Vincent van Gogh was born on the 30th of March 1853 in Zundert (The Netherlands). He is considered as one of the greatest painters from the Post-Impressionism (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2024). Van Gogh started following his vocation as an artist in 1880 with the aim of showing compassion to humanity through his artworks. Through the use of eccentric colours and a confident brushwork, his art strongly influenced the Expressionism art and became highly popular after he passed away (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2024). However, Vincent’s career was relatively short since it only lasted for 10 years (1880 - 1890). During these years, he moved around various cities in the Netherlands and then finally to France to learn new techniques from other artists and work on his paintings (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2024).
Vincent van Gogh is the incarnation of a suffering and misunderstood artist (Charles, 2014). Being an Expressionist in a Post-Impressionist era meant that his artworks were often misunderstood. Although he painted more than 20,000 works, only one was sold while he was still alive (Charles, 2014). Despite this, in 1890 Albert Aurier published an article about van Gogh in which he described him as a mad genius whose paint had the power to make an actual change in this ‘imbecile’ industrialist society (Charles, 2014). Although Aurier did not think that Vincent van Gogh was ever going to be understood by the public, this article was the foundation for his high popularity in the modern times (Charles, 2014). Moreover, during his lifetime Vincent wrote many letters to his brother Theo and his friends in which he illustrated both with words and sketches, what aims, beliefs and disappointments he had at the time (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2024). Additionally, he was also writing them about his inconstant physical and mental state. Thanks to all these letters, it was possible to create a unique and accurate biographical document of Vincent van Gogh (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2024).
More information about Vincent van Gogh can be found at: The Life of Vincent van Gogh