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Facts
About Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent
Van Gogh's life is shrouded in legend. Because of his popularity, casual one-sentence comments have led to many falsehoods. One of these myths is that he was addicted to absinthe and that he tried to attack several of his acquaintances. Another legend that has grown is that he cut off his entire ear. In reality, only the lobe was severed. Even shortly after his death, writings on Van Gogh contained contradictory information about the painter. Dates, events and places have been confused over the years so each source has a slightly different view of Vincent
Van Gogh's life.
1853, March 30 - Vincent Willem
Van Gogh is born in Groot-Zundert, Holland to a protestant pastor.
1864 Van Gogh begins drawing for the first time.
1885 He paints what is considered his first great work, The Potato Eaters. His interest expands to include Japanese woodcuts and a broader palette of colors. He moves to Antwerp, Belgium, and will never return to Holland.
1886 Van Gogh attends art classes at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts, where he is placed in a beginners' class. He has a difficult time with the teachers there and quickly withdraws. He then moves to Paris to live with his brother, Theo. Later in the year, Van Gogh is introduced to the artwork of impressionist painters, which influences his use of color. He also meets Gauguin, who will become an important figure during the years Van Gogh spends in southern France.
1888 Early in the year, Van Gogh moves to Arles in southern France where he hopes to establish an artists' colony. After a disagreement with Gauguin, Van Gogh cuts off his left earlobe and presents it to a lady whom he frequented.
1889 The frequency of Van Gogh's mental breakdowns increases enough to compel him to voluntarily enter the St. Remy asylum. Several times, he tries to poison himself by consuming his own paints. His work finally begins to gain recognition when Starry Night Over Rhone and Irises are displayed in the Salon des Independants.
1890 The first article devoted to Van Gogh's work is published. He moves to Auvers-sur-Oise to be with Theo. On July 27, Van Gogh shoots himself in the chest and dies three days later in his brother's arms
Among the many art genres that Van Gogh is placed in is postimpressionism.
Postimpressionists gave more importance to emotion than to objective reality. As a result, they looked for underlying structure of color harmonies.
Van Gogh's painting style has led to his connection with several later art forms. His work is considered the forerunner of Expressionism because he made a conscious break with the convention of proportion for the sake of expressing character. His use of color for representing mood and atmosphere are seen as a link to Symbolism. Fauvist artists derived elements of their intense palettes from Van Gogh.
Posthumous Timeline
1892 The first retrospective exhibition of Van Gogh's work is given in the Netherlands.
1913 The first novel about Van Gogh's life is published.
1935 The Museum of Modern Art in New York City presents the first Van Gogh exhibition in the United States.
1956 Kirk Douglas stars in Lust for Life, the first screen drama based on Van Gogh's life.
1962 The Vincent van Gogh Foundation is established in Amsterdam. The Foundation is dedicated to acquiring Van Gogh's paintings, etchings and letters.
1973 The Dutch government builds the Van Gogh Museum.
1981 A painted study of a street and shrub is submitted for auction. The painting is sold for $2 million. The owner, however, retains it, stating the bidding did not go high enough.
1990 The Portrait of Dr. Gachet is sold for $82.5 million, the highest price ever paid for a painting. Later in the year, Garden with Flowers is sold for $8.36 million, making this the highest price paid for a pen and ink drawing.
1998 Van Gogh's Self-Portrait sells for $71.5 million, three times the painting's high estimate.
Van Gogh Fun Facts
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He completed 872 paintings, 1019 drawings and 150 watercolors in only 10 years.
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He took piano lessons for a short time. However, his teacher forced him to quit when he told the teacher that the piano notes ranged in color from blue to yellow.
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Van Gogh received 150 francs a month from his brother, Theo. (Occasionally, a lesser amount would be sent when Theo was having his own financial difficulties.) Van Gogh negotiated with his brother so that Gauguin would also receive 150 francs a month from Theo as long as he was living in the "Yellow House". In return for the money, Gauguin was to give Theo one painting each month.
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Van Gogh lost approximately ten teeth from sickness and malnutrition while he lived in Antwerp. This was because he preferred to spend his allowance on painting materials rather than on sufficient food.
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When Van Gogh left Antwerp, he failed to pay his bills. He used the money he saved to buy a train ticket to Paris.
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He carried red and blue chalk to draw on walls when explaining his theories. Friends would keep extra paper around to spread on tables so he would not draw on the walls and furniture.
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One in 15 works of art attributed to Van Gogh are forgeries. This includes some of the most famous paintings.
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The doctor at St. Remy treated Van Gogh by putting him in baths. The bathtubs Van Gogh once soaked in are now planters outside the hospital.
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The placement of planets and stars in Van Gogh's night skies is of interest to astronomers. They have found that he placed celestial bodies precisely where they should have been when the canvases were painted.
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Van Gogh completed 100 landscapes, 50 portraits, 40 still lifes and approximately 100 drawings when he lived in Arles. This period of his work is characterized by crosshatched brushstrokes.
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His works were signed Vincent because he believed, and rightly so, that Van Gogh was too difficult for people to pronounce.
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Many of his works are not signed because he thought to do so would be arrogant.
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In 1890, Red Vineyard at Arles, the only painting sold during Van Gogh's lifetime, sold for 400 francs.
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