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What’s van Gogh famous for?

• painting ‘Sunflowers’
• being friends with Paul Gauguin
• cutting his ear (because of his mental illness)

NowYouKnowAbout Artists brings your children van Gogh’s life story in DVD format as an easy introduction to great historical figures.

Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853 in Groot-Zundert in Holland. He was the first of 5 children for Theodorus and his wife Anna. Theodorus was a religious man, a preacher who worked in the village church while Anna stayed at home and looked after the family.

Vincent was a solitary boy at school, enjoying the flowers, trees and animals more than the games and jokes of his classmates. After school he tried several jobs before realizing his true love was painting. First he worked in an art gallery, a job he got through a family connection. Next, he taught in a school in Ramsgate in Kent; he was an intelligent and scholarly type. Then, on a visit home he developed a deep interest in the Church and decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a preacher. However, he was considered too unstable and emotional to be of use in the Church.

Out on his own again, he slowly came to the conclusion that life as an artist was his destiny. He enrolled in an art school, to learn the various techniques and it was only at this late stage that he took up painting with enormous enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, his brother Theo was well-established as an art dealer in Paris. After a few years of painting the dark and gloomy Dutch countryside scenes, Vincent set off to Paris to live with his brother and find new inspiration.

In Paris, Vincent came across lots of exciting artists who were full of new ideas about how to paint. He became especially good friends with Paul Gauguin.

After a while Vincent began to tire of life in Paris. It was often cold and wet. His brother Theo was difficult to live with – or maybe he, Vincent was the tricky one. And he longed to paint some colours and some warmth. So he set off for the South.

In Arles, Vincent settled in the Yellow House. He painted ferociously. Pictures of his house, his bedroom, the postman, the café, the fields, the harvests, the night sky....these have all become famous today for their colour, life and expression.

However, Vincent was not feeling well inside. During a visit from Paul Gauguin, Vincent had an angry outburst with his friend and fled back to the Yellow House where he cut part of his ear with a knife.

Shocked by what he had done, he admitted himself to the local hospital and while there, he continued to paint enthusiastically, from life and also from memory and imagination.

Theo, his responsible younger brother and dearest friend, was very upset by Vincent’s difficulties and he arranged to move his brother closer to Paris. He found lodgings for Vincent with Dr Gachet in Auvers, just outside the capital. There Vincent was cared for by the doctor and his daughter. He painted numerous landscapes and portraits there. Sadly, he couldn’t shake off his sadness and one summer evening, a year or so after his arrival at Dr Gachet, he went off into the woods and shot himself in the chest. He managed to crawl back to the house but the doctor couldn’t save him and he died three days later. Theo was by his side and he himself died only 6 months afterwards.

Despite his sadness and suicide, Vincent’s works have brought admiration and pleasure to so many people.

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