Vincent Van Gogh - Research Paper Example

?Vincent van Gogh Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch born visual artist who concentrated his efforts on paintings. Gogh is mainly remembered for his paintings that portrayed a high degree of beauty, bold colors and emotions. In addition, most of his audience described his paintings as honest due to the life expressions that they possessed. Gogh is also considered as one of the most influential artists of the nineteenth century due to the work that he did within his 37 years of life. His life was intensive since he started drawing at an early age. By the time he had attained 37 years of age, he had produced approximately 2,000, which consisted of about 800 oil paintings (Rewald 312). This essay will therefore focus on Gogh’s life and career as an artist. Vincent Wikllem Gogh was born in 1885 in North Brabant southern Holland. He was the first child of Theoudorous van Gogh who served as a minister in the Dutch Reformed church. The village where Gogh was born was dominated by Catholics and therefore his family was considered unique. Gogh was indeed a special child as the society perceived his family since at a tender age he began showing interests with works of art. This was a special characteristic since children of his age would occupy themselves with playing. His family was however influential to his early involvement with art. Art and religion were to main thing that dominated the lives of his family members. Religion was a central part of their family due to the role played by his father. In addition, the Dutch reformed church in the village had beautiful works of art that became of interest to the young boy. Influence from his church and family made him to grow into a thoughtful and serious young boy. This character made him to lack association with other children of his age. He spent most of his early life in solitary and in meditations. However, he was a religious person and he never missed to attend children training sessions that were held every week at the local church. In 1860, his father took him to a local primary school at Zundret village. The school did not have the capacity to hold a big number of children since it only had one teacher for a class of about 200 pupils. This implied that in most times the students were left unattended to by the teachers and, this increased Gogh’s chances of practicing his art skills. In 1866, his father transferred him to a boarding school at Zevenbergen. The transfer proved to be disastrous to his life due to the fact the he was an introvert. This made it difficult for him to associate and make friends in the new school. In addition, people from the new school harassed him due to his peculiar characteristics. In September 1886, he joined Willem II College in Tilburg province. This school meant a lot to his life and career as an artist since he got the chance of meeting Constantijin a famous artist from France. At this school, Constantijin worked as a teacher and he was able to note the peculiar characteristics in Gogh within a short period. Although Gogh had a good relationship with his teachers from the new school, he decided to drop out of school in 1868 due to lack of interest with school duties and procedures. In 1869 his uncle Cent, connected him to an art dealer who owned Goupil & Cie, which was a leading art company in Hague. This marked the beginning of his career as a professional artist. After joining Goupil & Cie Company, his supervisor immediately noticed his outstanding skills and placed him in a training program in order to refine his artistic skills. Gogh completed his training secession in 1873 and he was immediately transferred to London where he worked for Messers Goupil & co. This transfer became a source of motivation for his career since he was earning more money than his fellow artists were (Callow 46). Life in London however turned against him as his was rejected by his first lover Eugenie Loyer. The dark moments of his lie returned to him and he returned to his solitary life. His father and uncle noticed this behavior and they arranged with the company owner for him to be transferred to Paris. In 1876, Goupil Company decided to terminate his term of employment due to lack of performance. He later returned to England where he worked as a volunteer teacher at a small boarding school located at Ramsgate harbor where he worked as a supplies teacher. His love for art did not end with his employment at Gopuil since he continued to make drawings. While in Ramsgate, Gogh made a sketch that depicted the view of the harbor from the window of his house. He left his work in the school after a few months following the transfer of the school’s proprietor. He later moved to Isleworth where he became an assistant minister at a local Methodist church. He returned to his home during the Christmas of the same year and his father asked him not to go out of the country again. He got a temporally employment as a bookshop attendant where he used to offer services to the bookshop’s customers. However, he found the new job unattractive and in most occasions, he would be found sleeping or translating bible verses into English, French and German. He later joined Amsterdam school of theology before he took a temporary position as a missionary in Petit Wasmes village. His life involved many turnarounds and each of them inspired him to produce a work of art. Gogh mainly concentrated in oil painting with most of his work done on canvas. His painting on the Potato Eaters 1885 was the first piece of work that put him in the public domain. This painting was inspired by the life of many peasant farmers who lived in Netherlands. The painting however made the local Catholic Church priest to condemn him. The Skull with a Burning Cigarette 1886 is also among his most celebrated works of art (Pickvance 214). He did this painting on canvas and it was first displayed in Hague. The main motivation behind this painting was the changing lifestyle among the Europeans. Gogh intended the painting to be a warning to the people who were getting involved with destructive behaviors such as smoking cigarettes. During his stay in Paris, he did some outstanding paintings that can still be found in the Paris museum. Among these paintings are The Courtesan 1887, The Blooming and Plum tree 1887. Each of these paintings had a different theme and inspiration that depended on the immediate society. Gogh also painted the portraits of influential people in the society particularly during his stay in France. Some of his most popular portraits include Portraits of Pere Tanguy, 1887 Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1887 and Portrait of Joseph Roulin 1888. Gogh did most of the portraits from a real life observation perspective. During his short stay at Saint Paul –de – Mausole, he continued to do his paintings where the small clinic and its gardens became the main subject of his work (Bernard 109). Among the most famous paintings during the stay includes The Starry Night, June 1889 and "The Sower", 1888. Gogh did these paintings to describe life in rural villages (Pomerans 98). Van Gogh did other paintings during his life and most of his paintings were inspired by the immediate surroundings. His last painting is the famous White House at Night, 1890, which he did six weeks before he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. In conclusion, Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most outstanding artists of the nineteenth century. Gogh noticed his superiority in art during his early school days and he lived his life to fulfill his passion in drawing. Gogh encountered many events during his life, which he transferred into paintings. His paintings demonstrated the life of ordinary people that surrounded him. Works Cited Bernard, Bruce . Vincent by Himself. London: Time Warner, 2004. Print. Callow, Philip. Vincent van Gogh: A Life. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1990. Print. Pomerans, Arnold. The Letters of Vincent van Gogh. London: Penguin Classics, 1997. Print. Rewald, John. Post-Impressionism: From van Gogh to Gauguin. London: Secker & Warburg, 1978. Print. Pickvance, Ronald. English Influences on Vincent van Gogh (exh. cat). University of Nottingham & alt. 1974/75). London: Arts Council, 1974. Print. Read More