He struggled to come to terms with his life: РІР‚СљI am willing to accept my vocation as a madman as calmly as DР“В©gas accepts his work as a notary. Vincent van Gogh left 652 letters to his brother and over 250 letters to other persons, which give a comprehensive picture of his inner world (Nizon 1977 Nagera 1973). On 27 July 1890, Vincent van Gogh presumably shot himself with a revolver and died two days later, at age 37. The short time in Auvers was highly productive but also overshadowed by conflicts between the brothers, especially during a brief visit to Paris in early July. He moved to Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris as his brother Theo had made arrangements that he stay in the care of the physician Paul Gachet. In May 1890, he was considered cured and released. During his one-year stay, he created over 300 paintings and drawings, the clinicРІР‚в„ўs interior and garden became the main subjects of his work. Two months later, he voluntarily entered the asylum in Saint-RР“В©my-de-Provence (Pickvance 1986). In March 1889, a number of Arles residents, who were afraid of РІР‚Сљle fou rouxРІР‚Сњ (the red-haired madman), filed a petition to the local authorities, and it was ordered that van Gogh be placed in hospital care. The young hospital physician FР“В©lix Rey diagnosed him with epilepsy and prescribed a treatment with bromide. In a letter dated 3 February 1889, he described his experience alluding to the Platonic concept of mania as РІР‚Сљinstances of being shaken by excitement or madness or the gift of prophecy, like a Greek oracle on a tripodРІР‚Сњ (cf. He was hospitalised twice but would only afterwards recognise his condition as a mental crisis. On Christmas Eve 1888, after a clash with Gauguin, he severed his left ear with a razor. Until his death in 1890, van Gogh experienced six breakdowns. The time in Arles became van GoghРІР‚в„ўs most productive period, his work was more and more acknowledged by the French art scene and shown in several exhibitions. In February 1888, he moved to Arles in southern France where Gauguin joined him in October. Van Gogh mixed with other artists, among them Paul Gauguin, and consumed increasing amounts of absinthe (Arnold 1993: 115 ff. He moved to Antwerp in November 1885 and finally, in spring of 1886, to Paris to stay with his brother Theo. In 1883, he left Sien and moved to the Dutch province of Drenthe and later that year to Nuenen, North Brabant, where he stayed for almost two years near his parentsРІР‚в„ў new residence. His involvement with his model Sien Hoornik, a single mother and casual prostitute, lead to a further estrangement from his family. He initially stayed with his cousin-in-law, the painter Anton Mauve, who introduced him to painting in oil (Naifeh & Smith 2011 Arnold 1993: 39 ff.). His insistence caused a family uproar, and he left for The Hague in December 1881 after a quarrel with his father. There he fell in love with a widowed cousin, who refused his marriage proposal. After some months in Brussels, van Gogh moved to his parentsРІР‚в„ў house in Etten in April 1881.

His younger brother Theo encouraged him and provided financial support from then on. Van Gogh had been drawing since a teenager and, in 1880, decided to take up art in earnest. His employer, however, disapproved of this attitude and dismissed him in July 1878. Deeply moved by the social misery he encountered, he developed a strong sense of solidarity with the miners and chose to live in the same squalid conditions. Despite failing the course, he was given a post as a missionary in the coal-mining district of Borinage in southern Belgium. He abandoned his studies within a year and moved on to Belgium where he attended a seminary for lay preachers. After a variety of occupations at different locations, he went to Amsterdam in May 1877 to study theology. Van Gogh immersed himself in religious studies, grew ever more resentful of his work and was finally laid off by his employer for his apparent lack of business skills. There he became increasingly nervous and ill-tempered (Strik 1997: 402 Hulsker 1980), and his employer transferred him to Paris in May 1875. Upon completion of his training in 1873, he was sent to work at the firmРІР‚в„ўs London branch. In 1869, his uncle helped him obtain an apprenticeship with the art dealer Goupil & Cie in The Hague. He attended the village primary school, was then placed at a boarding school and later attended middle school in Tilburg. Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was born in Groot Zundert, North Brabant, as the oldest son of a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church.

Vincent willem van gogh