Friday, 15 August 2025

Just Posted

Here's my most recently posted Trivial Biographies:

Aretha Franklin
John Dalton
Vincent Van Gogh


Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Hermann Göring
John Glenn
William Ewart Gladstone


Giotto
King C. Gillette
Dizzy Gillespie
W. S. Gilbert
Mel Gibson


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Index

Vincent Van Gogh
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Hermann Göring
John Glenn
William Ewart Gladstone
Giotto
King C. Gillette
Dizzy Gillespie
W. S. Gilbert
Mel Gibson
Edward Gibbon
J. Paul Getty
George Gershwin


Geronimo
Richard Gere
Saint George
George VI
George V
George IV
George III
George II of Great Britain
George I of Great Britain
Genghis Khan


Paul Gauguin
Antoni Gaudí
Bill Gates
Roland Garros
Judy Garland
Giuseppe Garibaldi
James A. Garfield
Ava Gardner
Greta Garbo
Mahatma Gandhi
Vasco da Gama
Galileo Galilei
Galen
Thomas Gainsborough


Yuri Gagarin
Clark Gable
Elizabeth Fry
Robert Frost
Betty Friedan
Sigmund Freud
Morgan Freeman
Frederick the Great
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa
Benjamin Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Anne Frank
Francisco Franco
Pope Francis
Francis of Assisi


Francis II of France
Francis I of France
George Fox
Stephen Foster
Jodie Foster
Frederick Forsyth
George Foreman
Henry Ford
Harrison Ford
Gerald Ford
Jane Fonda
Errol Flynn
Ian Fleming
Alexander Fleming
Michael Flatley
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Charles Grandison Finney
Millard Fillmore
Henry Fielding
Fibonacci
Enzo Ferrari


Roger Federer
Guy Fawkes
Gabriel Fauré
William Faulkner
Michael Faraday
Douglas Fairbanks
Max Factor
Peter Carl Fabergé
Leonhard Euler
Ethelred the Unready
Pablo Escobar
Erasmus
Eminem
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Duke Ellington
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth I


Jim Elliot
T. S. Eliot
John Eliot
George Eliot
Elijah (Biblical character)
Edward Elgar
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Albert Einstein
Billie Eilish
Paul Ehrlich
Jonathan Edwards (theologian)
Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh
King Edward VIII
King Edward VII
King Edward VI of England
Edward V of England
Edward IV of England
Edward III of England
Edward II of England
Edward I of England


Edward the Confessor
Edward the Black Prince
Saint Edmund
Edmund I
Thomas Edison
Anthony Eden
Mary Baker Eddy
Clint Eastwood
George Eastman
Wyatt Earp
Amelia Earhart
Bob Dylan
Antonín Dvořák
Saint Dunstan
John Boyd Dunlop
Alexandre Dumas
Daphne du Maurier
John Dryden
Alfred Dreyfus
Francis Drake
Drake
Arthur Conan Doyle
Frederick Douglass


Alec Douglas-Home
Fyodor Dostoevsky
John Donne
Domitian
Saint Dominic
Novak Djokovic
Dorothea Dix
Benjamin Disraeli
Walt Disney
Christian Dior
Diocletian
Joe DiMaggio
Marlene Dietrich
Rudolf Diesel
Emily Dickinson
Charles Dickens


Leonardo DiCaprio
Diana, Princess of Wales
Sergei Diaghilev
René Descartes
Johnny Depp
Frederick Delius
Edgar Degas
Daniel Defoe
Claude Debussy
James Dean
Robert De Niro
Catherine de Medici
Charles de Gaulle
Doris Day
Charles G. Dawes
Humphry Davy
Sammy Davis Jr.
Bette Davis


Saint David
King David
Charles Darwin
Dante Alighieri
Daniel (biblical figure)
Matt Damon
John Dalton
Salvador Dalí
Dalai Lama
Gottlieb Daimler
Roald Dahl
Louis Daguerre
Cyrus the Great
Cyril and Methodius
Georges Cuvier
George Armstrong Custer
Marie Curie
Billy Crystal
Johan Cruyff
Tom Cruise
Russell Crowe
Fanny Crosby
Bing Crosby
Thomas Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Davy Crockett
Francis Crick
Michael Crichton
Joan Crawford


Thomas Crapper
Thomas Cranmer
William Cowper
Kevin Costner
Sergio Costa
Bill Cosby
Hernán Cortés
Aaron Copland
Nicolaus Copernicus
Gary Cooper
Bradley Cooper
Calvin Coolidge
Sam Cooke
Thomas Cook
Captain James Cook


Constantine the Great
John Constable
Joseph Conrad
Sean Connery
Confucius
Commodus
Christopher Columbus
Saint Columba
William Colgate
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
William "Buffalo Bill" Cody
William Cobbett
Kurt Cobain
Clovis I
George Clooney
Robert Clive
Hillary Clinton
Bill Clinton
Grover Cleveland
Cleopatra
Claudius


William Clark
Eric Clapton
Tom Clancy
André-Gustave Citroën
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Cicero
Winston Churchill
John Chrysostom
Saint Christopher
Christina, Queen of Sweden
Agatha Christie
Frédéric Chopin
Thomas Chippendale
Julia Child
Louis Chevrolet
Maurice Chevalier
G. K. Chesterton
Anton Chekhov
Geoffrey Chaucer
Ray Charles
Charles VIII of France
Charles VII of France
Charles VI of France
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles III


Charles II of England
Charles I of England
Charlemagne
Charlie Chaplin
Coco Chanel
Raymond Chandler
Jackie Chan
Neville Chamberlain
James Chadwick
Paul Cézanne
Miguel de Cervantes
Saint Cecilia
William Caxton
Henry Cavendish
Edith Cavell
Catherine the Great
Catherine, Princess of Wales
Catherine of Siena
Catherine of Aragon
Fidel Castro
Butch Cassidy
Johnny Cash


Giacomo Casanova
George Washington Carver
Caravaggio
Enrico Caruso
Edmund Cartwright
Barbara Cartland
Louis-François Cartier
Jacques Cartier
Jimmy Carter
Rachel Carson
Johnny Carson
Lewis Carroll
Willis Carrier
Jim Carrey
Sabrina Carpenter
Andrew Carnegie


Thomas Carlyle
William Carey
Mariah Carey
Marie-Antoine Carême
Federico Caprilli
Truman Capote
Al Capone
King Canute
Albert Camus
Queen Camilla
James Cameron
David Cameron
John Calvin
Maria Callas
James Callaghan
Caligula
Calamity Jane
Michael Caine
Julius Caesar


Caedmon
John Cadbury
Frances Xavier Cabrini
John Cabot
Lord Byron
William Byrd
George W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
Richard Burton
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Aaron Burr
Robert Burns
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Edmund Burke
John Bunyan
Warren Buffet
The Buddha
James Buchanan
Kobe Bryant
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Beau Brummell
Robert Browning


Elizabeth Browning
James Brown
Gordon Brown
Capability Brown
Phillips Brooks
Mel Brooks
Louise Brooks
Garth Brooks
Rupert Brooke
Emily Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
Benjamin Britten
Leonid Brezhnev
Bertolt Brecht
Eva Braun
Richard Branson
Marlon Brando
Louis Braille
Johannes Brahms
Tycho Brahe
Anne Bradstreet
Don Bradman
Ray Bradbury
Robert Boyle
David Bowie
Clara Bow
Boudicca


Sandro Botticelli
Ian Botham
Alexander Borodin
Norman Borlaug
Lucrezia Borgia
Cesare Borgia
Björn Borg
William Booth
John Wilkes Booth
Daniel Boone
Bono
Bonnie Prince Charlie
Saint Boniface
Pope Boniface VIII
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Usain Bolt
Simon Bolivar
Anne Boleyn
Humphrey Bogart
Boethius
Giovanni Boccaccio
Enid Blyton
Amelia Bloomer
Charles Blondin
Mel Blanc
William Blake
Tony Blair
Elizabeth Blackwell
Antoinette Brown Blackwell
Blackbeard
Georges Bizet
Otto Von Bismarck
László Bíró
Clarence Birdseye
Osama bin Laden
Billy the Kid
Simone Biles
Steve Biko
Justin Bieber
Joe Biden


Jeff Bezos
Beyoncé
John Betjeman
George Best
Chuck Berry
Yogi Berra
Leonard Bernstein
Sarah Bernhardt
Tim Berners-Lee
Bernard of Clairvaux
Saint Bernadette
Hector Berlioz
Irving Berlin
Ingrid Bergman
Karl Benz
Jeremy Bentham
E. F. Benson
James Gordon Bennett Sr.
St. Benedict of Nursia
Pope Benedict XVI
Giovanni Belzoni
Saul Bellow
Hilaire Belloc
Alexander Graham Bell
Isabella Beeton
Ludwig van Beethoven
Lyman Beecher
Henry Ward Beecher
Catherine Beecher
The Venerable Bede
David Beckham
Samuel Beckett
Thomas Becket
Boris Becker
Franz Beckenbauer
Sidney Bechet
William Beaumont
Warren Beatty
John Bartram
Clara Barton
Karl Barth
J. M. Barrie
P. T. Barnum
Thomas John Barnardo
Christiaan Barnard
Brigitte Bardot
Samuel Barber
Saint Barbara
Joseph Banks
Lucille Ball
Arthur Balfour
Stanley Baldwin
James Baldwin
Josephine Baker
John Logie Baird
Douglas Bader
Robert Baden-Powell
Roger Bacon
Francis Bacon
Johann Sebastian Bach
Lauren Bacall


Charles Babbage
Gladys Aylward
Gene Autry
Jane Austen
Marcus Aurelius
Augustus
St. Augustine of Canterbury
St. Augustine of Hippo
Saint Audrey
W. H. Auden
Clement Attlee
Attila the Hun
Charles Atlas
Rowan Atkinson
Æthelstan
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
John Jacob Astor
Philip Astley
Fred Astaire
H. H. Asquith
Isaac Asimov
Ashoka the Great
Laura Ashley
Francis Asbury
King Arthur
Chester A. Arthur
Benedict Arnold
Neil Armstrong


Louis Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Edwin Howard Armstrong
Giorgio Armani
Richard Arkwright
Aristotle
Aristophanes
Elizabeth Arden
Archimedes
Jeffrey Archer
Yasser Arafat
Thomas Aquinas
Johnny Appleseed
Nicolas Appert
Marcus Gavius Apicius
Mark Antony
Susan B. Anthony
Anthony of Padua
Anthony the Great
Anselm of Canterbury
Saint Ansgar
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
Anne, Princess Royal
Anne Of Cleves
Maya Angelou
Saint Andrew
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Sunday, 14 December 2014

Vincent Van Gogh

NAME Vincent Willem van Gogh 

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter whose work, notable for its beauty, emotion, and color, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. He is one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. Some of his most famous paintings include The Starry Night, Sunflowers, and The Potato Eaters.

BIRTH Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, in the predominantly Catholic province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. He was born exactly one year after his parents had a stillborn child, also named Vincent Willem, on the same date.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Vincent came from an upper-middle-class family with strong artistic and religious connections. His father, Theodorus van Gogh (1822-1885), was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, while his mother, Anna Cornelia Carbentus (1819-1907), came from a prosperous family in The Hague whose father was a well-to-do bookbinder.

The van Gogh family had significant involvement in the art world - Vincent's grandfather, also named Vincent (1789-1874), was a prominent art dealer and theology graduate who had six sons, three of whom became art dealers. His uncle "Cent" (short for Vincent) was a partner in the international art dealing firm Goupil & Cie.

Vincent had five siblings: his beloved younger brother Theo (1857-1891), who became his closest confidant and financial supporter; three sisters - Anna Cornelia (1855-1930), Elisabeth (Lies) Huberta (1859-1936), and Willemina (Wil) Jacoba (1862-1941); and another brother Cornelius Vincent (1867-1900).

The painting Portrait of Artist's Mother, created by Vincent van Gogh in October 1888, depict sVan Gogh's own mother, Anna Cornelia Carbentus. Van Gogh painted this portrait based on a black-and-white photograph sent to him by his sister Wilhelmina. In his correspondence, Van Gogh explicitly stated he was making a portrait of his mother for himself because he disliked the colorless photograph, aiming instead to capture her features with vibrant, harmonious colors as he remembered them.

Portrait of Artist's Mother

CHILDHOOD Vincent was described as a serious, quiet, and thoughtful child who preferred solitude to the companionship of family and friends. His sister Elisabeth recalled him as being sensitive and having a love for flowers, birds, and insects. He showed signs of being different from other children, with his choice of clothing, eating habits, and solitary nature making him appear slightly strange to others from a young age.

He spent much of his free time wandering the countryside around Zundert to observe nature, which instilled in him a lifelong love of the natural world. His mother Anna encouraged his early artistic interests and his first drawings, though they were expressive, they did not approach the intensity of his later work.

Van Gogh's parents found it difficult to cope with his prickly temperament. In 1864, they sent him away to a school in Zevenbergen. 

EDUCATION Vincent received a fragmentary education that reflected his family's comfortable circumstances but also his own difficulties with traditional schooling. He was initially taught at home by his mother and a governess. His educational journey included:

1860-1864: Village school in Zundert

1864-1866: Boarding school in Zevenbergen, where he felt abandoned and unhappy

1866-1868: Middle school (Handburgerschool) in Tilburg, where he was taught by Constantijn C. Huysmans, a successful artist who had worked in Paris

At Tilburg, Huysmans taught students to reject technique in favor of capturing impressions of things, particularly nature. However, Vincent's profound unhappiness seemed to overshadow these lessons. In March 1868, he abruptly returned home, later describing his youth as "austere and cold, and sterile". (1)

CAREER RECORD Vincent's career path was marked by multiple false starts before he found his calling as an artist at age 27:

Art Dealer (1869-1876): Started as a trainee at Goupil & Cie in The Hague through his uncle Cent's influence. He was later transferred to London (1873) and then Paris (1875), but became increasingly disenchanted with the art trade and was dismissed in 1876.

Teacher and Preacher (1876-1879): Worked as a supply teacher in Ramsgate and Isleworth, England, then as a Methodist minister's assistant. He also worked briefly at a bookshop in Dordrecht.

Missionary Work (1878-1879): Failed the entrance exam for theology at the University of Amsterdam but undertook a three-month course at a Protestant missionary school in Laken, near Brussels. He served as a missionary in the coal-mining district of Borinage in Belgium, where he was eventually dismissed by church authorities for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood" due to his extreme empathy with the poor miners.

Artist (1880-1890): Finally committed to becoming an artist at age 27, producing approximately 2,100 artworks including around 860 oil paintings in just over a decade, with most created in the final two years of his life.

APPEARANCE Vincent van Gogh had red hair, green eyes, and an angular face with defined cheekbones and a slightly hooked nose. His appearance was characterized by deep-set eyes emphasized by prominent eyebrows and a drooping mustache.

Contemporary portraits by other artists show him as thin with gaunt features, particularly in his later years. In most portraits, he appeared older than his actual age, reflecting the toll of his difficult life and mental health struggles. He was described as having a somewhat gruff expression, as seen in the only surviving photograph of him taken at age 19.

Vincent van Gogh - Self-Portrait 1887

FASHION Vincent's approach to clothing was notably unconventional and often reflected his artistic philosophy and financial circumstances. He dressed simply and practically, often in working-class attire that aligned with his identification with peasants and laborers. His clothing choices sometimes made him appear strange to others from a young age, as noted by his sister.

To paint his still life A Pair of Shoes a protest at Parisian affluence, Van Gogh bought workman's boots and trudged around in them until they had the necessary character.

His fashion sense was influenced by his belief in living simply and his frequent lack of money, as he prioritized spending on art supplies over personal appearance. This practical approach to dress also reflected his desire to blend in with the working-class subjects he painted and the communities where he lived.

Though not a fashion icon in life, Van Gogh's palette and imagery inspired luxury fashion brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Moschino posthumously. 

CHARACTER Vincent van Gogh was known for his passion, intensity, and profound emotional depth. Many of his traits align with what we might now call a highly sensitive personality—he experienced feelings with extraordinary intensity and was deeply moved by beauty in the ordinary. He spoke of carrying “a great fire in one’s soul,” a sentiment reflected in his near-compulsive drive to create.

His character was full of contrasts. He could be tenderly compassionate yet erupt in sudden anger, deeply spiritual yet plagued by doubt. Friends and fellow artists often found him difficult to deal with, citing his self-sacrificing tendencies and fierce convictions. His relationships were as intense as his work, and he had a remarkable ability to lose himself entirely in his art.

One of his sisters remembered him as serious and introspective, while Jeanne Calment—the French supercentenarian who once sold him colored pencils in Arles—was far less charitable, describing him as “ugly as sin, bad tempered, a grumbler and smelling of alcohol.” 

Modern observers have noted that many of his behaviors mirror symptoms of borderline personality disorder, including impulsivity, rapidly shifting moods, self-destructive habits, fear of abandonment, unstable self-image, and turbulent relationships. 

SPEAKING VOICE Contemporary accounts suggest he had a distinctive way of speaking that reflected his emotional intensity. Joseph Roulin, the postman who became one of his closest friends in Arles, described Vincent's voice as possessing "a distant echo of the clarion of revolutionary France," suggesting it had a passionate, somewhat theatrical quality. (2)

Vincent Van Gogh was multilingual, fluent in Dutch, German, French, and English, having learned these languages through his travels and work. His ability to express himself in multiple languages reflected his broad cultural interests and extensive reading habits.

SENSE OF HUMOUR While Vincent was generally characterized as serious and intense, there is evidence of his capacity for humor, particularly in his letters to his brother Theo. His sense of humor often emerged through wordplay and observations about life, though it was frequently tinged with irony or melancholy reflecting his difficult circumstances.

Modern popular culture has embraced Van Gogh-related puns and jokes, particularly playing on his name ("Van Gogh-ing," "Let it Gogh") and his infamous ear incident, suggesting his life story lends itself to both tragic and humorous interpretations.

RELATIONSHIPS Vincent van Gogh’s relationships were often intense, complicated, and shaped by both his passionate nature and his struggles with mental health.

His deepest and most enduring bond was with his younger brother Theo, who offered unwavering emotional and financial support. Their extensive letters reveal mutual admiration, trust, and a shared belief in Vincent’s art. He was also close to his sister Wil, with whom he maintained regular contact.

Theo Van Gogh

Van Gogh’s love affairs were marked by rejection and disappointment. In London at age 20, he proposed to his landlady’s daughter, Eugénie Loyer, only to be told she was secretly engaged to another man. In 1881, he declared his love for his widowed cousin Kee Vos, who famously refused him with the words, “No, nay, never.” The following year, he began living with Sien Hoornik, a pregnant prostitute in The Hague, in what he described as his only period of domestic happiness. He considered marriage, but his family vehemently opposed the relationship, and the couple separated after about a year.

Van Gogh formed strong attachments to a few close friends, including Joseph Roulin, the Arles postman who became a father figure, and fellow artists like Paul Gauguin. His friendship with Gauguin, though initially inspiring, ended abruptly and dramatically after just two months of living together in the Yellow House. He also built connections with other painters and thinkers during his years in Paris, where artistic exchange fueled some of his most productive periods.

Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin (1841–1903), early August 1888

MONEY AND FAME  During his lifetime, Vincent van Gogh sold only one painting—The Red Vineyards Near Arles—purchased by Belgian artist Anna Boch for 400 francs. Yet in the final years of his life, his work began to attract attention. Six of his paintings were included in a Brussels exhibition, and two major Paris shows in 1889 and 1890 featured his art. A favorable article about his work also appeared shortly before his death, suggesting that critical recognition was finally within reach.

After his death, that recognition came swiftly. Within three years, his finest works had all been sold. In 1990, Portrait of Dr. Gachet fetched US $82.5 million, setting a record as the most expensive painting ever sold at the time. Much of this posthumous success was due to his sister-in-law, Johanna Bonger, who tirelessly promoted his art, organized exhibitions, and preserved his letters.

Contrary to the romanticized “starving artist” image, Van Gogh was not destitute. From 1882 onward, his brother Theo provided steady financial support—100 to 150 francs a month, well above the 32 guilders a factory worker earned to support a family of seven. But Vincent’s persistent money troubles came from his own priorities: he poured most of his income into costly paints and canvases, often leaving little for food or other necessities. His poverty was, in large part, self-imposed in the service of his art.

FOOD AND DRINK Vincent van Gogh’s relationship with food was complicated. He often associated virtue with abstinence, treating meals as little more than necessary fuel, and consistently prioritized spending on art supplies over proper nutrition.

His eating habits were frequently poor. While living in Antwerp in 1885, he admitted to extreme frugality: “Do you know, for instance, that in the whole time I’ve had only three warm meals, and for the rest nothing but bread?” His daily fare often consisted of bread and coffee, with only the occasional simple meal.

The Potato Eaters painted in 1885, is considered Van Gogh's first major work. Art historians and leading institutions identify this painting as the culmination of his early years in Nuenen, marking the beginning of his mature style and ambition to create a significant masterpiece focused on peasant life. In a letter to Theo, Vincent told his brother he wanted viewers of his work to  "get the idea that these folk, who are eating their potatoes by the light of their little lamp, have tilled the earth themselves with these hands they are putting in the dish, and so it speaks of manual labour and–that they have thus honestly earned their food. I wanted it to give the idea of a wholly different way of life from ours."

The Potato Eaters

Van Gogh drank heavily, especially absinthe. Some historians suggest that its toxic effects—particularly xanthopsia, a condition that can tint vision yellow—may have influenced his famous color choices. Alcohol and tobacco were his primary coping mechanisms for stress and mental anguish. He was also known to put paintbrushes in his mouth and even consume lead-laden paint chips, which may have worsened his health. Jeanne Calment, who once sold him colored pencils in Arles, recalled that he smelled strongly of alcohol.

In his final months at the asylum in Saint-Rémy, his doctor advised him to eat as much as possible to improve his mental health—a prescription Vincent admitted did him good. (3)

ARTISTIC CAREER Vincent van Gogh’s career as an artist was both alarmingly short and bewilderingly productive. He didn’t even start seriously painting until he was 27—an age by which most great artists are already well on their way to being called “a genius” or “a scandal.” Before that, he had tried his hand at being an art dealer, a teacher, and even a preacher, failing at each with the kind of dogged determination that would later serve him surprisingly well with a paintbrush.

In just over ten years, he managed to produce about 2,100 artworks—860 of them oil paintings—often working at a pace that made normal human productivity look almost shamefully sluggish. His journey can be loosely sorted into a few gloriously chaotic chapters.

The Dutch Years (1880–1886)
Van Gogh began in the Netherlands, producing dark, moody scenes of peasants and weavers that made even a potato look like it was having a bad day. His masterpiece from this time, The Potato Eaters (1885), was so heavy with earth tones you half expect it to come with its own bag of fertilizer.

Parisian Enlightenment (1886–1888)
Moving in with his long-suffering brother Theo in Paris, Van Gogh met Monet, Pissarro, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Seurat, and immediately ditched his muddy palette in favor of colors so bright they could wake the neighbors. He embraced Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist techniques, experimented with Japanese prints, and churned out still lives and flower paintings at a rate that must have kept the local art supply shops in business for years.

Arles Adventures (1888–1889)
Seeking better light and maybe a bit of peace (he got one of those), he headed to Arles in Provence. Here he produced some of his most famous works—Sunflowers, Bedroom in Arles, The Night Café—and convinced Paul Gauguin to join him. This lasted about two months before imploding in a spectacular quarrel that ended with Vincent minus part of an ear.

Saint-Rémy’s Starry Nights (1889–1890)
Checking himself into an asylum in Saint-Rémy, Vincent continued painting as though mental illness were just another minor inconvenience, producing The Starry Night, Irises, and landscapes that looked as though they were breathing. His brushstrokes became more rhythmic and his colors almost feverishly alive.

Auvers and the End (1890)
In his final 70 days, under the care of Dr. Paul Gachet, Van Gogh completed more than 70 paintings—one a day, a rate most of us can’t even manage with emails. Works like Wheatfield with Crows seem to hum with the knowledge that time was short.

He died in 1890, having sold only one painting in his lifetime. Posthumously, of course, he became one of the most celebrated and influential artists in history, single-handedly inspiring generations of painters—and ensuring that art students everywhere would forever have to learn how to spell his name.


MUSIC AND ARTS  Van Gogh had a deep appreciation for music and saw strong connections between musical and visual expression. He even took piano lessons briefly, constantly comparing painting with music and associating piano notes with colors like Prussian blue, dark green, or bright cadmium. However, his intensity proved too much for his piano teacher.

He was particularly influenced by composer Richard Wagner, attending Wagner concerts in Paris with his brother Theo in 1887. Vincent saw Wagner's music as intimate despite being performed by large orchestras and believed it achieved the kind of emotional consolation he wanted to create in his paintings.

Van Gogh viewed his paintings as musical compositions, referring to his Sunflowers as a "symphony in blue and yellow". He frequently wrote about wanting his art to be consoling "like a piece of music" and believed that "one can speak poetry just by arranging colours well, just as one can say comforting things in music". (4) 

Sunflowers

LITERATURE Vincent was an voracious reader. He read manically in four languages - Dutch, German, French, and English - often reading the same book multiple times and working through entire authors' complete works.

His literary tastes were shaped early by his family's reading traditions, but he eventually rebelled against his parents' conservative preferences. While the family Bible and edifying classics like Shakespeare and Schiller were approved, Vincent was drawn to French revolutionary writers like Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, and Émile Zola, whom his mother dismissed as "products of great minds but impure souls".

Key literary influences included:

Émile Zola: Van Gogh called him "a glorious artist" and found inspiration in novels like La Joie de Vivre

Victor Hugo: Particularly Les Misérables, with which Van Gogh deeply identified

Charles Dickens and George Eliot: British authors who portrayed working-class characters positively

Guy de Maupassant: Author of Bel-Ami, one of Van Gogh's favorite novels

Reading served as both escape and inspiration, with many of his paintings drawing directly from literary descriptions of scenes and emotions. (5)

Van Gogh's letters, filled with his insightful thoughts and artistic aspirations, were meticulously organized and transcribed by his sister-in-law, Johanna Bonger, and are considered a valuable source for understanding his art.

NATURE  Nature was a profound source of inspiration throughout his career. Van Gogh's love of nature began in his childhood wanderings around the Dutch countryside. He spent countless hours as a young boy observing flowers, birds, insects, and the changing landscapes around Zundert.

This connection to nature became central to his artistic vision. He preferred painting outdoors (en plein air) despite the practical difficulties, writing: "I must have picked a good hundred flies and more off the 4 canvases that you'll be getting, not to mention dust and sand". His paintings often contained actual bits of plants, grains of sand, and even insect footprints from his outdoor work.

He spent much of his time in the Saint-Rémy asylum painting the irises he saw growing in the gardens. His painting Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses was completed in 1890 and reflects the optimism he felt at the time.  He wrote from the Saint-Rémy asylum: "it seems to me that nature sees to it that illness is a means of getting us back on our feet, of healing us, rather than an absolute evil".

Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses
 
PETS Van Gogh created at least a couple of cat pictures and one painting of a dog, but details about any pets he may have owned are scarce.

There is a modern connection to his legacy through a one-eared rescue dog named Van Gogh who creates "paintings" with his tongue by licking peanut butter off canvases covered in paint, creating impressionistic-style artworks.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Vincent's primary passion outside of painting was reading, which consumed much of his free time when he wasn't creating art. He had little interest in traditional sports or recreational activities, preferring intellectual and artistic pursuits.

His main recreational activities included:

Walking and hiking: He spent countless hours walking through countryside and urban areas, observing subjects for his art   In June 1876, Vincent van Gogh walked from Ramsgate on the English South East coast to Welwyn —approximately 100 miles on foot—to visit his sister Anna, who was then working at a girls' boarding school in Welwyn, Hertfordshire. 

Letter writing: His extensive correspondence, particularly with Theo, was both a necessity and a form of creative expression

Studying art: He zealously copied prints and studied drawing manuals and lesson books

Music appreciation: Though brief, his attempt at piano lessons and his lifelong interest in attending concerts

SCIENCE AND MATHS While a supply teacher in a small boarding school in Ramsgate, he taught languages and maths.

While Van Gogh had no formal scientific training, modern research has revealed remarkable connections between his artistic intuition and mathematical principles. Scientists have discovered that his swirling brushstrokes in paintings like The Starry Night closely follow Kolmogorov's theory of turbulent flow - a mathematical concept that wouldn't be formulated until 1941, over 50 years after the painting was created.

Researchers found that the size and spacing of swirls in "The Starry Night" adhere to mathematical patterns seen in turbulent fluids in nature, such as flowing rivers, clouds, and atmospheric phenomena. This suggests Vincent had an intuitive understanding of natural physical laws that he expressed through his art, even without conscious knowledge of the underlying mathematics. (6) 

Van Gogh The Starry Night 

His use of luminance (the intensity of light in colors) also demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how the human brain processes visual information, creating effects that make his paintings appear to pulse and vibrate with life.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Vincent van Gogh was raised in a minister’s household. His father was a Protestant minister of the steady, sensible kind, while young Vincent, in his early days, seemed determined to outdo him in piety. He even managed to get himself dismissed from an art gallery job for lecturing customers on moral issues—an admirable sort of self-sabotage if you think about it.

He had a go at preaching in England, beginning his first Christmas sermon with, “I am a stranger on this Earth. Hide not thy commandments from me.” It’s not the kind of opener that guarantees everyone will stay awake, but it was sincere. Later, he trudged off to the coal mines of Belgium, determined to live as the miners lived—poorly, coldly, and with an astonishing capacity for coughs. The church authorities, baffled by this alarming display of actual Christianity, decided to relieve him of his duties.

Van Gogh left that chapter of his life with a sense of bitterness, and the suspicion that God might be found more in the faces of suffering people than in the marble aisles of a cathedral. “Whenever we see the image of indescribable and unutterable desolation—of loneliness, poverty and misery,” he wrote, “the thought of God comes into one’s mind.” That’s not the sort of theology you find in tidy creeds, but it was his.

As time went on, his beliefs took a turn for the woollier—pantheistic, some would say—though I think Van Gogh would simply call it “paying attention.” He saw “God” not as a person you could introduce at parties, but as “something up there” that was better felt than named. Nature became his chapel; fields, his psalter; and painting, his way of praying. His Starry Night and olive grove canvases are practically hymns in colour.

In his letters, he once mused, “There may be a great fire in one’s soul and no one ever comes to warm themselves by it.” For Van Gogh, that fire was kept alive through brushstrokes, compassion, and a stubborn refusal to give up on beauty—even if the institutions of faith had given up on him.


POLITICS  Vincent van Gogh’s political instincts leaned toward the working class and early strains of socialism, shaped by his deep compassion for the poor and marginalized. This empathy was forged during periods when he lived among coal miners and in his choice to depict peasants and laborers with dignity and care.

Socialist Sympathies: Van Gogh admired early socialist thinkers such as Saint-Simon and drew inspiration from British social reformers and novelists like Charles Dickens and George Eliot, whose works portrayed working-class lives with humanity.

Art for the People: He believed that art should serve ordinary people, declaring: “I want to make figures from the people for the people.” This conviction echoed the ideals of William Morris and other advocates for democratic, accessible art.

Political Influences: While living in London, Van Gogh was exposed to progressive political ideas at a time when Karl Marx was writing Das Kapital and trade unionism was gaining momentum in Britain. His engagement with politics, however, was less about theory and more about an emotional, artistic alignment with social justice.

SCANDAL Several controversies have surrounded Van Gogh's life and legacy:

Contemporary Scandals: During his lifetime in Arles, Vincent was involved in a public scandal when local residents signed a petition calling him "the redheaded madman" and requesting his confinement. There were allegations that he groped women during his episodes, though his mental state makes these accounts difficult to verify.

The Ear Incident: On December 23, 1888, Van Gogh, after an argument with his painting companion Paul Gauguin, came at the French artist with a razor. He was stopped by Gauguin, but instead cut off a part of his own left earlobe. He then wrapped the severed part of his ear in an envelope and gave it to a girl he knew in a brothel. The incident led to his painting, Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.

Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe, 1889

Modern Attribution Controversies: The art world has seen numerous scandals involving fake Van Gogh attributions, including the "Wacker Scandal" of the 1920s and more recent disputes over authenticity. The Van Gogh Museum regularly exposes forgeries, including some previously authenticated works.

MILITARY RECORD Vincent van Gogh drew a low number in the military draft lottery in 1873 and would have been required to serve five years in the Sixth Infantry Regiment, Third militia canton at Oisterwijk. However, he avoided military service through family connections and financial arrangements, which was common practice for middle-class families of the era. Someone else replaced him in the military draft, though the specific details of this arrangement are not fully documented.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Vincent van Gogh endured a range of severe physical and mental health problems throughout his adult life, which profoundly influenced both his well-being and his art.

Modern psychiatric interpretations suggest he likely suffered from bipolar disorder, possibly combined with traits of borderline personality disorder. His mental health struggles included psychotic episodes, delusions, hallucinations, and vivid nightmares. He experienced extreme mood swings between periods of mania and deep depression, as well as seizures that may have been linked to epilepsy. Memory lapses and frequent absent-mindedness further hindered his daily functioning and creative process.

Van Gogh’s physical health was equally troubled. He often neglected his body, which led to chronic ailments such as persistent digestive problems, stomach pains, and malnutrition from erratic eating habits. He is believed to have suffered from possible lead poisoning from his paints, alongside alcohol-related damage from heavy absinthe consumption. Some accounts also suggest he may have had Ménière’s disease, affecting his balance and hearing.

One of the most infamous episodes of self-harm occurred in December 1888, after a heated confrontation with Paul Gauguin, when Van Gogh cut off part of his left ear with a razor. The hospital diagnosis was "acute mania with generalised delirium" and Van Gogh spent the following few months in and out of the Arles hospital. This act has been linked to the unofficial term “Van Gogh syndrome” for repetitive self-harm, though it is not a recognized medical diagnosis.

Van Gogh Ward in the Hospital in Arles, 1889, 

By 1889, his health had sharply deteriorated. He had contracted gonorrhea and syphilis from visiting prostitutes, lost half his teeth, and grown physically weakened. Reports indicate he ingested lead-laden paint and sucked on his brushes, further compounding his health problems. Increasingly isolated and burdened by feelings of inadequacy, Van Gogh voluntarily entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in May 1889. During Van Gogh's year-long stay at Saint-Paul,  he painted prolifically during moments of stability but continued to suffer frequent relapses into illness.

HOMES Vincent van Gogh lived a peripatetic life, moving frequently across the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and France.

In the Netherlands, he spent his early years in Groot-Zundert (1853–1869), his birthplace and childhood home. He later lived in The Hague (1869–1873, 1881–1883), first working for the art dealers Goupil & Cie and later returning as an independent artist. He also stayed in Etten (1876, 1881) and Nuenen (1883–1885), both times living with his parents. It was in Nuenen that he painted The Potato Eaters.

In England, Van Gogh lived in London from 1873 to 1876 at 87 Hackford Road, Stockwell, in a boarding house run by Ursula Loyer. This three-storey Georgian terrace house—now a Grade II listed building and cultural landmark—has been restored as the Van Gogh House.

In Belgium, he spent 1878 to 1880 in the Borinage region, working as a missionary among coal miners, an experience that shaped both his empathy for working people and his artistic vision.

His years in France were among the most significant for his art. He lived in Paris (1886–1888) with his brother Theo in Montmartre, before moving to Arles (1888–1889), where he rented and decorated a yellow house in hopes of founding a community of “impressionists of the south.” It was in Arles that he famously cut off part of his ear. 

The Yellow House, c.1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

In 1889, he entered the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where he continued to paint prolifically. His final months were spent in Auvers-sur-Oise (1890), living at the Auberge Ravoux.

TRAVEL Vincent van Gogh was rarely still. Throughout his adult life, he moved restlessly from country to country, driven by a mixture of practical needs, artistic ambition, fragile health, and changing personal ties.

In 1873, he left his native Netherlands for London, beginning work at the art dealers Goupil & Cie. Two years later, he transferred within the firm to Paris. By 1876, he was back in England, taking up a brief spell of teaching and missionary work. From 1878 to 1880, he served as a missionary in Belgium’s coal-mining Borinage, a period that shaped his empathy for working people.

Paris called again in 1886, where he lived with his brother Theo and immersed himself in the world of Impressionism. In 1888, he journeyed to Arles in the South of France, lured by the promise of bright light, vivid colours, and a cheaper cost of living. The following year, struggling with his mental health, he admitted himself voluntarily to an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. His final move came in 1890, when he settled in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris to be closer to medical care. (7)

Van Gogh’s constant movement reflected his inner restlessness — part search for the perfect place to paint, part escape from his own mental turmoil. Writing to Theo from Arles, he tried to convey what drew him to the southern light:

“Everywhere and all over the vault of Heaven is a marvellous blue and the sun sheds a radiance of pale sulphur. Here under a stronger sun I have found the simplicity, the fading of the colours, the gravity of great sunlight effects. You never come near to suspecting it in the north.”

DEATH Vincent van Gogh died in the early morning of July 29, 1890, at age 37, in his room at the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. 

According to the traditional account, he shot himself in a wheat field on July 27 while painting, then managed to walk back to his room at the Auberge Ravoux. Two local physicians attended him, but the bullet could not be removed. Over the next 30 hours, his condition worsened, and he died in the early morning of July 29 at the age of 37, with his brother Theo at his bedside. His last words were reportedly, “La tristesse durera toujours” — “The sadness will last forever.” His final painting was Wheat Field with Crows.

Wheatfield with Crows

This version of events has been accepted for more than a century, but alternative theories have emerged. In their biography Van Gogh: The Life, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith argue that Van Gogh may have been accidentally shot by René Secrétan, a 16-year-old local youth who often taunted him. They suggest Vincent “welcomed death” and allowed the assumption of suicide to stand in order to protect the boy. A 2020 forensic analysis added weight to this idea, concluding that, based on ballistics evidence, it was “likely impossible” for Vincent to have shot himself in the manner traditionally described. Even so, most Van Gogh scholars continue to believe the suicide account.

In his final hours, Van Gogh remained lucid, smoking his pipe and speaking quietly with Theo. Dr. Paul Gachet tended to him, but the infection from the wound proved fatal. Vincent was buried in the cemetery at Auvers-sur-Oise; Theo, devastated by his brother’s death, died just six months later. At his widow’s request, he was laid to rest beside Vincent. The gun believed to have killed the artist was discovered in 1965 in the same field where he is thought to have been shot.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Vincent van Gogh has been portrayed extensively in various media forms, making him one of the most depicted artists in popular culture:


Notable Films:

Lust for Life (1956): Kirk Douglas's acclaimed portrayal earned him a Golden Globe

Vincent & Theo (1990): Robert Altman's biographical drama starring Tim Roth

Van Gogh (1991): Maurice Pialat's film with Jacques Dutronc winning the César Award for Best Actor

Loving Vincent (2017): The first fully hand-painted animated feature film, nominated for an Academy Award

At Eternity's Gate (2018): Willem Dafoe's performance earned him an Oscar nomination

Television:

Vincent van Gogh: A Self Portrait (1962): Won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Program of the Year

Painted with Words (2010): Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed Vincent in this acclaimed TV docudrama

Doctor Who (2010): Tony Curran played Vincent in the beloved episode "Vincent and the Doctor."


Documentaries: Numerous documentaries have explored his life, including works by Alain Resnais (1948), Paul Cox (1987), and Akira Kurosawa's tribute in "Dreams" (1990).

Music: The song "Vincent" by Don McLean references his painting A Starry Night.

ACHIEVEMENTS Van Gogh painted over 800 paintings in the nine years between starting his career and his death. 

His work was featured in two major exhibitions in Paris. 

After his death, his finest works were sold for huge sums, and his sister-in-law, Johanna Bonger, played a crucial role in promoting his art and ensuring his posthumous recognition as one of the most influential artists in history.

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