Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, Holland. He was named after his grandfather and his stillborn brother who died one year before Van Gogh was born.
As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and thoughtful.
Van Gogh was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a pastor.
Vincent was 27 years old when he painted his first piece.
When Van Gogh first began painting, he used peasants as models. He would later paint flowers, landscapes and himself, mostly because he was too poor to pay the models.
It is simply astonishing that Van Gogh created a total of 2000 pieces of art which included 900 paintings and 1100 sketches/pencil drawings.
Vincent van Gogh’s most famous paintings, The Starry Night, Sunflowers, Irises, Poppies, The Bedroom, Blossoming Almond Tree, The Mulberry Tree, The Night Café, and The Potato Eaters, in great detail.
Van Gogh created his most famous work “The Starry Night” while staying in an asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France.
Van Gogh is well known for his self-portraits. He painted over 30 of them between 1886 and 1889.
He suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurrent,unprovoked seizures.
During one of his seizures, Van Gogh attempted to attack his friend Paul Gauguin with an open razor. This ultimately resulted in Vincent cutting off a piece of his own ear – but not the whole ear as many people think.
Van Gogh apparently placed lit candles in his hat so he could paint at night.
Vincent loved Japanese artistry.
Vincent sold only 1 painting during his lifetime The Red Vineyard and only became famous after his death.
Van Gogh wrote over 800 letters in his lifetime. The majority of them written to his brother and closest friend Theo.”
Van Gogh was financially supported most of his life by his brother, Theo.
Vincent never found romantic love in his life after a couple failed relationships.
Vincent van Gogh allegedly died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 37, on July 29, 1890, after a lifelong struggle with mental illness. Some believe he was murdered though.