Vincent van Gogh’s, Tragic Life.
Vincent van Gogh spoke four languages, was well-read, chose to live among the least, and shared their plights. Vincent’s macabre act of cutting off his earlobe has overshadowed his incredible life.
the Myth versus the Man
Vincent was the oldest son of Pastor Theodorus van Goch and his wife, Anne Carbentus van Gogh. He was baptized Vincent Willen Van Gogh. At fifteen years old, he went to work at Goupil and Company, one of the largest art dealers in Europe. After working at Goupil and Co for seven years, he was fired. In the Winter of 1878, he volunteers to go to the Borinage, a poor coal miners’ country in South Belgium. Being a teacher was a distinguished position, and Vincent chose to live like the miners. The diocese concerned did not renew his contract.
In 1880 at 27 years old, he decided to be an artist and continue supporting the disfranchised and their suffering through his pictures. With the financial support of his brother Theo, who now worked at Goupil and Company, Vincent went to the Hag e. At the Hague, he found out he had Syphilis and Gonorrhea.
In 1886 Vincent van Gogh went to Paris to stay with his brother Th o. he had never seen impressionist or Japanese art before, which was all the rave in Paris at the ti e. His brother introduced him to the impressionist Lautrec, Pissaro, and the great artist of the d y. The impressionist often posed for each other and exchanged their works because models were expensive.
In 1886 Vincent left for Arle to find the light he was searching f r. Theo offered Gauguin to go to Arles and live with his brother, with all expenses covered and a monthly allowance. A couple of months after his arrival, Gauguin and Vincent had a terrible argument; it was then that Vincent cut his earlobe and was hospitalized at the Hotel -Dieu; he was weak, had violent seizures, and was delirio s. When he was released from the hospital, Gauguin was gone.
Once again, Vincent van Gogh found himself alone and frantically threw himself to his pictures. Neglecting his fragile health, he worked from sunset to sundown n. He began again to hallucinate and be paranoid d. The habitant of Arles concerned signed a petition to have him expelled from the to n. He was locked in a cell at the hospital because of his erratic behavior, and the Yellow House was closed out.
His brother made arrangements for Vincent to move to Saint-Remy-de-Provence asylum. By May 8, 1889, he began painting the hospital garden; the Blue Iris, looking out of his window, painted the wheatfield with a reaper. The same year, Theo finally gave Vincent’s the excellent news that he sold ” The Red Vinyard” for 400 francs.
Vincent left Saint-Remy de Provence asylum for Auvers-sure-Oise north of Paris to Dr.Gachet, who took him as a patient. Vincent rented a room at the Ravo x Tavern. Theo, his new wife, and their newborn son Vincent Willen Van Gogh come to visit Vincent at dr. Gachet. Theo, who sent 150 francs a month to Vincent, talked to him about his financial strain and his health. He had an advanced stage of syphilis. This brought a lot of stress and anguish to Vincent to think he was a burden to his brother.
On July 27, 1890, Vincent went out as usual from Ravoux’ Tavern; when he did not show up at dinner, monsieur Ravoux when to check on him in his room. Vincent was lying on his bed in a pool of blood. He had shot himself in the chest, mis ed his heart. The bullet could not be removed been lodged below his heart. Theo was called.
Upon arrival, Theo found his brother sitting up, smoking his pipe. Theo wrote to his wife that his brother was going to live. They talked through the evening, and late into the morning, Theo lay beside his brother, and at 1:30 am, Vincent died in his arms. He was 37 years old. Six months later, Theo, who had second-stage syphilis, died in a dutch asylum.
Van Gogh’s Cypresses Spring 2023 Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Van Gogh’s Cypresses is the first exhibition to focus on the trees—among the most famous in art history—immortalized in signature images by Vincent van Go h (1853–1890). Such iconic pictures as Wheat Field with Cypresses and The Starry Night take their place as the centerpiece in a presentation that affords an unprecedented perspective on a motif virtually synonymous with the Dutch artist’s fiercely original power of expression.
Some 40 works illuminate the extent of his fascination with the region’s distinctive flamelike evergreens as they successively sparked, fueled, and stoked his imagination over two years in the South of France: from his initial sightings of the “tall and dark” trees in Arles to realizing their full, evocative potential (“as I see them”) at the asylum in Saint-Rémy.
Juxtaposing landmark paintings with precious drawings and illustrated letters—many rarely, if ever, lent or exhibited together—this tightly conceived thematic exhibition offers an extraordinary opportunity to appreciate some of Van Gogh’s most celebrated works anew in a context that reveals the backstory of their invention for the first time.
Cypresses gained ground in Van Gogh’s work by late June 1889 when he resolved to devote one of his first series in Saint-Rémy to the towering trees. Distinctive for their rich impasto, his exuberant on-the-spot studies include the Met’s close-up vertical view of cypresses (49.30) and this superb horizontal composition, which he illustrated in reed-pen drawings sent to his bro her on July 2 Van Gogh regarded the present work as one of his “best” summer landscapes and was prompted that September to make two studio renditions: one on the same scale (National Gallery, London) and the other a more miniature replica, intended as a gift for his mother and sister (private collection).
Plan your Visit.
Van Gogh’s Cypresses, 22 May-27 August 2023, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
