人生歷程
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, exactly one year after his stillborn brother of the same name. His father was a Protestant minister, and the family's modest circumstances shaped his lifelong empathy for the poor.
Van Gogh started as a junior clerk at the art dealing firm Goupil & Cie, arranged by his uncle. He showed early promise and enthusiasm, developing his first deep appreciation for art through handling prints and paintings.
Van Gogh moved to Goupil's London branch and initially thrived. He fell unrequitedly in love with his landlady's daughter Eugénie Loyer, an experience that began his lifelong pattern of passionate but troubled relationships.
After declining interest in commercial art dealing, Van Gogh was dismissed from Goupil. He worked briefly as a teacher in England, then pursued theology studies, seeking a religious vocation to help the poor.
Van Gogh became a lay preacher in the impoverished Borinage coal mining region. He lived in extreme poverty among the miners, giving away his possessions, which led church authorities to dismiss him for excessive zeal.
After years of failed careers and personal struggles, Van Gogh made the pivotal decision to become an artist. His brother Theo, now an art dealer, began providing the financial support that would continue until Vincent's death.
Van Gogh received his most significant formal training from his cousin-in-law Anton Mauve, a respected Hague School painter. He learned watercolor and oil painting techniques that would form his artistic foundation.
After a tumultuous period in The Hague, Van Gogh moved to his parents' parsonage in Nuenen. He painted the local peasant life extensively, producing dark, somber works that reflected his compassion for rural workers.
Van Gogh finished his first major work, depicting peasants sharing a humble meal by lamplight. Though critics initially dismissed its rough style, he considered it his first true masterpiece expressing the dignity of manual labor.
Van Gogh moved to Paris to live with Theo, immersing himself in the avant-garde art scene. He met Monet, Pissarro, Gauguin, and Toulouse-Lautrec, and his palette transformed from dark earth tones to vibrant colors.
Van Gogh became fascinated with Japanese woodblock prints, collecting hundreds and even organizing an exhibition. Their bold outlines, flat color areas, and nature subjects profoundly influenced his evolving artistic vision.
Seeking brighter light and hoping to create a community of artists, Van Gogh rented the Yellow House in Arles. He produced over 200 paintings in fifteen months, including Sunflowers, The Night Café, and Bedroom in Arles.
Paul Gauguin joined Van Gogh in October, but their intense relationship deteriorated. In December, during a mental crisis, Van Gogh severed part of his own ear. Gauguin departed, ending Van Gogh's dream of an artists' colony.
After repeated breakdowns, Van Gogh committed himself to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum. Despite periodic attacks that left him unable to work, he had one of his most productive periods between episodes of illness.
Van Gogh created The Starry Night from his asylum room, depicting the view from his window with swirling skies and a village beneath. This masterpiece, painted during a period of mental turmoil, became his most iconic work.
Van Gogh exhibited six paintings at the avant-garde Les XX exhibition in Brussels, receiving his first significant critical attention. Albert Aurier published the first article praising his work, bringing him recognition he barely lived to see.
Van Gogh left the asylum and moved near Paris to be treated by Dr. Paul Gachet, an amateur painter who befriended artists. He painted at a feverish pace, completing about 70 works in his final 70 days.
Van Gogh's final paintings included dramatic landscapes with turbulent skies and vast wheatfields. Wheatfield with Crows, with its dark sky and paths leading nowhere, is often seen as his artistic farewell, though scholars debate this interpretation.
On July 27, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest while painting in the fields. He walked back to his room and died two days later on July 29, with Theo at his side. His last words reportedly were 'The sadness will last forever.'
Theo died just six months after Vincent, but his widow Johanna preserved and promoted Van Gogh's work. Major retrospectives began in 1901, and by the 20th century, Van Gogh had become one of history's most celebrated and influential artists.
