Van Gogh as Part of the Expressionist Group

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in the village of Groot Zundert. He was the oldest Van Gogh child, but not the first. His mother gave birth to a son that was stillborn a year before he was born. This child was also named Vincent Willem van Gogh. Van Gogh was raised with two brother and three sisters. He was also surrounded by numerous Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. Van Gogh was sent to boarding school in Zevenbergen, when he was 12 years old. His father was concerned that he was getting too "rough". He left school at 16 and started working for his Uncle Cent. Uncle Cent was a successful partner at Goupi & Cie, an art firm. He started out working in Holland and later transferred to London. Once in London, he moved in with a widowed Frenchwoman and her daughter. After being rejected by the daughter, Van Gogh moved out to live alone. His parents became concerned and in 1875, and Uncle Cent transferred him to Paris. In 1875, his career as an art dealer came to an end. He returned to England and found a job teaching at a boarding school at Ramsgate. He was given room and board but no pay. He taught elementary French, German, and math. He later took another teaching job near London. The pay was low, but he was doing more of what made him happy. He was teaching Bible classes and preaching at a local Methodist Church. In 1878, he enrolled in a training school in Brussels for preachers. Once he completed it, he wasn't given a mission trip from the school as he had hoped. He ended up in Southern Belgium in a coal mine. He helped nurse victims of disease, cave-ins, explosions, and fire. (Wallace, pg. 14) He also found a place to preach and have Bible school.

After a while, he started taking the Bible too literal. He gave up his home, bed, and clothes. It was only a matter of time before his superiors dismissed him. Van Gogh disappeared for nine months and later referred to this as his molting time. It is not known how he was able to feed and clothed himself during this time. It was during this time that he reached the decision to become an artist. He started with making sketches of the miners. He felt he needed instruction and tried reaching out to Jules Breton for help. Breton was a French poet and painter that he met during his time at Goupil's. He walked many miles to only be intimated by Breton's studio and retreated back home. After yet another failure, Van Gogh threw himself into his art. After about five years, he created the masterpiece, The Potato Eaters. The painting shows peasants whose dinner consists of boiled potatoes. The Potato Eaters is typical of Van Gogh's Dutch interiors in its use of a very few highlights against a predominantly dark background. (Hardy pg. 23) Van Gogh established his first studio at age 27. The studio was inside the cottage of a coal miner. It was also a bedroom that Van Gogh shred with the miners children. The living and working conditions arrangements didn't work out so in 1880, Van Gogh moved to Brussels. His stay in Brussels was short lived because of financial problems. In 1881, he moved to his parents' house in Etta. During this time, Van Gogh painted many pieces, The Sower being one of them. The theme for this piece came from one of his idols, Jean-Francois Millet. During this time, he also signed some of his paintings as Atelier Vincent. While living at his parents' house, he falls in love with his first cousin. Once again, he is rejected and ends up spending some time at The Hague. He found himself a prostitute there. He eventually moved there. He thought he could study his cousin's husband, Anton Mauve, while he was there. Mauve gave him paint and brushed, helped him set up a studio and introduced him to an Art Association. During this time, he made a charcoal drawing of his prostitute friend, Sien, holding her 11 year old daughter. After going to Paris in 1886, Van Gogh went through a complete metamorphosis as a painter. (Wallace, pg. 40) Once referred to as a "shaggy dog" he was now called a "singing bird". Van Gogh was exposed to new techniques and he tried to take them all in. He started using more bright colors and less dark earth tones. The Wheat Field with a Lark is a good example of this.

From February 1888 to May 1889, Van Gogh produced some 200 paintings. Many of these considered masterpieces. Some of these include Sunflowers, The Harvest, The Postman Rowin, Bedroom at Arles', and Caf© Terrance at Night. After some medical issues, Van Gogh was admitted to Saint-Remy-de-Provence hospital. He was suffering from hallucinations, hearing voices, and seizure like episodes. It was during this time that Van Gogh painted Starry Night. Starry Night is my all-time favorite painting and the reason I chose Van Gogh for this project. Starry Night shows Van Gogh's view from his room at Saint-Remy-de-Provence. He referred to it in his letters to his brother, Theo, as night study. Starry Night is probably Van Gogh most recognized piece. Some other paintings from his stay at Saint-Remy-de-Provence are Irises and his self-portrait. On July 29, 1890 Van Gogh died in a village in France. Van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. During the night, van Gogh admitted he had set out for the wheat field where he had recently been painting. During the afternoon he had shot himself with a revolver and passed out. Revived by the coolness of the evening, he had tried in vain to find the revolver to complete the act. He then returned to the inn. After two days he died. (Stanska, The Mystery of Vincent Van Gogh's Death) Van Gogh identified as part of the Expressionist group. For Expressionist, painting was a whole language, in which line and color were called upon to interpret feelings and a personal vision. (Hardy, pg. 15) Van Gogh's life reflected many of the central issues of his time, in particular religion and socialism, which were also of crucial importance in the history of the nineteenth century itself. (Hardy, pg. 6) There are so many of his paintings that speak to me and show so much emotion. Van Gogh created his own language with his paintings. His own language that told a story, a story that is not near as interesting as his life was. "I put my heart and soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process." –Vincent Van Gogh

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