A Few Interesting Facts about Vincent Van Gogh
October 31, 2011
The following facts heave been obtained from historical records and do not represent wishful imagination or opinion.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was named after his grandfather and of his brother who died a year before Vincent was born.
Vincent was unconventionally serious, solicitous and hushed as a child instead of being naughty, talkative, and sort of do-first-think-after type.
Vincent, Dutch post-impressionist painter, was born to Theodorous Van Gogh, a minister of a Church and Anna Cornelia Carbentus on March 30, 1853 in Holland.
Vincent had two brothers, Theo and Cor, and three sisters, Elisabeth, and Anna and Willemina.
Vincent had issues with his mental health such as temporal lobe epilepsy and hallucinations, schizophrenia, syphilis, bi-polar disorder, bouts of depression, and emotional instability inherited from his family which had a history of mental illness. All of these diseases made his entire life a living hell.
Vincent initially wanted to become a pastor. He served as a missionary in the Dutch Reformed Church of which his father was a minister but was forced to discontinue by his family.
Vincent had made 900 paintings in 10 years, hardly possible elsewhere but he did manage to achieve such a milestone. He was successful in selling one of them during his lifetime called the Red Vineyard.
Vincent had written over 800 letters in his life mostly to his brother and closest friend Theo who supported Vincent financially throughout his life.
Vincent didn’t start off with painting landscapes and flowers; he started with painting peasants as models and often would paint himself as he didn’t have enough resources.
Vincent, as many other artists, had unusual taste in women. He’d mostly prefer widows and prostitutes. He desired to marry a prostitute he lived with for a while named Sien. He never found his true love.
Vincent was self-made artist with over 2000 pieces of art made in 37 short years of which 900 were paintings and the rest were either sketches or drawings.
This may sound weird but Vincent had painted a total of 37 self-portraits, same as the amount of years he lived. This may imply that he had continued to make self-portraits among other work he undertook till the day he ended it all.
Some people are of the opinion that Vincent cut off his own earlobe intentionally and sent it to a prostitute called Rachael. Some argue that it was during an epileptic that caused him to attack his friend Paul Gauguin, another great artist, with a razor consequently cutting his own earlobe off.
Vincent attempted a successful suicide attempt in 1890 ending his life by shooting himself in a wheat field in Auvers, France. He did get to live for 2 days after he shot himself. His last words were ‘sadness will last forever”. Quite true as all what we see around us is sadness.
Vincent’s most loved brother, Theo, couldn’t come to terms with Vincent’s death and died six months after his suicide on January 25, at Den Dolder.
There always is a woman behind the success of every man. True for most but mostly happens during the life time of those men. Vincent became famous after his death due to his brother’s wife Johanna van Gogh-Bonger collected his paintings and dedicated her life to ensure his work got the appreciation and recognition it deserved. His fame came at the cost of her diligence 11 years after he died.
Posted by Angelia Kates · Filed Under World news
