Van Gogh: Masterclass Classic Sketches

Author: (Dutch) Vincent van Gogh
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was born into a family of Protestant ministers in the town of Zundert, the Netherlands. Before the age of 24, he worked as a clerk at Goupil galleries in The Hague, London, Paris, and other places. Later, he became a missionary and served in the Borinage mining area in southwestern Belgium. He was dismissed due to his sympathy and support for the demands of the poor miners. After a period of extreme disappointment and poverty, he decided to achieve self-liberation through the pursuit of art. After 1880, he traveled extensively to study, seeking guidance from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Belgium and learning from Dutch landscape painter Anton Mauve, but ultimately decided to teach himself. He overcame numerous difficulties and strived to express the world according to his own understanding. Before 1886, his works were still in the exploration phase, with representative pieces such as The Potato Eaters and The Weavers.
In 1886, van Gogh came to Paris with his younger brother, who worked as a senior clerk at Goupil galleries, where he met artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, Pissarro, Seurat, and Cézanne, and attended gatherings of Impressionist painters. This greatly broadened his artistic horizons, and he began painting in a completely different manner than before, with vibrant colors and bright tones. In his paintings, there was always a riot of color and brushwork, creating an atmosphere that conveyed an extraordinary vitality. This Self-Portrait is no exception. van Gogh painted numerous self-portraits in his lifetime, and this one belongs to an earlier period.
In February 1888, he traveled to Arles in southern France with Gauguin to paint and sketch for a year. This was a crucial period in the formation of his artistic style. The strong sunlight of the south, along with the towns, fields, flowers, rivers, farms, and churches bathed in sunlight, made him repeatedly exclaim, "Brighter! Brighter!" At this time, he and Gauguin had disagreements with Impressionism but shared a strong interest in Expressionism or Symbolism. As a result, they had even considered establishing a "Southern Impressionism" or an "Impressionist Separation." However, due to the deterioration of their relationship, Gauguin left, and after van Gogh's ear-cutting incident, his mental state gradually deteriorated. Thus, they never formed any group.
In 1890, after long-term treatment at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, van Gogh's condition improved slightly, and he returned to Paris, living by the Oise River in Auvers and receiving specialized treatment from Dr. Gachet. He worked diligently, producing works such as Portrait of Dr. Gachet and The Church at Auvers. However, on October 27, 1890, after an argument with Dr. Gachet, he suddenly shot himself and took his own life.
van Gogh left behind a rich legacy of works, which were gradually recognized only after his death. In these works, he intensely pursued the expression of his own spirit, where all forms seemed to leap and twist under the influence of intense emotion. Such art had a profound impact on 20th-century Expressionism, particularly on artists like Soutine and the German Expressionists, who drew many important principles from van Gogh's work. He was the greatest Dutch painter with global influence after Rembrandt. However, during his lifetime, he sold only one painting.