Vincent Van Gogh Essay, Research Paper

Possibly one of the most famous painters in history, Vincent van Gogh has acquired a reputation of being

a well accomplished artist, and a very intriguing individual. Born in the Netherlands, he grew up in a very

religious background. He went through many jobs before he finally found his talent for painting. He lived a

short life, painting for only the last few years of his existence.

Van Gogh was born in 1853 in the Netherlands, into a religious family. This probably attributed to him

holding many jobs, including being a preacher preaching to the miners. He was never quite content with

any job and could not hold his employment for very long periods of time. By the time he became a

preacher he had already turned thirty years old, and still wasn’t sure of what he wanted to do for a living.

While he was preaching, he started painting, he never took any lessons, so he was completely self taught.

His brother Theo owned an art gallery and saw his talent, so he sent him to an art school in France. Van

Gogh picked up the post-impressionist technique and went to work painting paintings of everyday things.

One of Van Gogh’s more famous paintings was The Potato Eaters, a painting of regular people eating a

meal consisting of potatoes. One does not realize the significance of this painting until they

look carefully. The texture of the peoples skin is that of a potato. Not very many people realized Van Gogh’s

talent, though, until he was dead. He could never sell any of his paintings to people at the time, which is

ironic because his painting, Sunflowers, just sold for 43 million dollars. Van Gogh became mentally ill at 35

years old, and it was at this time that he created his most famous paintings. Some scientists believe that

he was suffering from lead poisoning because in all of his paintings, Van Gogh shows rings around any light

sources, and seeing rings around light was a very common symptom of lead poisoning.

Van Gogh’s insanity became gradually worse. He started mutilating himself out of frustration, and at one

point cut off his own ear. Convinced that he was not getting any better, Van Gogh took his own life at age

thirty-seven, ending his talent and silencing his emotional pain forever.

Van Gogh’s paintings are are now almost priceless and considered modern day treasure, which is what

Van Gogh would have wanted in his day, but never got to see it happen. It is shame that nobody could see

the talent of this young artistry during his life, but at least he has gotten his deserved recognition.