Life and Art of Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh

    Vincent Van Gogh was an artist, lover, and an idealist. Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853. He was a Dutch post-impressionist painter. Van Gogh’s art career started at a young age. Van Gogh’s work is known for his rough and raw techniques which showed honesty and a use of bold colors. Van Gogh’s work was so spirit filled that it inspired a lot of 20th century artist’s, illustrating that it is alright to show imperfections in a work of art. It is the imperfections that make beauty seem so breathtaking. His work was at the time only known to a few; the iconic artist was, ironically, an outcast in his time. Van Gogh was a drunken man that seemed to know only his passion for art and expression. Vincent Van Gogh spoke about the lack of appreciation the public had for his work, "There may be a great fire in our hearts, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke." The extent of his mental health affected his paintings and it wasn’t until after his death that his paintings were recognized as influential. Modern critics proclaim that through his work, one can see an artist deeply frustrated by the inactivity and incoherence due to his mental health status.
    One of the biggest misunderstandings of Van Gogh as an artist arises from the collection of letters between him and his younger brother, the art dealer, Theo Van Gogh. His brother was always there for him, may it be money issues or just the simple words of support; it is shown that the brothers have a deep relationship. Their lifelong friendship, and most of what is known of Van Gogh's thoughts and theories of art, is recorded in the hundreds of letters they exchanged between 1872 and 1890. It is known that most of these letters are undated. Historians have been able to put them in chronological order through the events that took in place in the letters.
Constantijn C. Huysmans is one of the main reasons Van Gogh perused his dreams of being an...