Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch. Vincent Willem van Gogh; March 30, 1853, Grotto-Zundert, the Netherlands - July 29, 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, France) is a Dutch post-impressionist artist who received almost no special education, but for short 10 years of his creative career, he painted a huge number of paintings, many of which have become recognized world masterpieces of painting. Van Gogh's paintings began to gain popularity only after the death of the artist, and are now included in the list of the most expensive paintings in the world and are exhibited to the general public at the most prestigious exhibitions.

Features of the artist Vincent van Gogh: early works are attributed to such a direction of painting as realism. They are written in rather gloomy colors. For the cycle called “Heads of the Peasants” and his first significant painting “The Potato Eaters”, Van Gogh uses mostly earthy shades. The artist's palette changes after moving to Paris in 1886, his canvases are saturated with pure, bright colors. Vincent van Gogh's own unique style was developed under the influence of such a direction of painting as impressionism and Japanese engravings at the same time. In recent years, in the paintings, he most often prefers yellow and blue colors.

Could the archetypal "poor artist" Vincent van Gogh have guessed that a century after his death, his name would become synonymous with the word "painting" for many? That his sunflowers, whirlwind swirls of the night sky, and the thin-legged tables of a small French cafe will be among the first to pop up in the memory at the word “painting”, and their cost will be equal to millions? Could he even suspect that the cities where he lived and worked would turn into places of pilgrimage for connoisseurs of the fine arts, and that the same unremarkable cafe in Arles would become a tourist Mecca?

If someone told Vincent about this during his lifetime, he would most likely twist his finger at his temple, clutch his head in horror, and perhaps even give up creativity in favor of an occupation that would certainly not make him famous. Van Gogh argued that people are indifferent to painting, and believed that artists need to paint first of all in order to be closer to the people, to bring art to every home.

Almost everything that we know about Van Gogh's life has become known from his extensive long-term correspondence with his brother Theo. In one of these letters one can come across the following statement: “The only happiness, tangible material happiness, is to be always young.” Vincent van Gogh, who shot himself in the chest at the age of 37, deprived himself of the opportunity to grow old and check how true this thought of his is.