Midterm Part 1
Midterm Part 1
Midterm Part 1
Vincent Van Gogh, who was born in Holland in 1853, is one of the
world’s most famous painters. Although his talent was unrecognized
throughout his life, it was much appreciated after his death.
After he had failed in every career he had attempted, Van Gogh first
turned to art to express his strong religious feelings. After he had
decided to become a painter, in about 1880, he started to paint
studies of peasants and miners. During the next few years, which are
known as his ‘Dutch period’, he produced painting with rather dark
greenish-brown colours.
In 1886, when he went to Paris to visit his brother Theo, he was
immediately attracted to the Impressionist work he saw there. He
decided to stay in Paris and continued his painting there. He was
encouraged by Picasso to use more colour in his pictures and his
subsequent paintings were bright and immensely colourful.
After Van Gogh had moved to Aries in the south of France in 1888,
he worked frantically. This frenzied activity, which was interrupted
by bouts of deep depression and despair, produced the majority of his
most famous paintings. One of these, which is called Self Portrait with
Bandaged Ear, shows Van Gogh: he was wearing a bandage after he
had cut off his own ear. A year later, in 1890, he committed suicide.
A lot is known about Van Gogh’s life and his feelings because of
the hundreds of letters which were written by him to his brother Theo
and others. Because his brother believed in Van Gogh’s genius, he
always encouraged him in his work. He was the person closest to Van
Gogh.