Letter From Vincent's Brother Theo to his fiancé Jo Bonger - 1889:
"That head of his has been occupied with contemporary society's insoluble problems for so long, and he is still battling on with his good-heartedness and boundless energy. His efforts have not been in vain, but he will probably not live to see them come to fruition, for by the time people understand what he is saying in his paintings it will be too late. He is one of the most advanced painters and it is difficult to understand him, even for me who knows him so intimately. His ideas cover so much ground, examining what is humane and how one should look at the world, that one must first free oneself from anything remotely linked to convention to understand what he was trying to say, but I am sure he will be understood later on. It is just hard to say when."
Vincent Van Gogh Biography - Part 1
Vincent Willem Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, a village in the south of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border. He was the eldest son of Theodorus Van Gogh, a handsome preacher, and his kind-hearted wife, Anna Cornelia Carbentus. He was named Vincent Willem after his two grandfathers. He was followed by a sister, Anna, born in 1855, and in 1857, his brother, Theodorus (Theo), was born.
Vincent and Theo were both copper-haired and blue-eyed, although the younger Theo was of slighter build. Over time, two more daughters and another son were added to the family. Vincent's father was known as the "handsome preacher" in the village. His congregation was small and provided a meager living for the Van Gogh family. Although money was tight, Vincent and Theo formed a bond that would last their entire lives. They kept each other company and spent their days among the wheat fields, the heath and the pine forests.
Vincent attended the village school until his parents, worried that the peasant children might make their son rough, hired a governess to teach their children at home. Vincent was only eleven when his parents sent him to boarding school. The separation from home made a deep impression on Vincent and was the beginning of a life lived in loneliness and isolation.
Eventually, at age 16, like many young men of his time, his parents decided that he'd had enough schooling and Vincent was apprenticed to learn a trade. Three of his uncles owned successful art galleries. Vincent was apprenticed to the most successful, Uncle Cent (Vincent) and began work in The Hague branch of Goupil & Cie.
After Vincent had been in The Hague three years, his brother Theo came to visit him. A brief note, thanking Theo for visiting, is the first surviving letter from Vincent Van Gogh to his brother. The letter is dated August 18, 1872.
My dear Theo,
Many thanks for your letter, I was glad you arrived back safely. I missed you the first few days & it felt strange not to find you there when I came home in the afternoons.
We have had some enjoyable days together, and managed to take a few walks & see one or two sights between the spots of rain.
What terrible weather. You must have sweltered on your walks to Oisterwijk. There was harness racing yesterday for the exhibition, but the illuminations & the fireworks were put off because of the bad weather, so it's just as well you didn't stay on to see them. Regards from the Haanebeck & Roos families.
Always your loving Vincent (First surviving letter is dated August 18, 1872)
Vincent Van Gogh was doing well in his work at the art gallery when his brother, Theo, also began his apprenticeship with the firm. The director wrote to the Van Goghs expressing his confidence in Vincent and notifying them that he was to be transferred to the London office as a promotion. He noted that both the clients and painters enjoyed dealing with Vincent and expected him to have success.
Vincent developed an affection for the daughter of the landlady of his boarding house, Eugenie. Eugenie was slim, dark-haired and charming. She was also engaged to be married. Shy, twenty-years-old with no experience with women, Vincent was brokenhearted. There was a sudden, dramatic change in Vincent's personality after this rejection. He turned silent, moody and difficult, and refused to go out. For the first time, people called him "eccentric".
Two years later, Goupil transferred Vincent to Paris, hoping the change of scenery would improve his outlook. Vincent did spend time in the Louvre and the Luxembourg Palace, but was not attracted to the lively Parisian nightlife. He began to attend church regularly, for the first time since he'd left his father's parish. Van Gogh began to read the Bible in all his spare time. He seemed to his family to be bordering on the fanatic. He even suggested to Theo that he burn all his books except his Bible.
Eventually, Goupil's art gallery had enough of Van Gogh's frequent absences, his rude treatment of clients and his strange choices in clothing. He was fired.
Van Gogh managed to land a job teaching young boys at a London boarding school for room and board. And then moved to another similar teaching job where he was given room and board plus a small salary. More interesting to Vincent, however, was the fact that in this second teaching job, he was allowed to preach. His letters home were full of religious aphorisms and meditations. His father didn't have any objection to his son becoming a preacher, but he wanted him to start the necessary studies rather than dabbling in such an unpractical way.
When Van Gogh returned home that Christmas, Vincent's sister Elizabeth found him "groggy with piety." At the age of twenty-four, Vincent announced his intention to become a clergyman. In order to become a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church, Vincent would need to pass state entrance exams. Because he lacked a high-school diploma, this would mean at least two years of tutoring. Then, once he passed the exams, he would have to train for six expensive years at the theological seminary in Amsterdam. Without all this, Vincent would be unable to acquire a meaningful job in the church. The whole extended Van Gogh family pitched in to help Vincent with room and board and tutoring.
Vincent didn't enjoy his studies. He began to feel constantly anxious. He felt he was letting down his family. He began to punish himself by beating his back with a rope. Sometimes he locked himself out of his uncle's house and slept in the cold shed without even a blanket. After a year of struggling, Vincent gave up. He would never pass the entrance exams. As a compromise, Vincent and his father enrolled him in an evangelical course that took three years instead of six. Vincent was accepted on a trial basis. After six months, realizing even this trial was a failure, Vincent landed an assignment as an evangelist and left for the grim mining district in southwestern Belgium called the Borinage.
Vincent began trying to identify with the miners. He moved into a hovel where he slept on a straw mattress. He gave his warm clothes to the needy and stopped washing the coal dust from his face. Vincent's determination to follow Christ's example made people uncomfortable. The mission sponsors refused to renew his appointment. This began a period of time when Vincent was homeless and hungry. He lost touch with his family, refusing to write even to Theo for nine months.
During the summer of 1879, Vincent wrote to his first boss at Goupil to request some watercolors, a sketchbook and two manuals on learning how to draw. Vincent began trying to sketch the miners and peasants. He made slow progress, but persisted. Eventually, hungry, tired, and desperate, he went home.
His earlier desire to help his fellow man as a clergyman gradually developed into an urge (as he later wrote) to leave "some memento in the form of drawings or paintings—not made to please any particular movement, but to express a sincere human feeling." His parents, however, did not support this plan and financial responsibility for Vincent passed to his brother, Theo. Throughout Van Gogh's life, Theo provided material and emotional support. Finally, Van Gogh came to regard his work as a kind of a collaboration with Theo, based on the support and kindness Theo offered him.
When Vincent van Gogh decided to become an artist, no one, not even Vincent himself, suspected that he had extraordinary gifts. He progressed rapidly from inept novice to a truly original master. His work was eventually characterized by bold, harmonious colors and simple but memorable compositions.
Van Gogh went to Brussels to study at the academy to prepare for his new career. He left after only nine months. In April, 1881, he went to live with his parents and taught himself how to draw. Extracts from two letters at this time below:
I think all the fellows in the drawing class all work badly and in an absolutely wrong way... it is correct, it is whatever you like, but it is dead." --- Letter to Theo
I still remember telling you... that I would sooner be with a bad whore than be alone." --- Letter to Theo
Note: As with the Paris Photos and info posted below, this Vincent van Gogh Biography and related photos are being added here by request - by demand actually... Some playfully nasty letters from some Vincent van Gogh lovers have been hitting my inbox because they're not too happy that I shut down a web site that used to contain this bio. So here you go you cranky Van-Gogh-Ophiles, Enjoy yourselves! ;)
