Vincent van Gogh Fine Art Prints - Custom-made (Image in dark blue)

Biography Vincent van Gogh

born 30.3.1853 Groot-Zundert - died July 29, 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise

Van Gogh was one of the most important pioneers of modernism, the art of the 20th century. His impulsive and bold expressiveness created the conditions of later Fauvism and Expressionism. After dropping out of an apprenticeship as an art dealer and the failure of further training as a lay preacher, he preached as an assistant preacher in London suburbs and later in the Belgian coal mine area. Here he became acquainted with abject poverty. Around 1880 he began to paint self-taught. His early drawings and watercolors depicted the lives of the miners in dark brown tones. Later, through his brother, the art dealer Theo, he met the Impressionists in Paris. Throughout his life, van Gogh had an intimate relationship with his brother, who also supported him financially.

Under the influence of the Impressionists, his painting style brightened significantly. He uses strong vital basic colors. Under an expressive brushwork, intense contrasts were impressive. 1888 Resettlement to Arles and friendship with Gauguin. On the occasion of Gauguin's visit, a first nervous breakdown occurs. Did Van Gogh cut off an ear in the dispute? It could be a legend. (More at www.welt.de/kultur/van-Goghs-Ohr). After this incident, he is transferred to the institution in St.-Rèmy. In the last two months of his life he painted excessively about 200 pictures.

themes of his work, which was initially characterized by Japanese woodcuts, were his self-portraits, images of domestic and rural life, and his famous flower paintings. And again and again images that showed the power of nature, such as his "Starry Night", in which the stars get into wild twitches due to circling energy. A self-portrait, which he completed shortly before his suicide, shows him with a piercing look, distraught eyes full of suffering and dismay. During his lifetime, van Gogh sold a single painting. Today, his more than 800 works hang in 171 museums.

Text: © Jürgen Banse, 2014