The Life and Artwork of Van Gogh

Post-Impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh became popular around the world, but not during his lifetime. He passed on at the age of 37 in 1890. “Lust for Life” and “Midnight in Paris” are two films featuring Van Gogh’s artwork and both are winners of the Academy Award. During his lifetime the great artist sold only one painting. The painting he is most celebrated for is “The Starry Night” which is part of the permanent collection and on display at The Museum of Modern Art, in New York City.

Painting by Candlelight

Since electricity had not been invented, Van Gogh used his creativity. He painted in the dark of night with candles along the brim of his straw hat. With these candles lit on his hat the artist even went out to cafes so they could light his way. Other customers might have been surprised and there was always the danger of fires but with the knowledge that artists are eccentrics his habits were accepted. He once wrote to an artist friend, Anthon van Rappard, about the fable that “a woman is represented by a candle and a man by a moth”.

Not Suicide but Murder

The book titled “Van Gogh: The Life” written by Pulitzer prize-winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith in 2011 states that Van Gogh didn't commit suicide but was instead murdered by a local teen bully. Art historians are not completely convinced about this. Therefore, at The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands his death is listed as “definitive suicide”. Then in November 2014, an article was published in Vanity Fair magazine in which it was stated that a forensic scientist couldn't imagine how the artist was able to hold the gun so close to his body. Also, why there had been no burn marks on his hands.

In the published book it was written that during the investigation no gun was found, the easel Van Gogh was painting on at the time also had disappeared, and the artist did not die right away. Instead after being wounded, he walked about a mile through a wheat field to reach the inn he was staying at. This seems to say that he was seeking help. Also, his paintings at this time were joyful and not dark and somber. Then looking at what happened at the inn when the wounded artist arrived he said he didn't want medical help instead he wanted to die. So despite what his paintings appeared to say, he told his brother that he was overwhelmed by a sadness that seemed would last forever.

Van Gogh’s Ear

Contrary to what people might have read the artist’s entire ear wasn’t cut off, just a part of his left ear lobe. “Le Petit Journal” stated that three days after this incident Van Gogh gave part of his earlobe to a prostitute. During this time Van Gogh was living with his friend and fellow artist Paul Gauguin, who was an expert fencer.

It was thought that Gauguin had sliced off a part of Van Gogh's ear because the friends would fight violently. However, neither of them admitted to this happening, Their friendship was a strange one it appeared that Van Gogh liked his artist friend a lot more than Gauguin liked him. Strange as it might seem the artist did not remember much of the night with the ear incident but wrote to his brother Theo and said he was glad that Gauguin did not have any firearms.

A Self-admitted Patient in an Asylum

Van Gogh was discharged from a hospital in Arles, France in January 1889 following the earlobe incident. However, he felt that he had not recovered his mental health sufficiently and checked himself into Saint-Paul Asylum. While at the asylum, Van Gogh painted many of the artworks which today are looked upon as classics including “Irises”, “The Olive Trees” and “The Starry Night’. The artist himself thought that “The Starry Night” was a failure. He sent a package of his paintings to his brother Theo but his brother had no success in selling them. Not having enough postage “The Starry Night” was not sent.

Death of Infant Brother

While growing up in Zundert, The Netherlands Van Gogh would walk by a tombstone that had his name on it. The artist’s father Theo Van Gogh was the pastor of a Dutch Reformed Church in 1849. It was at that time that a baby boy was stillborn and named Vincent and was buried in the churchyard. Vincent was given the same name as his dead brother therefore was the reason why a tombstone had his name on it. Zundert still boasts about the fact that Van Gogh was born there. The town has Van Gogh Square and a commemorative statue of Van Gogh and his brother, Theo. There is also a Van Gogh house but the original house on the town’s main street at Markt 29 has been torn down.

Started Painting at 27

Van Gogh didn’t pick up a paintbrush until he was 27 or 28. When he died at the age of 37 he had completed almost 900 artworks painting about two per week. Before deciding on becoming an artist he tried other jobs like a lay minister, a teacher, and an art dealer. He finally wrote to his brother and said that he thought the painting was what he should be doing. At the time of his death, he also had over 1,000 works on paper. It appears that Van Gogh might have had a form of epilepsy and a behavioral condition, known as hypergraphia which makes those who are afflicted have an intense need to write or as it was in Van Gogh’s case to paint.

Faded Yellow Color

Van Gogh was known to use a signature yellow color in his paintings which was available due to the industrial revolution and a new pigment known as chrome yellow. What has happened over the years is that these types of yellow colors used in his paintings like “Bedroom in Arles” have started to fade and brown. Therefore contemporary viewers of his works of art cannot see the original luminance in the work. Unfortunately, the change in color is permanent, and if there was an attempt to reverse the chemical reaction the paintings could be damaged further.

Dirty, badly dressed, and disagreeable

By these very words, the oldest living person who met Van Gogh in her lifetime described him. Jeannie Calment was born in 1875 and died at the age of 122 in 1997. For most of her life, she lived in Arles, France where Van Gogh stayed in 1888. Her uncle owned a shop and Van Gogh went there to buy paints. After she had met him at the age of 12 or 13 she also said that he was very ugly, ungracious, impolite, and sick but she forgave him and that they called him “loco”.

In his lifetime Van Gogh painted more than 30 self-portraits.

Some Memorable Paintings

Vincent Van Gogh was most appreciated for this artwork in the Midwest in the US. The Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan became the first public museum to obtain the artist’s Self-Portrait with Straw Hat painted in 1887, and made it a part of their permanent collection.

At The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois you’ll find the painting The Bedroom from 1889.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri has the artwork Olive Trees from 1889.

At the St. Louis Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri is Stairway at Auvers from 1890.

Landscape with Wheelbarrow is an early Van Gogh watercolor. It is part of the collection of art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Le Moulin de la Galette is an oil on canvas. It is a painting that was painted near the apartment that Van Gogh shared with his brother Theo in the rural neighborhood of Montmartre in Paris, France. It can be viewed at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.