1.
Vincent van Gogh
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Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings and his suicide at 37 followed years of mental illness and poverty. Born into a family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet. As a young man he worked as an art dealer, often travelling and he turned to religion, and spent time as a Protestant missionary in southern Belgium. He drifted in ill health and solitude before taking up painting in 1881 and his younger brother Theo supported him financially, and the two kept up a long correspondence by letter. His early works, mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers, in 1886 he moved to Paris, where he met members of the avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were reacting against the Impressionist sensibility. As his work developed he created a new approach to still lifes and his paintings grew brighter in colour as he developed a style that became fully realised during his stay in Arles in the south of France in 1888. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include trees, cypresses, wheat fields. Van Gogh suffered from episodes and delusions and though he worried about his mental stability, he often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor and he spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris and his depression continued and on 27 July 1890, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died from his injuries two days later, Van Gogh was unsuccessful during his lifetime, and was considered a madman and a failure. He became famous after his suicide, and exists in the imagination as the quintessential misunderstood genius. His reputation began to grow in the early 20th century as elements of his style came to be incorporated by the Fauves. The most comprehensive source on Van Gogh is the correspondence between him and his younger brother, Theo. Their lifelong friendship, and most of what is known of Vincents thoughts, Theo van Gogh was an art dealer and provided his brother with financial and emotional support, and access to influential people on the contemporary art scene. Theo kept all of Vincents letters to him, Vincent kept few of the letters he received, after both had died, Theos widow Johanna arranged for the publication of some of their letters. A few appeared in 1906 and 1913, the majority were published in 1914, Vincents letters are eloquent and expressive and have been described as having a diary-like intimacy, and read in parts like autobiography
2.
Vincent van Gogh chronology
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This is a chronology of the artist Vincent van Gogh. It is based as far as possible on Van Goghs correspondence, however, it has only been possible to construct the chronology by drawing on additional sources. Most of his letters are not dated, and it was only in 1973 that a sufficient dating was established by Jan Hulsker, subsequently revised by Ronald Pickvance and marginally corrected by others. Many other relevant dates in the chronology derive from the biographies of his brother Theo, his uncle and godfather Cent, his friends Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, facts and dates which are undisputed, remain unreferenced. Theodorus van Gogh, since 1849 pastore in Groot-Zundert, married Anna Cornelia Carbentus, his brother Cents sister-in-law, March 30, a first son, called Vincent, died at birth. March 30, Vincent Willem van Gogh is born in Groot-Zundert, February 17, sister Anna Cornelia van Gogh, called Anna, is born. May 1, brother Theodorus van Gogh, called Theo, is born, may 16, sister Elisabeth Huberta van Gogh, called Lies, is born. March 26, Uncle Cent becomes partner of Goupil & Cie. March 16, sister Willemina Jacoba van Gogh, October 1, in Zevenbergen to attend the school of Jan Provily. September 3, enters secondary school at Tilburg, may 17, brother Cornelis Vincent van Gogh, called Cor, is born. March, leaves Tilburg and returns to his family in Zundert, July 30, Vincent starts apprenticeship with Goupil & Cie, The Hague. January, Van Goghs family moves to Helvoirt, January 1, Theo starts apprenticeship with Goupil & Cie, Brussels. February 19, the lot to serve in the army has fallen on Vincent, may 12, Vincent leaves for Paris where he visits the Paris branches of Goupil & Cie, the annual Salon and the Musée du Luxembourg. A week later, takes up work at the London branch of Goupil & Cie, August, moves to the house of Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie in Brixton,87 Hackford Road. June 27 - July 15, summer holiday with his family in Helvoirt, November, on the demand of Uncle Cent, Vincent is transferred to Paris to get acquainted with the headquarters of Goupil & Cie. November 26, Jet Carbentus, a cousin of Vincent, marries Anton Mauve, Christmas, with his family in Helvoirt. May 24, Goupils London opens its first exhibition, end of May, Vincent is re-transferred to Paris headquarters. October 18, Van Goghs family moves to Etten, Christmas, with his family in Etten. December 30, visits Uncle C. M. in the Hague to talk about his future, December 31, father thinks he has to advise Vincent to resign
3.
The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
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The Letters of Vincent van Gogh refers to a collection of 903 surviving letters written or received by Vincent van Gogh. More than 650 of these were from Vincent to his brother Theo, the collection also includes letters van Gogh wrote to his sister Wil and other relatives, as well as between artists such as Paul Gauguin, Anthon van Rappard and Émile Bernard. Vincents sister-in-law and wife to his brother Theo, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, spent many years after her husbands death in 1891 compiling the letters, by contrast Vincent infrequently kept letters sent him and just 84 have survived, of which 39 were from Theo. Nevertheless, it is to these letters between the brothers that we owe much of what we know today about Vincent van Gogh, indeed, the only period where we are relatively uninformed is the Parisian period when they shared an apartment and had no need to correspond. The letters effectively play much the role in shedding light on the art of the period as those between the de Goncourt brothers did for literature. Within two years both brothers were dead, Vincent as the result of a wound, and Theo from illness. Joanna began the task of completing the collection, which was published in full in January 1914 and that first edition consisted of three volumes, and was followed in 1952–1954 by a four-volume edition that included additional letters. Jan Hulsker suggested, in 1987, that the letters be organized in date order, the project consists of a complete annotated collection of letters written by and to Vincent. In the last days of December 1901, running through January 1902, Bruno Cassirer and his cousin Paul Cassirer organized the first van Gogh exhibition in Berlin, Germany. Paul Cassirer first established a market for van Gogh, and then, with the assistance of Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, in 1906 Bruno Cassirer published a small volume of selected letters of Vincents to Theo, translated into German. Of the 844 surviving letters that van Gogh wrote,663 were written to Theo,9 to Theo, of the letters Vincent received from Theo, only 39 survive. The first letter was written when Vincent was 19 and begins, at that time Vincent was not yet developed as a letter writer – he was factual, but not introspective. When he moved to London, and later to Paris, he began to add personal information. Beginning in 1888 and ending a year later, van Gogh wrote 22 letters to Émile Bernard in which the tone is different from those to Theo, in these letters van Gogh wrote more about his techniques, his use of color, and his theories. Van Gogh was a reader, and his letters reflect his literary pursuits as well as a uniquely authentic literary style. His writing style in the letters reflect the literature he read and valued, Balzac, historians such as Michelet, additionally he read novels written by George Eliot, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Keats poetry, reading mostly at night when the light was too poor for painting. Gauguin told him that he read too much, poet W. H. Auden wrote about the letters, there is scarcely one letter by van Gogh which I. do not find fascinating. Pomerans believes the letters to be on the level of world literature based on style, in the letters Vincent reflects different facets of his personality and he adopts a tone specific to his circumstances
4.
Death of Vincent van Gogh
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Van Gogh was shot in the stomach, either by himself or by others, and died two days later. In 1889, Vincent van Gogh experienced a deterioration in his mental health, as a result of incidents in Arles leading to a public petition, he was committed to a hospital. His condition improved and he was ready to be discharged by March 1889, at Salles suggestion van Gogh chose an asylum in nearby Saint-Rémy. Theo originally resisted this choice, even suggesting that Vincent rejoin Paul Gauguin in Pont Aven, Vincent entered the asylum in early May 1889. His mental condition remained stable for a while and he was able to work en plein air, producing many of his most iconic paintings, such as Starry Night, at this time. However at the end of July, following a trip to Arles and he made a good recovery, only to suffer another relapse in late December 1889, and early the following January an acute relapse while delivering a portrait of Madame Ginoux to her in Arles. This last relapse, described by Jan Hulsker as his longest and saddest, lasted until March 1890. In May 1890 Vincent was discharged from the asylum, and after spending a few days with Theo and Jo in Paris, Vincent went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise, a commune north of Paris popular with artists. Shortly before leaving Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh told how he was suffering from his stay in the hospital, I need some air, I feel overwhelmed by boredom and grief. On arriving at Auvers, van Goghs health was not very good. Writing on 21 May to Theo he comments, I can do nothing about my illness, I am suffering a little just now — the thing is that after that long seclusion the days seem like weeks to me. But by 25 May, the artist was able to report to his parents that his health had improved and his letters to his sister Wilhelmina on 5 June and to Theo and his wife Jo on about 10 June indicate a continued improvement, his nightmares almost having disappeared. The other patients society had a bad influence on me, furthermore, an unsent letter to Paul Gauguin which van Gogh wrote around 17 June is quite positive about his plans for the future. After describing his recent colourful wheat studies, he explains, I would like to paint some portraits against a very vivid yet tranquil background. On 2 July, writing to his brother, van Gogh comments, I myself am also trying to do as well as I can, and if my disease returns, you would forgive me. I still love art and life very much, the first sign of new problems was revealed in a letter van Gogh wrote to Theo on 10 July. He first states, I am very well, I am working hard, have painted four studies, first of all, he is sicker than I am, I think, or shall we say just as much, so thats that. Certainly my last attack, which was terrible, was in a large measure due to the influence of the other patients, later in the letter he adds, For myself, I can only say at the moment that I think we all need rest — I feel exhausted
5.
Auberge Ravoux
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The Auberge Ravoux is a French historic landmark located in the heart of the village of Auvers-sur-Oise. It is known as the House of Van Gogh because the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh spent the last 70 days of his life as a lodger at the auberge. During his stay at Auvers, Van Gogh created more than 80 paintings and 64 sketches before shooting himself in the chest on 27 July 1890, the auberge has been restored and is now a museum and tourist attraction. The room where Van Gogh lived and died has been restored, the auberge was built in the mid-nineteenth century as a family home on the main road leading to Pontoise. Various parts of buildings were incorporated into the auberge – including an entire eighteenth-century wall. The auberge was ideally situated in front of the Town Hall, the daughter of Mr Levert, the original owner, put the centrality of the location to use by opening a retail wine business. During Van Gogh’s stay, the rooms were all occupied by Dutch, the Spaniard artist Nicolás Martínez de Valdivieso, who lived nearby, took his meals at the auberge with Van Gogh. Van Gogh arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise on 20 May 1890 and he had spent a year in a convalescent home in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and wanted to settle in the North, closer to Paris. Camille Pissarro, a friend of Van Goghs, suggested that he go to Auvers-sur-Oise where Dr Gachet lived, Dr Gachet had treated mental patients before and was interested in and sympathetic to the arts. The doctor was immortalized in a portrait Van Gogh made of him in June of that year, which fetched a record price of $82.5 million in 1990. Upon arrival in Auvers, Van Gogh decided to stay at the Auberge Ravoux, mainly because it was cheaper than the proposed by Dr. Gachet. At the Auberge Ravoux, Vincent paid 3 francs 50 a day, half board, and rented room 5, an attic room measuring 75 square feet and containing only a bed, a dressing table. He stored his paintings and drawings in a shed at the back and he became acquainted with Arthur Ravoux and his family and painted a portrait of Adeline Ravoux, the eldest daughter of Ravoux, on more than one occasion. Van Gogh was charmed by the village and in a letter to his brother Theo van Gogh praised its old thatched roofs and colours and he found the juxtaposition between the rustic country life and recent modern additions such as the railway and the bridge on the River Oise fascinating. He was in health, covering large distances with his painting gear. Despite his love of his new surroundings and his activity, on the morning of 27 July 1890, Van Gogh walked into a field. The bullet was deflected by a rib and lodged in his stomach and he survived the impact and managed to walk back to the auberge. Adeline Ravoux later recalled, Vincent walked bent, holding his stomach, crossed the hall, took the staircase and climbed to his bedroom
6.
Portraits of Vincent van Gogh
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This article refers to self portraits and portraits of Vincent van Gogh. It includes self-portraits, portraits of him by artists, and photographs. Van Goghs dozens of self-portraits were an important part of his oeuvre as a painter. Most probably, van Goghs self-portraits are depicting the face as it appeared in the mirror he used to reproduce his face, the first self-portrait by van Gogh that survived, is dated 1886. All the self-portraits executed in Saint-Rémy show the head from the left. No self-portraits were executed by van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, during the weeks of his life. F208a, Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat is amongst the earliest of Vincents self-portraits and it was discovered late in the family collection and was not exhibited before 1945. Opinions differ about the date and place of its execution, de la Faille thought it painted in Antwerp before 1886, while Hulsker thought it painted in Paris in spring 1886. Hendriks and Tilborgh opt for autumn 1886, based on its resemblance to Vincents work that winter when he began to embrace Neo-impressionism, x-ray analysis reveals a nude figure study below. Since students did not work from the model at Antwerp. There is no work in Vincents oeuvre which complements this portrait. However Hendriks and Tilborgh are satisfied that the painting is consistent with others executed at the beginning, marc Edo Tralbaut, Vincents principal biographer, especially valorised the portrait, selecting it for the dust-jacket of his biography and stating that Vincent had laid himself bare for the portrait. Tralbaut notes that Vincent painted a number of self-portraits at this time and he was in poor health and his teeth were falling out, prompting him to grow a moustache to conceal them. At this time he was wearing city-clothes in an effort to stress his middle-class background as he strove to establish a career for himself as an artist. F627, This painting may have been van Goghs last self-portrait, f525, This painting may have been van Goghs last self-portrait, which he gave to his mother as a birthday gift. Van Gogh painted Self-Portrait without beard just after he had shaved himself, the painting can be seen in the third version of Bedroom in Arles at the Musée dOrsay. The self-portrait is one of the most expensive paintings of all time, at the time, it was the third most expensive painting ever sold. F476, Vincent van Gogh, Arles, gift, to Paul Gauguin, sold
7.
Portraits by Vincent van Gogh
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Vincent van Gogh lived during the Impressionist era. With the development of photography, painters and artists turned to conveying the feeling and ideas behind people, places, Impressionist artists did this by emphasizing certain hues, using vigorous brushstrokes, and paying attention to highlighting. Vincent van Gogh implemented this ideology to pursue his goal of depicting his own feelings toward, Van Gogh’s portraiture focuses on color and brushstrokes to demonstrate their inner qualities and van Gogh’s own relationship with them. Vincent van Gogh painted portraits throughout his career from 1881 through 1890, Van Gogh was fascinated with making portraits early in his artistic career. Even so, he considered it a matter to focus on their character. Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in November 1882 that he had drawn a portrait of Jozef Blok, unlike the character studies, the work was detailed in pencil with watercolor and chalk. At this time it was rare for Van Gogh to use color, in November 1882 Van Gogh began drawings of individuals to depict a range of character types from the working class. The peasant genre that greatly influenced Van Gogh began in the 1840s with the works of Jean-François Millet, Jules Breton, in 1885 Van Gogh described the painting of peasants as the most essential contribution to modern art. If one hasnt a horse, one is ones own horse, to depicting the essence of the life of the peasant and their spirit, Van Gogh lived as they lived, he was in the fields as they were, enduring the weather or long hours as they were. To do so was not something taught in schools, he noted, Van Gogh described his sitter for this painting a wonderful old man. It was made in Antwerp where Van Gogh hoped to bring in money to himself by painting portraits. Van Gogh made a series of paintings of Sien Hoornik, a prostitute whom he met, included in the series are works of Siens daughter, Maria, her newborn son and her mother. Van Gogh occasionally visited Café du Tambourin run by Agostina Segatori, the Italian Woman also called Le Italienne is without doubt Agostina Segatori, per the Musée dOrsay. Van Gogh introduced elements of Japanese woodcut prints in this portrait, surrounding her image is an asymmetrical border with a monochromatic background. He also brings, though, his own style and energy to the work as compared to the lines of the Asian prints. Van Gogh creates his own style of brushstroke from Impressionism and Pointillism and he uses red and green in her face which he later described as a technique to be able to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green. The Portrait of Etienne-Lucien Martin was made of the owner of a restaurant in Paris and he allowed artists to exhibit their work. In November 1887 Van Gogh and his friends showed their works, Van Gogh made the painting of Martin with care and precision
8.
Sien (Van Gogh series)
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Vincent van Gogh drew and painted a series of works of his mistress Sien during their time together in the Netherlands. In particular, his drawing Sorrow is widely acknowledged as a masterwork of draftsmanship, commonly called Sien Hoornik, Clasina Maria Hoornik lived with van Gogh during much of his time in The Hague from 1881 to 1883. Van Gogh used Sien, a pregnant prostitute, as a model for his work and later took Sien, Van Gogh made drawings and paintings of Sien and her daughter, baby and mother over that period, which reflected the domestic life and hardships of the working poor. Their relationship was not accepted by his family or supporters, although his brother Theo did not withdraw his support over it, at his brother Theos urging, van Gogh left Sien in 1883 to paint in Drenthe, ending the only domestic relationship he would ever have. Sien resumed her life as a seamstress, cleaning woman and likely prostitute before marrying in 1901. On 12 November 1904, aged 54, she threw herself into the Schelde river and drowned, fulfilling a prediction she had made to van Gogh in 1883, it’s bound to end up with me jumping into the water. In the summer of 1881, van Gogh fell in love with his widowed cousin. He proposed marriage, but was rebuffed with an adamant no, nay, Mauve was a successful and noted artist, a leading member of the Hague School and a master colorist whose paintings found a ready market both home and abroad. He had married van Goghs cousin, Ariëtte Carbentus, in 1874 while she was very young and he was already established and successful. After a last, humiliating, effort to win Kee over, on Christmas Day that year he refused to attend church, provoking a violent quarrel with his father, a pastor, which resulted in his leaving home the very same day. He returned to The Hague and studied further under Mauve and he also introduced van Gogh to painting, first in oils and then with watercolor. At the end of January 1882, on his own account, van Gogh met a homeless, pregnant, the exact date of this meeting is not known beyond van Goghs dating of it in a letter to Theo written in May. However another letter written mid-January mentions he was negotiating modelling with a mother with a little child, based on the dates, van Gogh could not have been the father of the child. Sien was born in 1850, the eldest of ten children of Pieter Hoornik, a porter in the district of the Geest. To provide for the family, Sien and her mother worked as seamstresses and their earnings were supplemented by what Siens brother, Pieter, could provide from the income of his chair-making business. The family often relied upon public assistance, for a time Sien and some of her siblings lived at a Catholic orphanage, relying on assistance from the public soup kitchen and church charities. So meager were her earnings, she turned to prostitution for a better income, by the age of 32, the unmarried Sien had given birth to four children, two of whom lived, Maria Wilhelmina, born about 1877, and Willem, born July 1882. Sien posed for van Gogh throughout the winter, in exchange, van Gogh provided Sien and her daughter with a place to live and food to eat
9.
Peasant Character Studies (Van Gogh series)
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Peasant Character Studies is a series of works that Vincent van Gogh made between 1881 and 1885. Van Gogh had an attachment and sympathy for peasants and other working class people that was fueled in several ways. He was particularly fond of the peasant genre work of Jean-François Millet and he found the subjects noble and important in the development of modern art. Van Gogh had a particular interest in creating character studies of working men and women in the Netherlands and Belgium, such as farmers, weavers, and fishermen. Making up a body of Van Goghs work during this period. The peasant genre of the Realism movement began in the 1840s with the works of Jean-François Millet, Jules Breton, Van Gogh described the works of Millet and Breton as having religious significance, something on high, and described them as being the voices of the wheat. The Van Gogh Museum says of Millets influence on Van Gogh, Millets paintings, with their depictions of peasants and their labors. Before Millet, peasant figures were just one of many elements in picturesque or nostalgic scenes, in Millets work, individual men and women became heroic and real. Millet was the major artist of the Barbizon School who was not interested in pure landscape painting. In 1880 when he was 27 years old, Van Gogh decided to become an artist, in October of that year he moved to Brussels and began a beginners course of study. Van Gogh returned to Etten in April 1881 to live with his parents and his younger brother Theo, an art dealer at the main branch of Goupil & Cie, encouraged him and started covering Van Goghs expenses. Van Gogh used images from illustrated magazines to teach himself how to draw, Charles Bargue, a French artist, wrote two books on drawing that were a significant source of study for Van Gogh. In January 1882, he settled in The Hague where he called on his cousin-in-law, Mauve introduced him to painting in both oil and watercolor and lent him money to set up a studio. Van Gogh began drawing people from the poor, including the prostitute Clasina Maria Sien Hoornik. Van Gogh dreamed his studio would one day become a form of respite for the poor where they could receive food, shelter and money for posing. His work was not well received, Mauve and H. G. Tersteeg, manager of Goupil & Cie, considered the drawings coarse, Van Gogh likened the unrefined characteristics of his drawings to harsh yellow soap made of lye. Van Goghs relationship with Sien changed as they lived together with Maria, her five-year-old daughter, Mauve appears to have suddenly gone cold towards Van Gogh and did not return a number of his letters. Van Gogh supposed that Mauve did not approve of his arrangement with Sien
10.
Cottages (Van Gogh series)
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Cottages is a subject of paintings created by Vincent van Gogh from 1883 and 1885. This is related to the Peasant Character Studies that Van Gogh worked on during the time period. Inspired by the work of Jean-François Millet and others working in the peasant genre, Van Gogh became interested in representing peasant life in his art. To depict the essence and spirit of their life, he for a time lived as they lived, he was in the fields as they were, enduring the weather for long hours as they were. To do so was not something taught in art schools, he wrote, so thoroughly was he engaged in living the peasant lifestyle that his appearance and manner of speech began to change. This alienated some of his friends and family, but was a cost, he believed, Van Gogh visited the province of Drenthe for three months, staying in Nieuw-Amsterdam. While there, he explored the countryside still untouched by progress found in larger towns, cottages is a study of farm cottages and an outbuilding that Van Gogh found on one of his treks. The dark cottage is set against the evening sky, here he was greatly impressed by the working poor, but unable to find models for his character studies. In 1882 Van Goghs father became pastor in Nuenen and the family lived at the vicarage at Nuenen, having been in Drenthe for several months, Van Gogh came to live with his parents in December 1883 and stayed there until May 1885. During the winter in Nuenen Van Gogh worked on studies of the local peasants. There was little to be done in the fields and Van Gogh was able to make connections to people through his father, Van Goghs character studies culminated in his famous painting The Potato Eaters. The Cottage was a home that the De Groot family, immortalized in The Potato Eaters shared with another family, the cottage has double front doors, a split chimney and quarters for two families. Seen in the light, the cottage seems peaceful. Van Gogh called the peasant homes human nests, Peasant Woman Digging in Front of Her Cottage was one of the paintings that Van Gogh left behind when he went to Antwerp in 1885 and it went to his mother Anna Carbentus van Gogh. Houses at Auvers, a return to the subject of cottages by van Gogh in 1890 Impressionism List of works by Vincent van Gogh Postimpressionism Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy
11.
Van Gogh's family in his art
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Van Goghs family in his art is a group of works that Vincent van Gogh made for or about Van Gogh family members. In 1881 Vincent drew a portrait of his grandfather, also named Vincent van Gogh, while living in Nuenen, Vincent memorialized his father in Still Life with Bible following his death in 1885. There he also many paintings and drawings in 1884 and 1885 of his parents vicarage, its garden. At the height of his career in Arles he made Portrait of the Artists Mother, Memory of the Garden at Etten of his mother and sister and Novel Reader, Vincent van Goghs grandfather was also named Vincent van Gogh. According to the artists first biographer, his sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh, the grandfather was a pastor, and the son of Johanna van der Vin of Malines and Johannes van Gogh. Johanna van Gogh writes that Johannes was at first a gold-wire drawer like his father, but he became a Bible teacher. She describes him as an intellectual, duty-bound man who was awarded prizes, a family legacy, from his great-uncle—a sculptor and a lifelong bachelor—allowed Vincent van Gogh to study divinity at the University of Leiden. After successfully completing his studies and having become established at the parsonage of Benschop and they remained married until Elisabeths death on 7 March 1857, the Reverend Vincent van Gogh lived until 1874. In July,1881 Vincent made Portrait of Artists Grandfather, the work was drawn in pencil and brown ink, with opaque white watercolor and a brown wash. The drawing is owned by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Theodorus van Gogh was born February 8,1822, one of eleven children and the only one of six brothers to become a pastor like his father. He was confirmed by his father, Vincent van Gogh, in Zundert on 1 April 1849, Reverend Theodorus van Gogh was pastor of the Protestant Dutch Reformed Church, which adhered to Calvinist doctrine. In May 1851 Theodorus married Anna Cornelia Carbentus, whose father was in the book business, according to Johanna van Gogh, Theodorus was a handsome man, he was called the handsome parson by some, he had an amiable character and fine spiritual qualities. Vincent van Gogh made a painting of his fathers Dutch Authorized Bible in Still Life with Bible months after Theodorus sudden death in March 1885, the Bible symbolizes his fathers faith, which Vincent saw as mired in convention. He painted the page open to the passage of Isaiah 53 and he placed Émile Zolas novel La Joie de vivre in front of the Bible which to him likely symbolized worldliness. The burned out candle shows an extinguishment—perhaps both of the life and of Vincents faith. Anna Cornelia Carbentus was born September 10,1819 at The Hague to Willem Carbentus and her younger sister Cornelia married Theodorus brother, Vincent van Gogh, the art dealer, and her older sister married a clergyman named Stricker. Anna became a devout and helpful clergymans wife, helping her husband in the parish and she enjoyed art and was artistically inclined, filling notebooks with drawings of plants and flowers and studied painting with Hendrik van de Sande Bakhuyzen. She outlived her three sons and her husband, yet still retained her energy and spirit and bore her sorrow with rare courage
12.
Montmartre (Van Gogh series)
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The Montmartre paintings are a group of works that Vincent van Gogh made in 1886 and 1887 of the Paris district of Montmartre while living there with his brother Theo. Rather than capture urban settings in Paris, van Gogh preferred pastoral scenes, such as Montmartre, of the two years in Paris, the work from 1886 often has the dark, somber tones of his early works from the Netherlands and Brussels. By the spring of 1887 van Gogh embraced use of color and light, the works in the series provide examples of his work during that period of time and the progression he made as an artist. In 1886, van Gogh left the Netherlands for Paris and the guidance of his brother Theo van Gogh who was an art dealer. While he had influenced not only by the great Dutch masters but also to a considerable extent by his cousin-in-law Anton Mauve a Dutch realist painter. Coming to Paris meant that he would also have the opportunity to be influenced by Impressionists, Symbolists, Pointillists and his circle of friends included Camille Pissarro, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard. Montmartre, sitting on a butte overlooking Paris, was known for its bars, cafes and it was also located on the edge of countryside that afforded Van Gogh the opportunity to work on paintings of rural settings while living in Paris. When Van Gogh painted he intended not just to capture the subject and it was through his paintings of nature that he was most successful at accomplishing his goal. It also created a challenge, how to portray the subject. The Boulevard de Clichy, a street in Montmartre, played an important role in van Goghs life in Paris, the Café du Tambourin was located there, a restaurant just around the corner from the apartment where he lived with his brother Theo. There van Gogh met with artists and displayed some of his works. He had a relationship with the owner of the establishment, Agostina Segatori, the painting of the Boulevard is Impressionistic in terms of subject and technique. Van Gogh used short brush strokes to depict the figures of the people, light is reflected off the road. Capturing a moment in a scene was a common theme for Impressionists. The vantage point for the painting was looking northwest from Place Blanche, Rue Lepics entrance is on the right side of the painting. Van Gogh also made a drawing of this site from a greater distance, Van Gogh created a number of paintings titled Le Moulin de la Galette, which was also called Moulin Bloute-Fin. In van Gogh’s first year in Paris he painted rural areas around Montmartre, such as the butte, the colors are somber and evoke a sense of his anxiety and loneliness. The landscape and windmills around Montmartre were the source of inspiration for a number of van Goghs paintings, the Moulin de la Galette, still standing, is located near the apartment he shared with his brother
