Vincent van Gogh

• post-impressionist artist
• Netherlands
• Higly influenced 20th-century art
• Struggled with mental ilness
• Remained poor and unknown throughout his life

Life and family

• born on March 3, 1853, Netherlands

• He had 2 brothers and three sisters

  • his brother Theo supported Vincent throughout his entire life

• At age 15 he was forced to leave school and go work because of financial struggles

• After Eugenie Loyer rejected his marriage proposal, van Gogh devoted his life to God and became a Preacher

• He wanted to be a minister

• In 1880 he decided to move to Brussels and become an artist

• In 1885 he created his first masterpiece “Potato Eaters”

  

• he moved to Paris and lived with his brother, where he was influenced by impressionist art

Mental health

• he suffered form psychotic episodes and delusions
• He had manic depression
• He spent time in psychiatric hospitals
• During on of his episodes he cut of his ear, details are still unclear

Art and style

• he completed more than 2,100 works
  • 860 oil paintings

more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings and sketches

• He worked en plein air
• He believed that “Colour expresses something in itself
• Yellow meant the most to him, because it symbolised emotional thruth,
  • he used yellow as a symbol for sunlight, life and God
• His painting are filled with symbolism

Death

• died on July 29, 1890, at the age 37, from an apparent gunshot wound to belly sustained approximately 30 hours earlier on July 27
• For many decades, suicide was unquestioned but now there are theories about him being shot, intentionally or accidentally, by someone else

Van Gogh Museum

• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Opened June 2, 1973

Paintings:

• The Potato Eaters
• Almond blossoms
• Bedroom in Arles
• Sunflowers
• The Yellow house
• And more…

Other museums with his art

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Musée d'Orsay
• Rijksmuseum
• Kröller-Müller Museum
• and more…