listen);[note 1] 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Not commercially successful in his career, he struggled with severe depression and poverty, which eventually led to his suicide at age thirty-seven.

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Born into an upper-middle class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet, and thoughtful. As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often traveling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London.

EARLY YEARS�

• Van Gogh returned to Etten in April 1881 for an extended stay with his parents. He continued to draw, often using his neighbours as subjects. In August 1881, his recently widowed cousin, Cornelia "Kee" Vos-Stricker, daughter of his mother's older sister Willemina and Johannes Stricker, arrived for a visit. He was thrilled and took long walks with her. Kee was seven years older than he was and had an eight-year-old son. Van Gogh surprised everyone by declaring his love to her and proposing marriage. She refused with the words "No, nay, never" ("nooit, neen, nimmer").After Kee returned to Amsterdam, Van Gogh went to The Hague to try to sell paintings and to meet with his second cousin, Anton Mauve. Mauve was the successful artist Van Gogh longed to be. Mauve invited him to return in a few months and suggested he spend the intervening time working in charcoal and pastels; Van Gogh returned to Etten and followed this advice.
• Late in November 1881, Van Gogh wrote a letter to Johannes Stricker, one which he described to Theo as an attack. Within days he left for Amsterdam. Kee would not meet him, and her parents wrote that his "persistence is disgusting".In despair, he held his left hand in the flame of a lamp, with the words: "Let me see her for as long as I can keep my hand in the flame.

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EMERGING ARTIST�

• In Nuenen, Van Gogh focused on painting and drawing. Working outside and very quickly, he completed sketches and paintings of weavers and their cottages. Van Gogh also completed The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen, which was stolen from the Singer Laren in March 2020. From August 1884, Margot Begemann, a neighbour's daughter ten years his senior, joined him on his forays; she fell in love and he reciprocated, though less enthusiastically. They wanted to marry, but neither side of their families were in favour. Margot was distraught and took an overdose of strychnine, but survived after Van Gogh rushed her to a nearby hospital. On 26 March 1885, his father died of a heart attack.
• Van Gogh painted several groups of still lifes in 1885. During his two-year stay in Nuenen, he completed numerous drawings and watercolours and nearly 200 oil paintings. His palette consisted mainly of sombre earth tones, particularly dark brown, and showed no sign of the vivid colours that distinguished his later work.

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PAINTINGS

Worn Out, pencil on watercolour paper, 1882. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Still Life with Open Bible, Extinguished Candle and Novel, also Still Life with Bible, 1885. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

PAINTINGS

Farm with Stacks of Peat, 1883

The Potato Eaters, 1885. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1887, pastel drawing, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

John Russell drew these five studies of Van Gogh a year or so after painting his 1886 portrait (studies, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney).[110]

Le Moulin de Blute-Fin (1886) from the Le Moulin de la Galette and Montmartre series'. Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo (F273)

Courtesan (after Eisen), 1887. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

The Yellow House, 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

The Sower with Setting Sun, 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries, June 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Bedroom in Arles, 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

The Starry Night

Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers

Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Café Terrace at Night

Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Wheatfield with Crows

Painting by Vincent van Gogh

THANKS

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• Dr. Shailender Kumar
• (Assist.Prof.)
• Fine Arts Dept.