BIOGRAPHY AND ART OF VINCENT VAN GOGH-by Cristina Barreto

            BIOGRAPHY AND ART OF VINCENT VAN GOGH

Vincent Van Gogh was a postimpressionist artist who painted about 900 pictures.

He was born on March 30^th of 1853 in Groot-Zunder, Netherland. He was very close to his brother, Theo, who gave him a great moral and economic support.

He left school on 1868 and on 1869 he began working as an apprentice in an art gallery. He was intended to Paris and London, but he was dismissed from his job on 1878.

Vincent decided to become a painter. On 1880 he settled in Brussels and enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts.

He spent two years in Nuenen. On 1885 he moved to Antwerp and on 1886 he continued his studies in Paris, where he contacted with the impressionists. He met Paul Gauguin in autumn of that year.

On February of 1888, Vincent moved to Arles. He rented a house and invited Gauguin to settle with him. On December 23^rd, they had a fight and Vincent threatened Gauguin with a razor. After that, Gauguin left Vincent, who cut his right earlobe as a gesture of repentance.

After this event, Vincent was admitted to a hospital. In January of 1890 he returned to his home, where he painted several self-portraits. In February, he was readmitted to the hospital for suffering hallucinations. After several incidents with his neighbors, Vincent voluntarily entered in the mental hospital of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole.

On July 27^th Vincent shot himself. He received medical attention but he didn’t allow the doctors to remove the bullet. Theo spent the day with Vincent, who died on July 29^th, 1890.

Van Gogh died poor, and his last sentence was: “I risked my life for my work, and my reason was always undermined”.

Some of his most famous paintings are: Starry Night, Sunflowers, The Bedroom, Blossoming Almond Tree, The Night Café, and The Potato Eaters.