Having recently visited the LUME van Gogh exhibit at Newfields art museum, my interest was piqued about Vincent van Gogh. What contributed to his unique personality? What was the deal with him cutting off his ear? Why did he shoot himself?
As is typical for me, I did a bit of searching to find some books to read to learn more. I found a few highly-rated biographies, but most were over 500 pages. I really didn’t want to learn THAT much more. Side note: this was my mindset when I wrote my biography of “mad” King Ludwig — I thought many people who wanted to visit his castles might want to learn his basic story without getting bogged down in every minor detail of his life.
So, I ended up checking out 2 books, each with many illustrations and each under 100 pages in length. They were “Van Gogh” by Ingo Walther, and “The Life and Works of Vincent Van Gogh” by Janice Anderson. I would recommend both if you’d like to learn some basics on van Gogh’s life and works.
Vincent was born in 1853, one year to the day after his parents’ firstborn, a stillborn boy that had also been given the name Vincent. Vincent’s father was a pastor and for a time, Vincent considered following the same path.
After trying various different career choices, Vincent decided to try painting as a vocation. This happened in his late 20s, and he produced an amazing amount of paintings before his death at 37.
He lived for a while in southern France, in a building he calls “the yellow house.” His roommate there is fellow artist Gauguin, who seemed more stable than poor Vincent. Gauguin and van Gogh had disagreements over philosophies of art. Gauguin decided to move out, and this pushed Vincent over the edge. He followed Gauguin out of the house, threatening him with a knife. The next morning, Gauguin found that Vincent had cut off a part of his own ear with knife and was now in the hospital. One of van Gogh’s famous self-portraits shows him with his ear bandaged.
Vincent had many struggles in life. His paintings never sold (he gave one portrait to the man he used as a model, and the man used it to patch a hole in his chicken house). He relied on his younger brother and closest friend, Theo, to pay his basic bills. He was rejected romantically and never married. He was a complete failure in everything that his contemporaries regarded as important.
In 1889, realizing his instability, he went to live in an insane asylum near St Remy, France. Here he created some of his most famous paintings, “Starry Night” being one example. “That is the eternal question,” he wrote to Theo, “is life all that there is of life or do we only know one hemisphere before our death? Speaking for myself I have no idea what the answer is but the sight of the stars always starts me thinking.”
In July 1890, feeling hopeless after more life struggles, Vincent went into a field with a gun and shot himself in the chest. He dragged himself back to the asylum, where he died two days later.
“It is only too true that a lot of artists are mentally ill — it’s a life which, to put it mildly, makes one an outsider. I’m alright when I completely immerse myself in work, but I’ll always remain half crazy.”