The Life of Vincent van Gogh

On March 30, 1853 in the Netherlands, Anna Cornelia Carbentus gave birth to Vincent Willem van Gogh. Vincent was raised in a structured, religious environment as the son of a Protestant minister. He was home schooled until the age of 11 and then sent to boarding school. His first art teacher was Constantijn Huysmans who taught him composition and basic drawing skills.

As a teen Van Gogh worked for an art dealer named Goupil, who owned a shop that specialized in reproducing well known paintings. He worked as an art dealer for many years, transferring to different offices in London and Paris. While in London, Vincent had his first heartbreak which caused him to withdraw from the outside world. Upon returning to Paris he became rude to customers and lost his job at Goupil & Cie.  

Shortly after losing his job Vincent moved back to England and got a job as a teacher at a boarding school. During these times he was paid very little and looked very emaciated. He became very engrossed in religion and would translate the bible into different languages. At the age of 24, Van Gogh thought his purpose in life was to become a Minister. Sadly, after more than a year of studying with Mendes da Costa, Vincent gave up on this path. He tried being a missionary down in the coal mines but it was believed that he viewed the bible too literally and was dismissed from the missionary society.

At the age of 27 Vincent Van Gogh finally decided his mission was to be an artist. He worked in a coal miner's home or outside, using what little money he had on supplies. His undernourishment  eventually caught up with him, and his health started to decline. He continued to paint, taking inspiration from everything he saw. Soon expense became too great and he moved back home, where he had his next terrible experience with a woman. He fell deeply in love with his cousin Kee Vos who was recently widowed. He kept his feelings inward and after quite some time approached Kee with his longing for her. The widow tried to make it clear with Vincent that she did not intend to marry again but he was not ready to take no for an answer. He was  quoted as saying "I need a woman, i can not, i will not live without love.."

His last rejection led him to the arms of a pregnant prostitute named Sein, whom he used as a model for drawings and paintings many times. Van Gogh had plans of marrying the woman but weeks before she was to give birth, he was hospitalized for a sexually transmitted disease. He remained with Sein, and used money his brother sent to help her and her children. After a while, Sien decided she needed more than he was able to provide and Vincent decided to move to the countryside in Holland to deepen his skill in art.

In 1886 Van Gogh went through a major change as an artist. He met Monet, Renoir, Degas, and other impressionist artists in Paris which inspired him to make changes to his color palette. During his time in Paris he created over 200 paintings, developing his own style.

After two years in Paris, Van Gogh moved to Arles with Gauguin in hopes of creating an art colony. It was during this time that Vincent created many of his sunflower paintings. Vincent's mental health declined rapidly and Gauguin reported in letters to Theo "..Vincent would become excessively rough and noisy..". Gauguin voiced that he would leave Arles because of ongoing uneasiness with his friend. Van Gogh, in a mental episode, rushed toward him with a razor only to stop before he reached him. He then turned and ran back home and slashed his ear, it reported that only the lobe was cut off. It was said in the newspaper that Van Gogh went to a nearby brothel where he handed his ear to one of the prostitutes and told her to "keep this object like a treasure".

Gaguin woke the next morning to policemen asking what he had done to Vincent, they thought he was dead. Gaguin told the police that he was not dead and to wake him after his departure. Soon Vincent awoke in the hospital to learn that Gaguin had let Theo know of the breakdown, which led Theo to hop on a train to Arles. After writing home to his fiance to let her know of the sad state of his brother, Theo returned to Paris accompanied by Gaguin. Vincent had several seizures and would recover each time and write his brother that he should not worry, but only a month after his release from the hospital he suffered a relapse.

He was taken back to the hospital and locked up in a cell for frightening the townspeople. Theo was unable to visit his brother during this time because he was preparing for his wedding but when he learned of artist Paul Signac traveling to France he asked him to visit Vincent for him. Signac sent news to Theo that Vincent needed to be at the hospital, for he tried to drink an entire container of turpentine. Van Gogh was not ready to be out on his own so he requested to be a patient at a mental intuition in the town of Saint-Remy. Theo wrote to the director asking that his brother be committed and allowed to paint and have wine with his meals.

In May 1889, Director Peyron interviewed Van Gogh and recorded "suffering from acute mania with hallucinations of sight and hearing which have caused him to mutilate himself by cutting off his ear. At present he seems to have recovered his reason, but he does not feel that he possesses the strength and the courage to live independently..." . Vincent continued to suffer from seizures that would overpower him and leave him unable to focus on his art. During his time at the institution he received almost no medical care for his illness, which at the time was unknown. The only recorded procedure was hydrotherapy, which was soaking in a tub of water.

In his letters to his brother he spoke positively of the relationship between he and his fellow patients. "Though there are some seriously ill patients here, the fear and horror of madness that i used have has already lessened a great deal...When i am working in the garden they all come to look, and i assure you they have the discretion and manners to leave me alone-more than the good people of the town of Arles...". After being in the asylum for two months, Theo's wife wrote Vincent telling him of the news of their child to be and asked for his consent to be it's Godfather and lend his name. 

Not long after receiving this news, Van Gogh suffered a terrible fit and attempted to kill himself by ingesting his paints. From that point, he had to ask permission to paint and with supervision. His mood led him to paint a "reaper" in the wheat field he could view from his cell window. "I see him in the image of death, the sense that humanity might be the wheat he is reaping..." 

In January of 1890, Theo's son was born. Vincent was unable to visit the child of course, but decided to paint a gift for him. He reports that his work was going well and that he was patiently working on this canvas and then one day he had another fit that slowed his progress. Van Gogh was ready to leave Saint-Remy but reluctant to live on his own, so he thought of visiting his friend Gauguin, but that was soon dismissed. A physician named Paul Gatchet, was friends of many modern artist and was knowledgeable of mental illness, so Vincent was going to see about living with this man on Oise River. Gatchet agreed to find a home for Van Gogh and provide what medical care he could. 

May 1890, Van Gogh traveled to Paris to visit with his brother and meet his nephew. Theo's wife reported that he was cheerful and delighted to meet little Vincent. He seemed surprised to find that his brother's apartment was full of his paintings, they were hung everywhere and there were even piles of canvases unframed on the floor. He departed to his new home, the village of Auvers-sur-Oise. He found lodging in a small inn, which today has a small cubby hole that is maintained in his memory. 

Dr. Gatchet, a widower, lived in a large house in the village with his son, daughter and many animals. Vincent viewed the Dr. as eccentric and became quite fond of him. He often had dinner with him and even painted a portrait of Gatchet. He saw much of himself in the man and Vincent was quoted saying to Theo that "He certainly appears to me just as ill and confused as you or I." 

One afternoon his brother, sister-in-law and nephew came for a picnic and Vincent insisted on holding the baby and showing him all of the animals that Gatchet had. Theo's wife wrote "We lunched in the open air, and afterward took a long walk, it was so peacefully quiet, so happy". Once they had returned home Theo wrote to Vincent about the baby being sick from drinking "poisonous" milk in Paris and his disputes with his employers. Although he had urged him not to worry of his family's matters, Vincent visited them in Paris. The baby's health was improving but Vincent still saw distress and returned to Auvers full of pessimism. 

During his last days he felt as though there were no happy future to look toward. He entered a farmyard with his easel and a revolver and shot himself in the abdomen. He walked back to inn and made his way to his bed, where the landlord found him and sent for help. Gatchet did not think it would be a good idea to remove the bullet but thought he may survive to which Van Gogh said "Then i will have to do it all over again". After his brother had arrived Vincent told him, "Do not cry, I did it for the good of everybody". 

Almost 36 hours after he had shot himself, Van Gogh died with his last words spoken in Dutch: " I wish I could go home now". The priest in Auvers would not lend a hearse for a funeral because of suicide so one was borrowed from a neighboring town. Many friends attended the funeral. Theo was overcome with grief and sought out to make his purpose to keep his brother's art and memory alive. He met with several people trying to have Van Gogh's paintings on display but they all were too busy. Theo quit his job and reportedly lost his mind...he died 6 months after his brother. Doctors say he suffered "over-strain and sorrow:he had a life full of emotional stress".

Source: 
Wallace, Robert. (1969). The World of Van Gogh. New York: Time-Life Books.