Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American actor and author. A centenarian, he is one of the last surviving stars of the film industry's Golden Age. After an impoverished childhood with immigrant parents and six sisters, he had his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war movies. During his career, he appeared in more than 90 movies. Douglas is known for his explosive acting style. Douglas became an international star through positive reception for his leading role as an unscrupulous boxing hero in Champion, which brought him his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Other early films include Young Man with a Horn, playing opposite Lauren Doris Day, he received a second Oscar nomination for his dramatic role in The Bad and the Beautiful, opposite Lana Turner, his third nomination for portraying Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life. In 1955, he established Bryna Productions, which began producing films as varied as Paths of Glory and Spartacus.
In those two films, he collaborated with the then-relatively-unknown director Stanley Kubrick taking lead roles in both films. Douglas has been praised for helping to break the Hollywood blacklist by having Dalton Trumbo write Spartacus with an official on-screen credit, although this has been disputed by others, he produced and starred in Lonely Are the Brave, considered a classic, Seven Days in May, opposite Burt Lancaster, with whom he made seven films. In 1963, he starred in the Broadway play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a story he purchased, which he gave to his son Michael Douglas, who turned it into an Oscar-winning film; as an actor and philanthropist, Douglas has received three Academy Award nominations, an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As an author, he has written ten memoirs, he is No. 17 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema, the highest-ranked living person on the list. After surviving a helicopter crash in 1991 and suffering a stroke in 1996, he has focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life.
He lives with Anne Buydens, a producer. Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky in Amsterdam, New York, the son of Bryna "Bertha" and Herschel "Harry" Danielovitch, his parents were Jewish emigrants from Chavusy, Mogilev Region, in the Russian Empire, the family spoke Yiddish at home. His father's brother, who emigrated earlier, used the surname Demsky, which Douglas's family adopted in the United States. Douglas grew up as Izzy Demsky and changed his name to Kirk Douglas before entering the United States Navy during World War II. In his 1988 autobiography, The Ragman's Son, Douglas notes the hardships that he, along with six sisters and his parents, endured during their early years in Amsterdam, New York: My father, a horse trader in Russia, got himself a horse and a small wagon, became a ragman, buying old rags, pieces of metal, junk for pennies and dimes.... On Eagle Street, in the poorest section of town, where all the families were struggling, the ragman was on the lowest rung on the ladder.
And I was the ragman's son. Growing up, Douglas sold snacks to mill workers to earn enough to buy milk and bread to help his family, he delivered newspapers and during his youth he had more than forty jobs before becoming an actor. He found living in a family with six sisters to be stifling: "I was dying to get out. In a sense, it lit a fire under me." In high school, after acting in plays, he knew he wanted to become a professional actor. Unable to afford the tuition, Douglas talked his way into the dean's office at St. Lawrence University and showed him a list of his high school honors, he received a loan which he paid back by working part-time as a janitor. He wrestled one summer in a carnival to make money. Douglas's acting talents were noticed at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, which gave him a special scholarship. One of his classmates was Betty Joan Perske, who would play an important role in launching his film career. Bacall wrote that she "had a wild crush on Kirk," and they dated casually.
Another classmate, a friend of Bacall's, was aspiring actress Diana Dill, who would become Douglas's first wife. During their time together, Bacall learned Douglas had no money, that he once spent the night in jail since he had no place to sleep, she once gave him her uncle's old coat to keep warm: "I thought he must be frozen in the winter.... He was thrilled and grateful." Sometimes, just to see him, she would drag a friend or her mother to the restaurant where he worked as a busboy and waiter. He told her. During that period she fantasized about someday sharing her personal and stage lives with Douglas, but would be disappointed: "Kirk did not pursue me, he was friendly and sweet—enjoyed my company—but I was too young for him," the eight-years-younger Bacall wrote. Douglas first wanted to be an actor after he recited the poem The Red Robin of Spring while in kindergarten and received applause, he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1941, shortly after the United Stat
Virtual International Authority File
The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of several national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. Discussion about having a common international authority started in the late 1990s. After a series of failed attempts to come up with a unique common authority file, the new idea was to link existing national authorities; this would present all the benefits of a common file without requiring a large investment of time and expense in the process. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library and the OCLC on August 6, 2003; the Bibliothèque nationale de France joined the project on October 5, 2007. The project transitioned to being a service of the OCLC on April 4, 2012; the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together. A VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary "see" and "see also" records from the original records, refers to the original authority records.
The data are available for research and data exchange and sharing. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol; the file numbers are being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAF's clustering algorithm is run every month; as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records. Authority control Faceted Application of Subject Terminology Integrated Authority File International Standard Authority Data Number International Standard Name Identifier Wikipedia's authority control template for articles Official website VIAF at OCLC
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blythe Barrymore is an American actress, director, author and entrepreneur. She is a member of the Barrymore family of actors, the granddaughter of John Barrymore, she achieved fame as a child actress with her role in E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA nomination. Following a publicized childhood marked by drug and alcohol abuse, Barrymore released an autobiography, Little Girl Lost, in 1991, she went on to appear in a string of successful films throughout the decade, including Poison Ivy, Boys on the Side, Mad Love, Ever After and The Wedding Singer. The latter was her first collaboration with Adam Sandler. Barrymore's other films include Never Been Kissed, Charlie's Angels, Donnie Darko, Riding in Cars with Boys, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Fever Pitch and Lyrics, Going the Distance, Big Miracle and Miss You Already. Barrymore made her directorial debut with Whip It, in which she starred, received a SAG Award and a Golden Globe for her performance in Grey Gardens.
She stars on the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet. In 1995, Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen formed the production company Flower Films; the pair have produced several projects. In 2013, Barrymore launched a range of cosmetics under the Flower banner, which has grown to include lines in makeup and eyewear, her other business ventures include a range of a clothing line. In 2015, she released Wildflower. Barrymore received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004. Barrymore was born in California, to actor John Barrymore and aspiring actress Jaid. Jaid was born in a displaced persons camp in Brannenburg, West Germany, to Hungarian World War II refugees. Barrymore is one of four children and has a half-brother, an actor, her parents divorced in 1984. Barrymore was born into an acting family. All of her paternal great-grandparents—Maurice and Georgie Drew Barrymore and Mae Costello —as well as her paternal grandparents, John Barrymore and Dolores Costello, were actors, with John being arguably the most acclaimed actor of his generation.
Barrymore is a niece of Diana Barrymore, a grandniece of Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Helene Costello, a great-great-granddaughter of Irish-born John and English-born Louisa Lane Drew, all of whom were actors. She was a great-grandniece of Broadway idol John Drew Jr. and silent film actor and director Sidney Drew. Barrymore's godmothers are Lee Strasberg's widow, Anna Strasberg, her godfather is director Steven Spielberg. Barrymore's first name, was the maiden name of her paternal great-grandmother, Georgie Drew, her middle name, was the surname of the family first used by her great-grandfather, Maurice Barrymore. In her 1991 autobiography Little Girl Lost, Barrymore recounted early memories of her abusive father, who left the family when Barrymore was 6 months old, she and her father never had anything resembling a significant relationship and spoke to each other. Barrymore grew up on Poinsettia Place in West Hollywood until the age of 7, when she moved to Sherman Oaks. In her 2015 memoir, she says she talks "like a valley girl" because she grew up in Sherman Oaks.
She moved back to West Hollywood upon becoming emancipated at 14. Barrymore attended elementary school at Fountain Day School in Country School. In the wake of her sudden stardom, Barrymore endured a notoriously troubled childhood, she was a regular at the racy Studio 54 as a young girl, her nightlife and constant partying became a popular subject with the media. She was placed in rehab at the age of 13, spent 18 months in an institution for the mentally ill. A suicide attempt at 14 put her back in rehab, followed by a three-month stay with singer David Crosby and his wife; the stay was precipitated, Crosby said, because she "needed to be around some people that were committed to sobriety." Barrymore described this period of her life in her autobiography, Little Girl Lost. After a successful juvenile court petition for emancipation, she moved into her own apartment at the age of 15. Barrymore's professional career began at 11 months, she was nipped by her canine co-star, to which she laughed and was hired for the job.
After her film debut with a small role in Altered States, she played Gertie in E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Steven Spielberg. He felt that she had the right imagination for her role after she impressed him with a story that she led a punk rock band. E. T. is the highest-grossing film of the 1980s and made her one of the most famous child actors of the time. For her work, she won a Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Actress. In the 1984 horror film adaptation of Stephen King's 1980 novel Firestarter, Barrymore played a girl with pyrokinesis who becomes the target of a secret government agency known as The Shop; the same year, she played a young girl divorcing her famous parents in Irreconcilable Differences, for which she was nominated for her first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. In a review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert stated, "Barrymore is the right actress for this role b
Fletch (film)
Fletch is a 1985 American action-comedy directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Andrew Bergman and is loosely based on Gregory Mcdonald's popular Fletch novels. The film stars Tim Matheson, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Geena Davis and Joe Don Baker; the film revolves around Los Angeles Times reporter Irwin M. "Fletch" Fletcher, offered a large sum of money to kill a millionaire with a terminal cancer prognosis. Fletch becomes suspicious. In the 1970s, Burt Reynolds and Mick Jagger were considered to portray Fletch but these suggestions were rejected by Mcdonald; the author agreed to the casting of Chevy Chase despite never seeing the comedian in anything. Chase enjoyed the role because it allowed him to play several different characters and work with props. In a 2004 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Chase confirmed. Fletch performed well at the box office, it has since developed a cult following. It was followed by a 1989 sequel, Fletch Lives. A prequel, Fletch Won, has been in development for over two decades.
Los Angeles Times undercover reporter Irwin M. "Fletch" Fletcher is writing an article exposing drug trafficking on the beaches of Los Angeles. While posing as an addict, he is approached by Boyd Aviation executive vice president Alan Stanwyk, who assumes Fletch is a real junkie. Stanwyk claims to have cancer, with only months left to live, wishes to avoid the suffering. Stanwyk offers $50,000 for Fletch to kill him at his mansion in a few days time, stage the scene as a burglary flee to Rio de Janeiro. Fletch, not convinced on the truth of Stanwyk's story, agrees to the plan. Along with his colleague Larry, he begins investigating Stanwyk instead of completing his drug exposé, much to the disapproval of his overbearing editor Frank Walker. Disguised as a doctor, Fletch accesses Stanwyk's file at the hospital and learns he does not have cancer. Fletch visits Stanwyk's wife Gail at her tennis club. Pretending to be a tennis instructor and friend of Alan's, he flirts with her during a tennis lesson.
Looking into Stanwyk's finances, Fletch finds that Gail converted $3 million of her personal stock in Boyd Aviation into cash for her husband, to buy a ranch in Provo, Utah. Fletch breaks into the realtor's office and discovers the sale price was only $3,000. Meanwhile, LAPD Chief Jerry Karlin learns of Fletch's drug article, he warns Fletch. Karlin threatens to kill Fletch. At the tennis club, Fletch overhears arrogant club member Mr. Underhill, insulting a waiter and decides to use Underhill's tab to treat Gail to an expensive lunch in her private cabana. Fletch tells her the true price of the ranch. Fletch watches Stanwyk making a suspicious briefcase exchange with Chief Karlin, but is unable to determine the nature of their relationship; when he is chased by LAPD officers lying in wait at his apartment, Fletch goes into hiding, returning to Provo. Posing as an insurance investigator, he interviews Stanwyk's parents, learning that Stanwyk has been married to another woman for eight years. Fletch arrives at Stanwyk's mansion on the night of the planned murder, but finds Stanwyk prepared to kill him instead.
Fletch reveals his discovery of Stanwyk's real plan: fake his own death by killing Fletch and burning his body beyond recognition escape to Brazil with his first wife and Gail's $3 million. Stanwyk was using his private jet to smuggle drugs from South America to supply Chief Karlin, who blackmailed ex-convicts Fat Sam and Gummy to distribute it on the beaches. Karlin arrives unexpectedly. Karlin and Fletch fight over the gun until Gail strikes Karlin from behind, rendering him unconscious. Karlin is indicted with testimony from Fat Sam and Gummy. Fletch begins taking her to Rio on Stanwyk's tickets and using Underhill's tab. Chevy Chase as Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher Joe Don Baker as Chief Karlin Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Gail Stanwyk Richard Libertini as Frank Walker Tim Matheson as Alan Stanwyk M. Emmet Walsh as Dr. Dolan George Wendt as Fat Sam Kenneth Mars as Stanton Boyd Geena Davis as Larry Bill Henderson as Speaker George Wyner as Marvin Gillet Larry "Flash" Jenkins as GummyThe film makes numerous references to Fletch's favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers, includes appearances by Lakers player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn, as themselves.
Gregory Mcdonald's Fletch books were optioned around the mid to late 1970s, but the author retained the right to veto casting choices. He rejected both Burt Mick Jagger as Fletch; when the studio mentioned Chevy Chase as Fletch, Mcdonald agreed, although he had never seen Chase perform. When producer Alan Greisman and screenwriter Andrew Bergman got involved, Chase agreed to do it. Mcdonald sent Chase a telegram saying, "I am delighted to abdicate the role of Fletch to you." Bergman was hired to adapt McDonald's book into screenplay form. Bergman remembers that he wrote the screenplay "very fast – I did the first draft in four weeks... There was a certain amount of improv, something that we used to call dial-a-joke." Phil Alden Robinson did some uncredited work on the script. Mcdonald was angered by the deviations from his original text, he listed his many objections. Director Ritchie invite
National Library of the Czech Republic
The National Library of the Czech Republic is the central library of the Czech Republic. It is directed by the Ministry of Culture; the library's main building is located in the historical Clementinum building in Prague, where half of its books are kept. The other half of the collection is stored in the district of Hostivař; the National Library is the biggest library in the Czech Republic, in its funds there are around 6 million documents. The library has around 60,000 registered readers; as well as Czech texts, the library stores older material from Turkey and India. The library houses books for Charles University in Prague; the library won international recognition in 2005 as it received the inaugural Jikji Prize from UNESCO via the Memory of the World Programme for its efforts in digitising old texts. The project, which commenced in 1992, involved the digitisation of 1,700 documents in its first 13 years; the most precious medieval manuscripts preserved in the National Library are the Codex Vyssegradensis and the Passional of Abbes Kunigunde.
In 2006 the Czech parliament approved funding for the construction of a new library building on Letna plain, between Hradčanská metro station and Sparta Prague's football ground, Letná stadium. In March 2007, following a request for tender, Czech architect Jan Kaplický was selected by a jury to undertake the project, with a projected completion date of 2011. In 2007 the project was delayed following objections regarding its proposed location from government officials including Prague Mayor Pavel Bém and President Václav Klaus. Plans for the building had still not been decided in February 2008, with the matter being referred to the Office for the Protection of Competition in order to determine if the tender had been won fairly. In 2008, Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička announced the end of the project, following a ruling from the European Commission that the tender process had not been carried out legally; the library was affected by the 2002 European floods, with some documents moved to upper levels to avoid the excess water.
Over 4,000 books were removed from the library in July 2011 following flooding in parts of the main building. There was a fire at the library in December 2012. List of national and state libraries Official website
Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards Jr. was an American stage and television actor. He was a winner of two Academy Awards and an Emmy Award, he was a United States Navy combat veteran of World War II. He became famous playing works of American playwright Eugene O'Neill and performed in O'Neill's works throughout his career. Robards was cast both as well-known historical figures. Robards was born July 26, 1922, in Chicago, the son of Hope Maxine Robards and Jason Robards Sr. an actor who appeared on the stage and in such early films as The Gamblers. Robards was of German, Welsh and Swedish descent; the family moved to New York City when Jason Jr. was still a toddler, moved to Los Angeles when he was six years old. Interviews with Robards suggested that the trauma of his parents' divorce, which occurred during his grade-school years affected his personality and world view; as a youth, Robards witnessed first-hand the decline of his father's acting career. The elder Robards had enjoyed considerable success during the era of silent films, but he fell out of favor after the advent of "talkies", leaving the younger Robards soured on the Hollywood film industry.
The teenage Robards excelled in athletics, running a 4:18-mile during his junior year at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles. Although his prowess in sports attracted interest from several universities, Robards decided to enlist in the United States Navy upon his graduation in 1940. Following the completion of recruit training and radio school, Robards was assigned to the heavy cruiser USS Northampton in 1941 as a radioman 3rd class. On December 7, 1941, Northampton was at sea in the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles off Hawaii. Contrary to some stories, he did not see the devastation of the Japanese attack on Hawaii until Northampton returned to Pearl Harbor two days later. Northampton was directed into the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II's Pacific theater, where she participated in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. During the Battle of Tassafaronga in the waters north of Guadalcanal on the night of November 30, 1942, Northampton was sunk by hits from two Japanese torpedoes. Robards found himself treading water until near daybreak, when he was rescued by an American destroyer.
For her service in the war, Northampton was awarded six battle stars. Two years in November 1944, Robards was radioman aboard the light cruiser USS Nashville, the flagship for the invasion of Mindoro in the northern Philippines. On December 13, she was struck by a kamikaze aircraft off Negros Island in the Philippines; the aircraft hit one of the port five-inch gun mounts, while the plane's two bombs set the midsection of the ship ablaze. With this damage and 223 casualties, Nashville was forced to return to Pearl Harbor and to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, for repairs. Robards served honorably during the war, but was not a recipient of the U. S. Navy Cross for bravery, contrary to what has been reported in numerous sources; the inaccurate story derives from a 1979 column by Hy Gardner. Aboard Nashville, Robards first found a copy of Eugene O'Neill's play Strange Interlude in the ship's library. While in the Navy, he first started thinking about becoming an actor, he had emceed for a Navy band in Pearl Harbor, got a few laughs, decided he liked it.
His father suggested. Robards was awarded the Good Conduct Medal of the Navy, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal. Robards got into acting after his career began slowly, he moved to New York City and found small parts – first in radio and on the stage. His first film was Follow That Music, a short movie from 1947, his big break was landing the starring role in José Quintero's 1956 off Broadway theatre revival production and the 1960 television film of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, portraying the philosophical salesman Hickey. He portrayed Hickey again in another 1985 Broadway revival staged by Quintero. Robards created the role of Jamie Tyrone in the original Broadway production of O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning Long Day's Journey into Night, directed by Quintero. Other O'Neill plays directed by Quintero and featuring Robards included Hughie, A Touch of the Poet, A Moon for the Misbegotten.
He repeated his role in Long Day's Journey into Night in the 1962 film and televised his performances in A Moon for the Misbegotten and Hughie. Robards appeared onstage in a revival of O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! Directed by Arvin Brown, as well as Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic, Arthur Miller's After the Fall, Clifford Odets's The Country Girl, Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, he made his film debut in the two-reel comedy Follow That Music, but after his Broadway success, he was invited to make his feature debut in The Journey. He became a familiar face to movie audiences throughout the 1960s, notably for his performances in A Thousand Clowns repeating his stage performance, Hour of the Gun as Doc Holliday, The Night They Raided Minsky's, Once Upon a Time in the West, he appeared on television anthology series, including two segments in the mid-1950s of CBS's Appointment with Adventure. Robards played three different U. S. presidents in film. He played the role of Abraham Lincoln in th
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter, 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, most of them in the last two years of his life, they include landscapes, still lifes and self-portraits, are characterised by bold colours and dramatic and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. However, he was not commercially successful, his suicide at 37 followed years of mental illness and poverty. Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious and thoughtful; as a young man he worked as an art dealer travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He spent time as a Protestant missionary in southern Belgium, he drifted in ill health and solitude before taking up painting in 1881, having moved back home with his parents. His younger brother Theo supported him financially, the two kept up a long correspondence by letter.
His early works still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers, contain few signs of the vivid colour that distinguished his work. 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 local landscapes. His paintings grew brighter in colour as he developed a style that became realised during his stay in Arles in the south of France in 1888. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include series of olive trees, wheat fields and sunflowers. Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions and though he worried about his mental stability, he neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily, his friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he severed part of his own left ear. He spent time including a period at Saint-Rémy. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet.
His depression continued and on 27 July 1890, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a Lefaucheux revolver. He died from his injuries two days later. Van Gogh was unsuccessful during his lifetime, was considered a madman and a failure, he became famous after his suicide, exists in the public imagination as the quintessential misunderstood genius, the artist "where discourses on madness and creativity converge". His reputation began to grow in the early 20th century as elements of his painting style came to be incorporated by the Fauves and German Expressionists, he attained widespread critical and popular success over the ensuing decades, is remembered as an important but tragic painter, whose troubled personality typifies the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings to have sold at auction, his legacy is honoured by a museum in his name, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings.
The most comprehensive primary source on Van Gogh is the correspondence between him and his younger brother, Theo. Their lifelong friendship, most of what is known of Vincent's thoughts and theories of art, are recorded in the hundreds of letters they exchanged from 1872 until 1890. Theo van Gogh was an art dealer and provided his brother with financial and emotional support, access to influential people on the contemporary art scene. Theo kept all of Vincent's letters to him. After both had died, Theo's widow Johanna arranged for the publication of some of their letters. A few appeared in 1906 and 1913. Vincent's letters are eloquent and expressive and have been described as having a "diary-like intimacy", read in parts like autobiography; the translator Arnold Pomerans wrote that their publication adds a "fresh dimension to the understanding of Van Gogh's artistic achievement, an understanding granted us by no other painter". There are more than 600 letters from around 40 from Theo to Vincent.
There are 22 to his sister Wil, 58 to the painter Anthon van Rappard, 22 to Émile Bernard as well as individual letters to Paul Signac, Paul Gauguin and the critic Albert Aurier. Some are illustrated with sketches. Many are undated. Problems in transcription and dating remain with those posted from Arles. While there Vincent wrote around 200 letters in Dutch and English. There is a gap in the record when he lived in Paris as the brothers lived together and had no need to correspond. Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 into a Dutch Reformed family in Groot-Zundert, in the predominantly Catholic province of North Brabant in the southern Netherlands, he was the oldest surviving child of Theodorus van Gogh, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, Anna Cornelia Carbentus. Van Gogh was given the name of his grandfather, of a brother stillborn a year before his birth. Vincent was a common name in the Van Gogh family: his grandfather, who received a degree in theology at the University of Leiden in 1811, had six sons, three of whom became art dealers.
This Vincent may have been named after a sculptor. Van Gogh's mother came from a prosperous family in The Hague, his father was the youngest son of a minister; the two
