VINCENT van GOGH
G'day folks,
Here is a name you will know. He is one of the most famous and influential artists of all
time, but Vincent van Gogh
struggled in obscurity during his brief life. Born in the village of
Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853, van Gogh was born into a religious,
upper middle class family and after much traveling and various unfulfilling
occupations, he took up painting with almost no formal training.
His tremendous
oeuvre of landscapes, still-lifes, portraits and sketches with their vibrant
colors and subjective perspective would revolutionize how the world viewed art.
He fought depression and mental illness while creating an intense and arresting
universe of images.
Popular retellings of his tragic story include Vincente
Minnelli’s Hollywood biopic Lust
for Life (1956) with Kirk Douglas and Robert Altman’s
quirky Vincent and Theo
(1990) starring Tim Roth. His life also inspired Don McLean’s 1971 hit song
“Vincent” and an animated feature is due out this year. But no film or song can
completely capture the tumultuous journey of this conflicted soul.
1. His Happiest Year Was in London
In 1873,
Vincent traveled to the British capital to work for the art dealer Goupil and
Cie. He was previously employed by them in The Hague. This was the happiest
time in his life. He was earning a considerable salary (more than his father)
and he fell in love with his landlady’s daughter Eugenie Loyer. But she
rebuffed his romantic advances when he declared them to her, saying that she
was secretly engaged to a former boarder. In Nicholas Wright’s largely
fictional play Vincent in Brixton, the playwright imagines that the
future artist had an affair with the landlady, a widow of 15 years, rather than
her daughter. His time in London did not end happily as he became more
isolated. He transferred to Paris where he grew angry at his bosses for
treating art as a commodity and was fired in 1876.
2. In Less Than 10 Years, He Painted Almost 900 Paintings
From
November 1881 to July 1890, van Gogh produced close to 900 paintings. At the
age of 27, he abandoned his unsuccessful careers as an art dealer and a
missionary and concentrated on his painting and drawing. When he began painting
he used peasants and farmers as models and then flowers, landscapes and himself
because he was too poor to pay his subjects.
3. A Prolific Correspondent
He wrote
nearly as many letters as he created paintings. Van Gogh composed nearly 800
letters in his lifetime, mainly to his brother and closest friend Theo.
4. Only One Painting Sold During His Lifetime
Van Gogh
was never famous as a painter during his lifetime and constantly struggled with
poverty. He sold only one painting while he was alive: The Red Vineyard
which went for 400 francs in Belgium seven months before his death. His most
expensive painting Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold for $148.6 million in
1990.
5. Only the Lobe, Not the Whole Ear Was Cut Off
It’s
popularly believed that van Gogh cut off his ear but he actually only severed a
part of the ear lobe. The accepted version is that the artist mutilated himself
with a razor after an argument with his friend Paul Gauguin in Arles where they were both staying during
Christmas of 1888. He then ran to a bordello and presented the cut lobe to a
prostitute. A new book by two German historians purports that what really
happened is that Gauguin lopped off his friend’s lobe while they were fencing
and the self-mutilation was concocted between the two to avoid embarrassment
and arrest. Van Gogh immortalized his wound in his Self-Portrait with
Bandaged Ear.
6. His Most Famous Work Was Done in an Asylum
Starry
Night,
arguably his most famous work, was painted in an asylum at
Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France. He voluntarily admitted himself there to
recover from his 1888 nervous breakdown which resulted in the ear-cutting
incident. The painting depicts the view from his bedroom window. It has been
part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s
permanent collection since
1941.
7. He Died at 37
On July 27, 1890, van Gogh shot
himself in the chest. There were no witnesses and the gun was never found. He committed the act either in
the wheat field he had been painting or in a barn. He was able to stagger to
the auberge in Auvers where he was staying. Two doctors tended to him, but the
bullet could not be removed because there was no surgeon available. He died on
July 29, 1890 from an infection in the wound. His brother Theo later wrote to
their sister Elizabeth,
“In the
last letter which he wrote me and which dates from some four days before his
death, it says, ‘I try to do as well as certain painters whom I have greatly
loved and admired.’ People should realize that he was a great artist, something
which often coincides with being a great human being. In the course of time
this will surely be acknowledged, and many will regret his early death.” Theo,
who had been supporting his brother, died six month later. Theo’s wife
dedicated herself to collecting her late brother-in-law’s work and thanks to
her diligence, it began to receive recognition 11 years later.
Clancy's comment: I'm certainly no art critic, and just as well. A sad life, eh?
I'm ...
