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Vincent Van Gogh: Theos
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In 1886, Vincent moved to Paris, where his devoted brother, Theo, was an art dealer. He quickly launched himself into study of the Impressionists and Japanese prints and emerged, after two years, with a highly original palette. He relocated himself to Arles, in Provence, where he began a frenzy of painting (sometimes going through a canvas per day) that showed his love for the town, countryside and sunlight of the area. Better known works from his time in Arles include Bedroom at Arles (1888), The Night Café (1888) and Starry Night (1889). His painting increasingly showed a lack of brushwork as he, in his haste to capture it, spread the color he saw in life thickly on to the canvas with his palette knife - and even straight from the tube.
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Throughout June, Vincent remained in good spirits and was remarkably productive, painting some of his best known works (Portrait of Doctor Gachet and The Church at Auvers, for example). The initial tranquility of the first month in Auvers was interrupted... when Vincent received news that his nephew was seriously ill. Theo had been going through a most difficult time throughout the previous few months: uncertainty about his own career and future, ongoing health problems and finally his own son's illness. Following the baby's recovery, Vincent decided to visit Theo and his family on 6 July and caught an early train. Very little is known about the visit, but Johanna, writing years later, would suggest that the day was strained and fairly tense. Vincent eventually felt overwhelmed and quickly returned to the more quiet sanctuary of Auvers.
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Vincent soon realized that he was ... inadequate as a teacher and a bookseller, and he was becoming desparate to find work. His parents were reluctant to continue supporting their oldest son, who was a failure in their eyes. This drew him to finally attempt to satisfy his father's greatest wish that he become a minister. In Amsterdam, he began studying for the University entrance exams in theology, but soon found that he did not have the ability to learn the required math and foreign languages. With a relative's help he entered an evangelical school in Brussels and subsequently became a missionary preacher in the Borinage, a mining district in Belgium.
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Thanks to Vincent Van Gogh's many letters to his younger brother, Theo, much is known about the inner turmoil of this most famous of Post-Impressionist artists. "My brush goes between my fingers as a bow on a violin," he wrote.
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Vincent visits Theo in Etten and, later in the year, has his advances rejected by his cousin Cornelia Adriana Vos-Stricker (known as Kee). Vincent is devastated by this rejection, but throughout the period ... follows his artistic pursuits. He spends time with the painter, Anton Mauve (1838-1888) who first introduces Vincent to watercolors. The situation with Kee causes Vincent's mental state to once again deteriorate and his relationship with his father also begins to crumble.
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Van Gogh's was born in Zundert on March 30, 1853, the oldest of eight children, whose father was a Lutheran pastor. He was closest to his brother Theo van Gogh. From the age of nine, van Gogh showed great talent in drawing, but it was in his late 20s, after a series of religious and emotional crises, that he took painting seriously.
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