Richie Soltis

10/31/14
1A
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh was born in a small Dutch village in 1853. He grew up in a very
religious family, as his father was the local minister. He went to boarding school when he was 12
and his teachers described him as serious and intelligent but withdrawn and ill tempered. After
finishing school at 16, he entered the family art dealership, although he was never interested in it.
His uncle sent Van Gogh to the Paris office, hoping he would take more of an interest in the
dealership. Van Gogh was more interested in the galleries and museums and was eventually
fired. He then attempted to become a preacher but failed the exam. At 27, he decided to become
an artist, with the support of his brother, Theo. Van Gogh moved in with his brother in 1886, but
due to his rude behavior, he moved out and went to Arles in 1888. He later invited Paul Gauguin
to move in with him but things did not work out. On the night of December 23, Van Gogh came
up behind Gauguin with a razor but Gaugin saw him. Gaugin stayed at a hotel that night and the
next morning, came back to have heard from the police that Van Gogh had cut off his left ear.
Van Gogh later suffered from many epileptic fits and seizures and stayed mostly in hospitals and
asylums. On July 27, 1890, he went out into the fields and shot himself twice in the chest and
dies two days later.
Vincent Van Goghs paintings reflected his emotions through the use of color. To Van
Gogh, yellow meant everything good, like faith, love and hope. Red was warm, blue was
spiritual, and green was sinister and terrible. Throughout his life, Van Gogh used colors in his
self-portraits and other compositions to convey his feelings. For example, the portrait he drew
after cutting his ear off using cool greens and purples to show his sad and unstable appearance. .
His brushstrokes also showed how he felt. In the same portrait, he used scratchy lines and wide
and vertical brushstroke to help convey his sadness. His style was marked by brilliant colors and
thick, swirling brushstrokes