Vincent van Gogh - Biography - IMDb Vincent van Gogh Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Trivia (6) | Personal Quotes (7) Overview (4) 5' 7" (1.7 m) Mini Bio (1) Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Zundert, Netherlands. His father, named Theodorus van Gogh, was a Protestant minister. His mother, named Anna Cornelia Carbentus, was a daughter of the "book-binder to the King" Willem Carbentus; who had bound the first Consitution of Holland. Vincent Van Gogh was given the name of his elder brother, who had died at birth a year before Van Gogh was born. He had two junior brothers and three sisters, and was strongly attached to his brother Theo. Young Van Gogh was brought up in a religious and strict atmosphere. He was severely punished by his grandmother at one time. He had a very uncontrollable temper, was highly emotional, and lacked self-confidence. From the age of 7 to 11 he was taught at home by a governess.

Then from the age of 11 to 15 he was sent to boarding schools in the Netherlands. His first art teacher was Constantijn Huysmans, a professional artist, who taught the young Van Gogh basic drawing and composition. From 1869-1873 Van Gogh worked for an established art dealer, Goupil & Cie, in the Hague. Then he worked in London and Paris until 1876, when he was fired for showing resentment to the customers. Van Gogh went to England as a minister's assistant. Then he studied theology at the University of Amsterdam for one year, but gave up. He tried to follow his father's profession and become a preacher in Belgium, but was dismissed after a year for "underminig the dignity of the priesthood." He studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Brussels for six months in 1880 and 1881. In the summer of 1881 Van Gogh fell in love with his widowed cousin, Kee Vos, but was cruelly rejected by her. He became upset and resentful.

This led to a violent quarrel with his father on Christmas, and he moved in with an alcoholic prostitute for a year. In 1884 Van Gogh had a romance with a neighbor's daughter, who shared his interest in art, but their marriage was opposed by both families. This and the death of his father in March of 1885 caused depression. At that time Van Gogh made his first major work, "The Potato Eaters". In September of 1885 he was accused of making one of his sitters, a young peasant girl, pregnant and was ostracized by the local Church. He moved to Antwerp, where he studied color theory and painting at the Antwerpen School of Arts, and matriculated in January of 1886. While he was away, his mother and sister moved. They left behind almost all of his paintings, of which 70 were bought by a junk dealer and some were burned. From March 1886 to February 1888, Van Gogh lived in Paris.

There he met the Impressionists: Claude Monet , Auguste Renoir , Edgar Degas , Alfred Sisley, Paul Signac, Georges Seurat , and brothers Lucien and Camille Pissarro. The Impressionist's use of light and color inspired Van Gogh on updating his own palette. During the Paris years, his color scheme became brighter and lighter. His use of complementary colors in proximity produced remarkable decorative effects. He wrote: "I want to use colours that complement each other, that cause each other to shine brilliantly, that complete each other like a man and a woman." Van Gogh also adopted some ideas of pointillism, but developed his own technique with stronger brush-strokes, sharp composition, and his own color scheme using complementary colors. He created about 200 oil paintings during his two years in Paris. In February of 1888 Van Gogh moved to Arles with a plan to found an art colony. His friend Paul Gauguin joined in October. Van Gogh presented him several paintings of sunflowers, but their cooperation lasted only for two months. Their arguments about art and life were exacerbated by drinking and rivalry for prostitutes.

Van Gogh's mental state was alternating between fits of depression and lucidity. At times, his madness led to aggressive actions. In December of 1888 he attacked Paul Gauguin with an open razor, was stopped, but eventually cut part of his ear off and gave it to a prostitute. Paul Gauguin sent a note to his brother Theo and left forever. Theo immediately came to help. Van Gogh was sent to the state mental hospital of St. Paul in Saint Remy de Provence. There he lived for a year and made some of his best works: "Starry Night", "Vincent's Bedroom", and several paintings of Irises. Van Gogh was released in May of 1890 and moved to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under supervision of Dr. Gachet. His health improved enough to give him energy for the most intensive work marathon. In just two months there he painted ninety excellent works. This included portraits of Dr. Gachet, landscapes, still-lives, and "Wheat Field with Crows". In a state of depression he went out into the wheat field and shot himself in the chest on July 27, 1890.

Fatally wounded, Van Gogh died two days later in the arms of his brother Theo. He was laid to rest at the cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise. Van Gogh's disobedience drove his creativity towards new horizons. Although categorized as a Post-impressionist, Van Gogh pioneered the style of Expressionism and had a very important influence on 20th century art. He influenced many artists and art movements, such as Henri Matisse and the French Fauves, Ernest Ludwig Kirchner and German Expressionists, as well as Francis Bacon and other artists. Van Gogh was been the topic of several biographical films. He was played most memorably by Kirk Douglas in Lust for Life (1956) and by Tim Roth in Vincent & Theo (1990). The highly popular song "Vincent" by Don McLean was a tribute to Van Gogh. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Shelokhonov Trivia (6) Great granduncle of Theo van Gogh . Name pronounced 'vin-sent van gokh'. Some people pronounce it 'van Goff' 'gog' or 'goe'.

The accurate Dutch pronunciation is 'vaughan khokh' Was known to drink absinthe, an alcoholic drink sourced from wormwood and known for its hallucinogenic effects. Absinthe caused problems such as lesions of the brain and erratic behavior, and is believed to be a primary factor in Van Gogh's mental decline. Suffered from depression which led to him committing suicide. His last painting was of a man who was sitting down with his head in his hands as if he were depressed. SparkNotes: Vincent van Gogh: Family and Childhood (1853–1871) Family and Childhood (1853–1871) Family and Childhood (1853–1871) → Important Terms and People The Art Business (1872–1876) Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the town of Groot- Zundert in Brabant, a region of The Netherlands close to the Belgian border.

He was the oldest child of Theodorus van Gogh (1822–85), a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Community, and Anna Cornelia Carbentus (1819–1907). Vincent was born exactly one year after the first Vincent Willem had been stillborn to Anna Carbentus on March 30, 1852. There is little or no evidence that Vincent knew very much about this would-be older brother, but certainly some psychoanalytical biographers have worked themselves into a Freudian frenzy about the coincidence of these birthdays and about Vincent's torturous psychological struggle as the "replacement child" for his parents.

Vincent was to have five siblings: two brothers, Theodorus (Theo) (1857–91), who would become his favorite family member as well as his closest and most devoted friend, patron, and artistic agent, and the much younger Cornelius Vincent (1867–1900); and three sisters, Anna Cornelia (1855–1930), Elisabeth (Lies) Huberta (1859–1936), and Willemina (Wil) Jacoba (1862–1941), his favorite sister, who shared Vincent's psychological ailments late in her life. Because most of what we know about Vincent's life we have learned from his compulsive correspondence with his brother Theo, we know very little about his early life, since the first extant letter from Vincent to Theo is a brief note regarding Theo's visit to his brother in The Hague, dated August 1872. In her memoirs, his sister Elisabeth recalls Vincent being a serious, sensitive boy who preferred solitude to the companionship of family and friends and loved flowers, birds, and insects.

He was a good student, but, according to his sister, his choice of clothing and his eating habits and solitary nature made him appear slightly strange to others from a young age. Vincent attended the local village school for academics and the parsonage for religious education from 1861 until 1864. From 1864 to 1866 he attended a boarding school in Zevenbergen, where he studied English, French, and German before transferring to a new high school in Tilburg. He left the Tilburg school in the middle of his second year there, probably because the cost of room, board and tuition there proved too much of a financial strain for his middle-class family. The Tilburg school had a well- respected art teacher, but Vincent showed no inclination toward art as a child, and his eccentricities did not manifest themselves in a particularly creative or artistic manner. Any creative potential was apparently completed sublimated or not yet developed–a few of his early drawings survive, and although they show a modest talent for realistic rendering and copying the works of others, they are in no way outstanding or unusual for a child of his age.

After spending an undocumented year at home, on July 30, 1869, sixteen-year old Vincent was sent to The Hague to work as a junior clerk in the art firm of Goupil and Company, an international firm that dealt in contemporary work as well as early nineteenth- and eighteenth-century art and photographic prints and reproductions of famous pieces. Vincent's uncle Vincent (whom his nieces and nephews nicknamed "Oom Cent") was an important member of the firm and secured the position for his nephew. In January 1871 the van Goghs moved to Helvoirt, another town in Brabant to which Theodorus van Gogh had been transferred. We have no details of Vincent's work or life for three years after his move to The Hague. His correspondence with his brother begins on August 1, 1872, when Vincent was already nineteen years old. Meet Vincent Van Gogh's Brother, Vincent Van Gogh | Mental Floss Meet Vincent Van Gogh's Brother, Vincent Van Gogh filed under: art , History Like us on Facebook You may know about Vincent Van Gogh’s younger brother, Theo.

They were extremely close, exchanging countless letters over the years—not to mention that Theo helped financially support Vincent so he could dedicate his life to creating art. They’re even buried next to each other, having died less than a year apart in 1890 (Vincent) and 1891 (Theo). WikimediaCommons // Public Domain Despite all of this, the brother who may have had an even bigger influence on Van Gogh passed away a year before the artist was even born. Vincent Willem Van Gogh was born and died on March 30, 1852—a stillbirth. Exactly a year later to the day, Vincent Willem Van Gogh, future artist, was born. His grieving parents gave him the exact same name as his deceased brother. To make matters even more confusing, the church register assigned the surviving Vincent Van Gogh the same number as the deceased Vincent Van Gogh: 29. At the time, it wasn’t uncommon for parents to name a surviving child after one that had died, but that doesn’t mean the practice wasn’t traumatic for child #2.

It may have been particularly difficult in this situation, since the surviving Vincent Van Gogh was aware of and presumably visited a gravestone with his full name and date of birth on it, off by just one year. To cloud matters even more, Theo and his wife had a baby boy on January 31, 1890. They, too, named him Vincent Willem Van Gogh. It was just six months later that Van Gogh the artist killed himself. Author Stephen Levick speculates that Van Gogh, who was supposed to feel honored, instead felt that his brother was replacing him the way their parents had replaced their first child. This, Levick theorizes, fueled a stage of depression that ultimately ended in suicide. More from mental_floss... Vincent van Gogh Biography - life, childhood, parents, name, history, school, mother, son, information, born, time Vincent van Gogh Biography Auvers, France Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch painter whose formal distortions and humanistic concerns made him a major pioneer of twentieth-century expressionism, an artistic movement that emphasized expression of the artist's experience.

Childhood Born on March 30, 1853, at Groot-Zundert in the province of Brabant, Holland, Vincent Willem Van Gogh was the son of a Protestant minister, Theodorus Van Gogh. Exactly a year before his birth, his mother, Cornelia, gave birth to an infant, also named Vincent, who was stillborn, or dead upon birth. His grieving parents buried the child and set up a tombstone to mark the grave. As a result, Vincent Van Gogh grew up near the haunting sight of a grave with his own name upon it. His mother later gave birth to Theo, his younger brother, and three younger sisters. Not much is known about Van Gogh's earlier education, but he did receive some encouragement from his mother to draw and paint. As a teenager he drew and painted regularly. Van Gogh's uncle was a partner in Goupil and Company, art dealers. Vincent entered the firm at the age of sixteen and remained there for six years. He served the firm first in The Hague, the political seat of the Netherlands, and then in London, England, where he fell in love with his landlady's daughter, who rejected him.

Later he worked for Goupil's branch in Paris, France. Because of Van Gogh's unpleasant attitude, Goupil dismissed him in 1876. That year he returned to England, worked at a small school at Ramsgate, and did some preaching. In early 1877 he clerked in a bookshop in Dordrecht. Then, convinced that the ministry ought to be his calling, he joined a religious seminary in Brussels, Belgium. He left three months later to become an evangelist (a preacher) in a poor mining section of Belgium, the Borinage. Van Gogh exhibited the necessary dedication, even giving away his clothes, but his odd behavior kept the miners at a distance. Once again, in July 1879, he found himself dismissed from a job. This period was a dark one for Van Gogh. He wished to give himself to others but was constantly being rejected. In 1880, after much soul searching, Van Gogh decided to devote his life to art, a profession he accepted as a spiritual calling. When in London he had visited museums, and he had drawn a little while in the Borinage.

In October 1880 he attended an art school in Brussels, where he studied the basics of perspective (representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface) and anatomy (the human body). From April to December 1881 he stayed with his parents, who were then in Etten, and continued to work on his art. At this time, too, he studied at the academic art school at The Hague, where his cousin Anton Mauve taught. Dutch period During Van Gogh's Dutch period (1880–1886) he created works in which his overriding concerns for his fellow man were growing. His subjects were poor people, miners, peasants, and inhabitants of almshouses, or houses for the poor. Among his favorite painters at this time were Jean François Millet (1814–1875), Rembrandt (1606–1669), and Honoré Daumier (1808–1879). Complementing Van Gogh's dreary subject matter of this time were his colors, dark brownish and greenish shades.

The masterpiece of Van Gogh's Dutch period is the Potato Eaters (1885), a night scene in which peasants sit at their meal around a table. Van Gogh decided to go to Paris in early 1886, partially because he was drawn to the simple and artistic life of the French city. His younger brother, Theo, was living in Paris, where he directed a small gallery maintained by Goupil and Company. Theo had supported Vincent financially and emotionally from the time he decided to become a painter, and would continue to do so throughout his life. The letters between the brothers are among the most moving documents in all the history of Western art. Vincent shared Theo's apartment and studied at an art school run by the traditional painter Fernand Cormon, where he met Émile Bernard (1868–1941) and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901), who became his friends. By now Van Gogh was largely under the influence of the impressionists, a style of painting where the artist concentrates on the immediate impression of a scene by the use of light and color.

Especially influenced by Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), Van Gogh was persuaded to give up the gloomy tones of his Dutch period for bright, high-keyed colors. Also, his subject matter changed from the world of peasants to a typically impressionistic subject matter, such as cafés and cityscapes around Montmartre, an area of northern Paris. He also copied Japanese prints. While subjects and handling were obviously taken from impressionism, there frequently could be detected a certain sad quality, as in a scene of Montmartre (1886), where pedestrians are pushed to the outer sides of an open square. Stay at Arles Longing for a place of light and warmth, and tired of being entirely financially dependent on Theo, Van Gogh left for Arles in southern France in February 1888. The pleasant country about Arles and the warmth of the place restored Van Gogh to health. In his fifteen months there he painted over two hundred pictures. At this time he applied color in simplified, highly dense masses, his drawing became more energetic and confused than ever before, and objects seemed to radiate a light of their own without giving off shadows.

During this period he also turned to painting portraits and executed several self-portraits. Among the masterpieces of his Arles period are the Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries (June 1888); the Night Café (September); and the Artist's Bedroom at Arles (October). At Arles Van Gogh suffered fainting spells and seizures (involuntary muscle Vincent Van Gogh. Library of Congress . spasms). The local population began to turn against him as well. Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), responding to his invitation, visited him in October 1888, but the two men quarreled violently. Gauguin left for Paris. Van Gogh, in a fit of remorse and anger, cut off his ear. On May 9, 1889, he asked to be admitted to the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de Provence, a hospital for the mentally ill. Production at Saint-Rémy In the year Van Gogh spent at the asylum he worked as much as he had at Arles, producing 150 paintings and hundreds of drawings. Van Gogh suffered several attacks but was completely peaceful in between.

At this time he received his first critical praise (a good review), an article by the writer Albert Aurier. During Van Gogh's stay at Saint-Rémy, his art changed markedly. His colors lost the intensity of the Arles period: yellows became coppers; reds verged toward brownish tones. His lines became restless. He applied the paint more violently with thicker impasto, the application of thick layers. Van Gogh was drawn to objects in nature under stress: whirling suns, twisted cypress trees, and surging mountains. In Starry Night (1889) the whole world seems engulfed by circular movements. Van Gogh went to Paris on May 17, 1890, to visit his brother. On the advice of Pissarro, Theo had Vincent go to Auvers, just outside Paris, to submit to the care of Dr. Paul Gachet, an amateur painter and a friend of Pissarro and Paul Cézanne (1839–1906). Last year at Auvers Van Gogh arrived at Auvers on May 21, 1890. He painted a portrait of Dr.

Gachet and portraits of his daughters, as well as the Church of Auvers. The blue of the Auvers period was not the full blue of Arles but a more mysterious, flickering blue. In his last painting, the Cornfield with Crows, Van Gogh showed a topsy-turvy world. The spectator himself becomes the object of perspective, and it is toward him that the crows appear to be flying. At first Van Gogh felt relieved at Auvers, but toward the end of June he experienced fits of temper and often quarreled with Gachet. On July 27, 1890, he shot himself in a lonely field and died the morning of July 29, 1890. For More Information Musée d'Orsay: Theo van Gogh : art-dealer, collector, Vincent's brother 1999 Vincent van GoghThe Presbytery at Nuenen© Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Fondation Vincent van Gogh With this "homage to Theo van Gogh", the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam inaugurated its new wing, destined to house temporary exhibitions, in June 1999.

Through 130 pieces bought or sold by Theo as part of his activities as an art dealer, others from his private collection, which he acquired with his brother Vincent's approval, and documents (letters, photographs, diverse papers, mostly from the Van Gogh Museum archives), the aim of this exhibition was to highlight the personality and activities of Theo, who is better known as the painter Vincent van Gogh's brother and supporter. Theo's beginnings Theo van Gogh (1857-1891) first worked as an art dealer in 1873 in the Brussels art gallery owned by his uncle Hendrick van Gogh. A few months later, he was sent to the Hague as an employee of Goupil & Co., an internationally-known Parisian merchant specialised in paintings and engravings who set up numerous branches in Europe and the United States. A guide for Theo: his brother Vincent Vincent, his brother and elder by four years, preceded him in this career as early as 1869. He acted as Theo's mentor, guiding him in his reading, his visits to museums and encouraging him to collect prints, in particular reproductions of paintings by contemporary artists.

These exchanges continued in Paris, where Theo was sent for the 1878 World Fair. He settled there and around 1880 he became director of the Paris branch of Goupil & Co. at 19 Boulevard Montmartre. As for Vincent, he left Goupil & Co. in 1876 and decided, after much hesitation, to become a painter. In 1886 he came to Paris, staying with his brother, before going two years later to the south of France. Jacob MarisThe Mill© Mesdag Museum The exhibition first evoked Vincent's youth, with three paintings made in 1884-1885, illustrating the province of Braban where the two brothers grew up.Photographs and documents helped outline the family background: whilst the father was a pastor, three uncles were art dealers, whom actively helped Vincent and Theo in taking up this profession.

Paul GauguinOranges and Lemons, with a view of Pont-Aven© Stiftung Langmatt Sidney et Jenny Brown Theo as an art-dealer From 1873 to 1879, Theo, after a short time in Brussels, worked for the Goupil branch in The Hague, a busy artistic centre thanks to a group of painters known as "The Hague School". The Goupil branch largely contributed to the dissemination of their work. Theo became friends with many of these painters. During Theo's stay in Paris from 1880 to 1890, his activities as an art dealer are well documented thanks to letters exchanged with his brother and other artists, but also thanks to the account books of the Goupil establishment kept at the Getty Museum (Los Angeles). The choice of works presented in this exhibition was made using these books. Emile SchuffeneckerStill life with a Fruit-Bowl© Kröller-Müller Museum An accomplished art dealer, Theo offered his customers a choice of paintings, sculptures and graphic art as wide as possible, his activity concentrating mostly on contemporary artists.

Although he was bound by the Goupil headquarters' guidelines, he nonetheless had a measure of freedom and he promoted the impressionists and avant-guard artists, friends of his brother (in particular Gauguin). One room was thus devoted to Theo as a traditional seller, with paintings and sculpture of the fashionable artists that made up most of the sales. Also exhibited were highly valued representatives of the Barbizon School - Corot and Daubigny (of whom 68 and 46 paintings were respectively sold by Theo between 1881 and 1890) - and Millet, Rousseau, Diaz ... along with such stars of the Salon as Gérôme and Meissonier. Edgar DegasThe Ballet Class© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski Adolphe Goupil Adolphe Goupil, founder of the society which in 1884 took the name of Boussod & Valadon, was originally a print maker and seller. From the 1830s this trade underwent an unprecedented growth and the highly modern reproduction techniques were elaborated in their workshops at Asnières.

It was through the medium of prints that the Salon highlights and works of popular artists were spread by the thousands. A selection of photo engravings and lithographs lent by the Goupil Museum in Bordeaux illustrated this activity. Claude MonetStill life with a Spanish melon© Collection particulière Theo and Monet Theo was interested in the impressionists, who were beginning to attract followers. Competing with Durant-Ruel, who was then in trouble, and Georges Petit, the young dealer was to take over an important stake in this market. The last impressionist group exhibition took place in 1886, and as early as the following year, Theo bought paintings by Monet on a regular basis. In 1888, he exhibited paintings by Monet from Antibes on the mezzanine of the gallery. Seventy paintings by Monet passed through his hands. His marketing technique, which consisted of highlighting a single artist, became more and more widely used by other dealers. This helped them to differentiate themselves from the Salons, largely criticised as "big bazaars" where thousands of works were stacked indiscriminately.

Camille PissarroWoman in a Field; Spring Sunlight in the Meadow at Eragny© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay) / DR Theo and the impressionist painters Theo also had close relations with Pissarro, whose paintings proved more difficult to sell. During Autumn 1888, he presented a few of the painter's latest works and two years later he devoted an exhibition to him. Degas, who had not exhibited his work since 1882, must have held Theo in a certain esteem as he allowed him to set up a small exhibition of his nudes in January 1888 and a year later an exhibition of a selection of his works. Theo was also interested in Sisley, Renoir, and other such “moderns” as Besnard, Carrière and Raffaëlli. Eugène CarrièreThe Favourite Toy© Norton Museum of Art A new generation If the Impressionists were beginning to get recognition from the press and the public, the new generation, that of Emile Bernard, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat, Signac, etc., received little interest from collectors.

Theo was in contact with some of these painters through his brother Vincent ,who had met them while living in Paris (1886-1888). For a time he helped Gauguin financially and he succeeded in finding buyers for him: however, his efforts to sell his brother's paintings remained to no avail. The Van Gogh brothers' collection The last two rooms of the exhibition dealt with pieces collected by the two brothers. These are works by artists they admired (Manet, Monticelli), friends (Corcos), acquired by Theo or exchanged by Vincent for his own paintings (paintings and drawings by Emile Bernard, Laval, Toulouse-Lautrec). Biographical & historical context - Vincent van Gogh Letters Biographical & historical context The immediate family circle A family tree of the Van Gogh and Carbentus families is available here .

Vincent van Gogh at the age of 13 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Vincent van Gogh at the age of 19 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) The vast majority of Vincent van Gogh’s extant correspondence is to family members – not only to Theo and Jo , but also to his parents and to Willemien , the sister to whom he was closest. There must have been many more letters he wrote to his parents and siblings that have not survived. Both his father and his grandfather were ministers, and his family upbringing was rooted in the values and virtues of the Christian church. Vincent had few close friends, but the family members were directly involved in each other’s lives, offering practical help and advice. Vincent’s grandfather, the Reverend Vincent van Gogh (1789–1874) married Elisabeth Huberta Vrijdag (1790–1857) in 1811. He took up his ministry in Breda on 3 November 1822.

Hendrik Vincent van Gogh, ‘Uncle Hein’ (1814-1877), owned a bookshop in Rotterdam. In 1859 he moved to The Hague to run the art gallery belonging to his younger brother Vincent, a branch of the Paris firm Goupil & Cie . 150 150. On Goupil see Etat des lieux 1994 and Verhoogt 1999. In 1861, the gallery moved to Plaats 14, and it was here that his nephews worked: Vincent from 1869 to 1873, and Theo from 1873 to 1875. Uncle Hein opened his own gallery in Brussels four years later, but ill health forced him to sell it to Goupil & Cie in 1872. His second wife was Maria van Gogh-Boon (‘Aunt Mietje’) .

Uncle Hein van Gogh (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Johannes van Gogh, ‘Uncle Jan’ (1817-1885), joined the navy and rose to the rank of rear admiral. He was director of the Amsterdam naval dockyard when his nephew Vincent was boarding with him in 1877–1878. His son, Hendrik Jacob Eerligh van Gogh , was married to Maria (Marie) Elisabeth Vos . A widower, Uncle Jan went to live in Helvoirt after his retirement with his sister Geertruida , who was married to a naval commander. Uncle Jan van Gogh (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Vincent van Gogh, ‘Uncle Cent’ (1820-1888), was a successful art dealer. In 1858 he became a partner in the firm of Goupil & Cie and moved to Paris. There was a very lucrative market in art reproductions, and he persuaded Goupil to start publishing large engravings after paintings, which proved extremely popular.

In 1871 he was forced to retire because of ill health, but he remained a sleeping partner from 1872 to 1878. 151 151. See Etat des lieux 1994, p. 149. He and his wife Cornelia Carbentus, ‘Aunt Cornelie’ (1829-1913), a sister of Anna van Gogh-Carbentus , moved to a mansion in Princenhage, near Breda. He had a large art collection, chiefly comprising works of the Barbizon and Hague schools. Uncle Vincent van Gogh (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Theodorus van Gogh , Vincent’s father (1822–1885) went to the Latin School in Breda. Despite poor health, he succeeded in studying theology in Utrecht. After filling various appointments he was called to the living in the village of Zundert on 11 January 1849. On 1 April that year his father confirmed him as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.

On 21 May 1851 he married Anna Carbentus (1819–1907), daughter of the Hague bookbinder Willem Carbentus (1792–1845). Theodorus belonged to the so-called Groningen School, a nineteenth-century Dutch theological tendency that rejected the restrictions of old orthodox Reformed ideas about man’s relationship with God. The parsonages occupied by the Reverend Van Gogh , who attached great importance to ethical behaviour and could count on much sympathy from his parishioners, were all in peasant villages in the province of North Brabant. They were Zundert (1849–1871), Helvoirt (1871–1875), Etten (1875–1882) and Nuenen (1882–1885). Mrs van Gogh visited the sick of the parish, and ran a sewing and knitting class in the consistory.

Theodorus van Gogh (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Anna van Gogh-Carbentus (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Cornelis Marinus van Gogh, ‘Uncle Cor’ (1826-1908), worked as a bookkeeper in his brother Hein ’s bookshop and his brother Vincent ’s art gallery. In 1849 he set up on his own as a bookseller and art dealer in Amsterdam, and moved into premises in Leidsestraat in 1853. The bookshop and gallery moved to Keizersgracht 453 in 1871. His young nephew Vincent visited the shop in 1877-1878, getting to know books and art. For a while in 1882 it seemed as though Uncle Cor saw some promise in Vincent’s drawings, for he commissioned two series of cityscapes of The Hague from him, but nothing further came of it.

Uncle Cor van Gogh (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Willemina Catharina Gerardina Carbentus, ‘Aunt Mina’ (1816–1904), sister of Anna van Gogh-Carbentus , married Johannes Paulus Stricker, ‘Uncle Stricker’ (1816–1886). Their daughter, Cornelia Adriana Stricker, ‘Kee Vos’ (1846–1918), married Christoffel Martinus Vos (1841–1878). When Van Gogh lived in Amsterdam, in 1877–1878, his uncle supported him with his theological studies. In 1881 Vincent fell in love with Kee, who had recently been widowed. Aunt Mina Stricker-Carbentus (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Uncle J.P. Stricker (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Kee Vos-Stricker with her son Jan, c.

1881 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Leonarda Catharina Adriana Stricker (1822–1904) was the second wife of Carl Adolph Haanebeek (1821–1906); their daughter Carolina (Caroline) Adolphina Haanebeek (1852–1926) was married to Willem Jacob van Stockum (1846–1900). Jannetje (Annet) Cornelia Haanebeek (1851–1875) was Caroline’s sister. Caroline and her husband were among Van Gogh’s correspondents. Family photo of Caroline van Stockum-Haanebeek (standing, second from left), 1911 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Documentation) Vincent’s brothers and sisters Anna Cornelia van Gogh (1855-1930) went to boarding school in Leeuwarden, and lived in England from 1874 to 1876, first in London and then in Welwyn, where she taught French.

In 1877 she became a lady’s companion with the Van Houten family in Hengelo, and in 1878 married the son of the house, the shell-lime manufacturer Joan Marius van Houten (1850-1945). They had two daughters. Anna van Gogh (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Theodorus (‘Theo’) van Gogh (1857-1891) attended high school, and in 1873 went to work for the Goupil gallery, which was later taken over by Boussod, Valadon & Cie . In 1881 he was made manager of the firm’s Boulevard Montmartre branch in Paris, and in April 1889 he married Jo Bonger (1862–1925), in Amsterdam. The couple had met in 1885; she had trained as an English teacher and gave lessons for a while. Nine months later Jo gave birth to a son, Vincent Willem (1890–1978).

Theo’s health had always been poor, and he died in January 1891 at the age of 34 of Dementia paralytica, a terminal stage of syphilis. Theo had spent his last years trying to get the work of his brother and other modern artists better known. 152 152. See Chris Stolwijk, ‘“Our crown and our honour and our joy.” Theo van Gogh’s early years, Van Gogh Museum Journal (1997-1998). Zwolle 1998, pp. 42-57; exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1999, and Brief happiness 1999.

Theo van Gogh, 1889 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Jo van Gogh-Bonger and her son Vincent Willem, 1890 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Vincent Willem van Gogh, 1952 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Elisabeth (‘Lies’) Huberta van Gogh (1859-1936) went to boarding school in Leeuwarden in 1873, and later to another boarding school in Tiel. In 1878 she failed her examinations in English and French. In 1880 she went to Soesterberg as the companion and carer of Catharina Marianne Louise van Willes , who was married to Jean Philippe Theodore du Quesne van Bruchem (1840-1921), a lawyer and judge. In 1891, two years after his wife’s death, Lies married Jean.

They had one child born out of wedlock, Hubertine Normance , to whom Lies gave birth secretly in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte in France, as well as four children after they married. Lies wrote poetry and prose, and made a name for herself with her book Vincent van Gogh. Persoonlijke herinneringen aangaande een kunstenaar (Vincent van Gogh. Personal reminiscences of an artist, 1910), but its many defects made it controversial. It was amended and republished in 1923 as Vincent van Gogh. Herinneringen aan haar broeder (Vincent van Gogh. Reminiscences of her brother). Elisabeth van Gogh (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Willemien (‘Wil’) Jacoba van Gogh (1862-1941) travelled to England with her sister Anna at the age of thirteen, and remained there for nine months. In 1879-1880 she attended a private school in Den Bosch, and then went to work as a nanny. She never married, and lived with her mother.

In 1888 she spent a few weeks with Theo in Paris, where she returned in 1890 to visit Theo, Jo and their newborn son . Willemien worked briefly as a nurse in the Walloon hospital in Leiden. She was the only sister with whom Vincent corresponded regularly in his final years. In December 1902 she was admitted as a patient to the Psychiatric Institution in Veldwijk, where she remained until her death in 1941. The diagnosis was Dementia praecox. She barely spoke for decades, and was fed artificially. 153 153. Renate Berger, ‘Wilhelmina Jacoba van Gogh (1862-1941). “Du bist sehr tapfer, liebe Schwester”‘, Schwestern berühmter Männer. Zwölf biographische Porträts. Ed. Louise F. Pusch. Frankfurt 1985, pp. 453-491.

Willemien van Gogh (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Cornelis (‘Cor’) Vincent van Gogh (1867-1900) attended high school, and in 1884 became an apprentice at the engineering works of Egbert Haverkamp Begemann in Helmond. He worked in England for a while, in a factory in Lincoln, and in 1889 left for South Africa, where he worked for the Cornucopia Gold Company near Johannesburg. He also worked as a civil servant with the Netherlands South African Railway Company. In 1898 he married Anna Catherine Fuchs in Pretoria, but the marriage lasted only eight months. Cor fought as a volunteer in the Boer War. He committed suicide in 1900. 154 154. On Cor see M.H. van Meurs, ‘Cor van Gogh en de boerenoorlog’, Journal for contemporary history. Joernaal vir eietydse geskiedenis 25-2 (December 2000), pp. 177-196.

Cor van Gogh (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum / Vincent van Gogh Foundation) Van Gogh Self-Portrait Actually of His Brother Van Gogh Self-Portrait Actually of His Brother By Jennifer Welsh | June 23, 2011 10:35am ET MORE The two portraits, the right painting is one of the artist, Vincent van Gogh, the left is of his brother, Theo. Credit: The van Gogh Museum Art historians believed that Vincent van Gogh had never painted a portrait of his close companion and brother Theo, but it turns out the two looked so similar the portrait was in the possession of the Vincent van Gogh museum all this time. The painting is from the artist's years in Antwerp and Paris, from 1885-1888, a time period in his life that isn't well studied. More than 90 paintings from this time were analyzed and interpreted for a new book by Van Gogh Museum employees Ella Hendriks and Louis van Tilborgh, "Vincent van Gogh, Paintings 2" (Waanders Publishers, 2011).

Of the van Gogh paintings from that time period, many are thought to be self-portraits. Upon closer inspection, the researchers realized that one painting from 1887 looked a little different from the rest. Its subject had rounder ears, a lighter beard and shaved cheeks. The image, they believe, is of Theo, van Gogh's close companion and staunchest ally. The brothers were so close, in fact, that much of what we know about van Gogh comes from his letters to Theo. During this time period the brothers were living together, meaning the letters to Theo stopped. The researchers also made a number of other findings in their study of van Gogh's work from this period. During these years his style changed drastically, from sombre to more modern. He used new, bright, vivid colors that have faded with time . They also discovered a few of the paintings were misdated. An image of a worn laborer's shoes was actually painted over a cityscape of Paris, suggesting it was painted much later than previously believed.

Some of the subjects of these paintings were off, too: The park in "The garden with lovers" was actually in Montmartre, not in Asnières, and the bird in "Wheatfield with a lark" is actually a partridge. You can follow LiveScience staff writer Jennifer Welsh on Twitter @ microbelover . Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook . Editor's Recommendations The Lore: Van Gogh Sold Only One Painting During His Life The Lore: Van Gogh Sold Only One Painting During His Life The Red Vineyards at Arles, 1888, by Vincent Van Gogh. Heritage Images/Hulton Fine Art/Getty Images By Lisa Marder Updated May 31, 2016. Although lore has it that the post-Impressionist painter , Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) , sold only one painting during his lifetime, different theories exist. The one painting commonly thought to have been sold is The Red Vineyard at Arles (The Vigne Rouge) , now located at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

However, some sources posit that different paintings sold first, and that other paintings and drawings were sold or bartered in addition to The Red Vineyard at Arles. However, it is true that The Red Vineyard at Arles is the only painting sold during van Gogh's lifetime the name of which we actually know, and that was "officially" recorded and acknowledged by the art world, and hence the lore persists. Of course, bearing in mind that van Gogh didn't start painting until he was twenty-seven years old, and died when he was thirty-seven, it would not be unremarkable that he did not sell many. Furthermore, the paintings that were to become famous were the ones produced after he went to Arles, France in 1888, only two years before he died. continue reading below our video Profile of Vincent van Gogh What is remarkable is that just a few decades after his death his art would become well-known worldwide and that he would eventually become one of the most famous artists ever. Red Vineyard at Arles In 1889 Van Gogh was invited to participate in a group show in Brussels called the XX (or the Vingtistes).

Van Gogh suggested to his brother, Theo, an art dealer and Van Gogh's agent, that he send six paintings to be exhibited with the group, one of which was The Red Vineyard. Anna Boch , a Belgian artist and art collector, bought the painting in early 1890 for 400 Belgian francs, perhaps because she liked the painting and wanted to show her support for Van Gogh, whose work was being criticized; perhaps to help him financially; and perhaps to please her brother, Eugène, whom she knew was a friend of Vincent's. (1) Eugène Boch, like his sister Anna, was also a painter and had visited Van Gogh in Arles, France in 1888. They became friends and Van Gogh painted his portrait, which he called The Poet. According to the notes at the Musée d'Orsay where the portrait of Eugène Boch is now located, it seems that The Poet hung in van Gogh's room in the Yellow House in Arles for awhile as evidenced by the fact that it is seen in the first version of The Bedroom, which is in the Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam).

Apparently Anna Boch owned two paintings of Van Gogh's and her brother, Eugène, owned several. (2) Anna Boch sold The Red Vineyard in 1906, though, for 10,000 francs, and it was sold again that same year to a Russian textile business man, Sergei Shchukin. It was given to the Pushkin Museum by the State of Russia in 1948. Van Gogh painted The Red Vineyard from memory in early November 1888 while the artist, Paul Gauguin was living with him in Arles. It is a dramatic landscape painting in saturated autumnal reds and yellows punctuated by the blue clothing of workers in a vineyard, with a bright yellow sky and sun reflected in the river adjacent to the vineyard. The viewer's eye is drawn through the landscape by the strong diagonal line that leads to the high horizon and the setting sun in the distance. In one of his many letters to his brother, Theo, Van Gogh tells him he is "working on a vineyard, all purple and yellow" and goes on to describe it further, "But if only you’d been with us on Sunday!

We saw a red vineyard, completely red like red wine. In the distance it became yellow, and then a green sky with a sun, fields violet and sparkling yellow here and there after the rain in which the setting sun was reflected." (3) In a subsequent letter to Theo, Vincent says about this painting, "I’m going to set myself to work often from memory, and the canvases done from memory are always less awkward and have a more artistic look than the studies from nature, especially when I’m working in mistral conditions." (4) A Self-Portrait Sold The myth of The Red Vineyard being the only painting sold by Van Gogh during his lifetime has been challenged by leading van Gogh scholar, Marc Edo Tralbaut, author of Vincent Van Gogh (Buy from Amazon) , an authoritative and comprehensive biography of Van Gogh. Tralbaut deduced that Theo sold a self-portrait by Vincent over a year before the sale of The Red Vineyard.

Tralbaut uncovered a letter from October 3, 1888 in which Theo wrote to London art dealers, Sulley and Lori, saying "We have the honour to inform you that we have sent you the two pictures you have bought and duly paid for: a landscape by Camille Corot ... a self-portrait by V. van Gogh." (5) However others have analyzed this transaction and discovered anomalies regarding the date of October 3, 1888, speculating that Theo dated his letter incorrectly. The reasons they give for their theory are that Theo never again referred to the sale of one of Vincent's paintings in London in subsequent correspondence; Sulley and Lori were not yet partners in 1888; and there is no record of a Corot being sold to Sulley in October 1888. Read more about this theory in Theo's Letter Addressed to Sulley and Lawrie (sic). Van Gogh Museum According to the Van Gogh Museum website , Van Gogh actually sold or bartered a number of paintings during his lifetime. His first commission came from his Uncle Cor who was an art dealer.

Wanting to help his nephew's career he ordered 19 cityscapes of The Hague. Particularly when Van Gogh was younger, he would trade his paintings for food or art supplies, a practice not unfamiliar to many young artists starting out in their careers. The Museum website states that "Vincent sold his first painting to the Parisian paint and art dealer Julien Tanguy, and his brother Theo successfully sold another work to a gallery in London." (6) (Perhaps this is the self portrait referred to above) The website also mentions The Red Vineyard. According to Louis van Tilborgh, chief curator at the Van Gogh Museum, Vincent also mentions in his own letters that he sold a portrait (not a self-portrait) to someone, but it is not known which portrait.(7) The CityEconomist points out that much has been learned from Vincent's letters to Theo, made available by the Van Gogh Museum.

The letters reveal that Vincent did sell much art before he died, that the relatives who purchased his art knew a lot about art and purchased them as investments, that his art was appreciated by other artists and dealers, and that the money that Theo was "giving" to his brother was actually in exchange for paintings that, as a shrewd dealer, he was saving to put on the market when their actual value would be realized. Selling Van Gogh's Work After His Death Vincent died in July of 1890. Theo's greatest desire after his brother died was to make his work more widely known, but sadly he, himself, died just six months later from syphilis. He left a large collection of art to his wife, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, who "sold some of Vincent's works, lent as many as she could to exhibitions, and published Vincent's letters to Theo.

Without her dedication Van Gogh would never have become as famous as he is today." (8) Given that both Vincent and Theo died such untimely deaths within such a short time of one another, the world owes much to Theo's wife Jo, for taking care of Theo's collection of Vincent's artwork and letters and making sure they ended up in the right hands. Theo and Jo's son, Vincent Willem van Gogh took over care of the collection upon the death of his mother and founded the Van Gogh Museum. Further Reading and Viewing

Question: What was the name of Vincent Van Gogh's brother?
Answer: Theo