The Relationship between Van Gogh’s Life Experiences and his Paintings

1. Introduction

Van Gogh was a very famous artist of the post-impressionism period and the expressionism

period. His work was heavily influenced by various life experiences in his life such as his

childhood, financial stability and his love and family relationships. This essay will discuss the

influences of Van Gogh’s life experiences, in terms of work, love and childhood on his art

works.

2. Brief Description of Van Gogh’s Artist Style and Period

Centuries have drifted by us and at present we obligate ourselves to learn more about the people

and events of our past. An enormous section of our history would be the arts, such as visual arts,

music and dancing. There were specific time periods with their own movement of unique

themes, styles and taste. During the 19 th century, the most variety of these genres were explored

simultaneously. Among these were three of the most important periods which showed a
transition from one style to a completely different one. These include: Impressionism, Post-

Impressionism and Expressionism. During Impressionism, artists focused on capturing the

effects of natural light in their paintings and used softer lines. This lasted from 1865 to 1885. In

revolt to this style, artists such as Gauguin, Seurat and Van Gogh begun experimenting with

harsher brush strokes and bolder colors with which their emotions were in charge. This lasted up

from 1885 to 1910. The Expressionism Period was influenced by the movement and style of the

Post- Impressionism Period and its artists did more pieces based on their thoughts and emotions

rather than realistic depictions. The Expressionism Period lasted from 1900 to 1935 and although

Vincent Van Gogh was not live at this time, his style heavily influenced the work in this period.

3.1 The Relationship between Van Gogh’s Childhood Experiences and his Paintings

The first major influence of van Gogh’s art works was his childhood experience. In Vincent van

Gogh’s childhood, the foundation of his art skills were significantly inspired by the fundamental

characteristics of the Impressionism Period. This meant that his sketches used lighter tones and

were more realistic. His basic art skills were also taught by his mother and she focused more on

the aspects of nature. Born on the 30th of March, 1853, Vincent Van Gogh was born in a small

village in the southern section of The Netherlands. He was the eldest of six children from his

parents, Theodorus van Gogh and Anna Carbentus van Gogh who were considered members of

the middle class. His father was very active in the church, which striked most of Vincent’s
interest in joining. His mother on the other hand, was a nature inclined artist and this is where he

got his artistic skills from. He was named after his stillborn brother which was buried in their

yard. This meant that while growing up, Vincent witnessed his name on a tombstone. This

incident could have triggered the beginning of the emotions he placed into his paintings.As a

child growing up in such a situation, Vincent could have been affected mentally as well.

Although at this time he could not understand that seeing his name on a tombstone would hinder

his mental stability, it is highly possible that as he remembered it when he got older, he could be

encouraged more to commit suicide. Van Gogh’s paintings were mostly representative of his raw

emotions that he had because of situations like this could have brought about his anger and

sadness. He had acquired a keen interest in drawing and painting which was inspired by his

mother. His parents were in some ways, unable to properly put him through education and thus

his rich uncle took him as an apprentice at the tender age of sixteen. He created only a couple of

sketches, with which most of them were confined to the styles of the impressionism era. Most of

his skills at this age were passed on by his mother. The work that he did during this period was

thrown away by his mother.

3.2 The Relationship between Van Gogh’s Work Experience and his Paintings

The second aspect of his life experiences was his work and financial stability. This period of his

life changed the way in which painted, in comparison to his childhood pieces. His work
experiences brought about much failure and poverty at times. These failures undoubtedly made

him angry and sad, which rendered art pieces that were depictions of his emotions. This meant

that he slowly began to lose focus on the realistic and the anatomic aspects of the paintings.

Presumably, before this apprenticeship, he attended the Willem II College. (Meier-Graefe 3-4)

This meant that he probably dropped out of this institution, three years after to join his uncle.

Van Gogh had no intentions of being in the art faculty and indeed, he did not show any of the

stereotypical practices of an upcoming artists such as doodling and drawing in all his books. The

only art work he had done was what he learned from his mother. This means that he was heavily

influenced by the trade in which he engaged because of his uncle. Moreover, three of his father’s

brothers were a part of the art business and thus the encouragement was external and not truly

self- inspired. His uncle was a well- known manager of the famous Goupil Galleries in The

Hague. This only means that if his uncle was in the coal trade, Van Gogh would’ve joined that as

well and would’ve never explored the art universe on his own.

However, in 1876, he was fired from the art dealership and immediately after that, he worked as

a school teacher and then in a bookstore. As mentioned before, his father also played an

important role in the church system, and thus by 1878, van Gogh decided that he wanted to

follow in his father’s footsteps. To pursue this career, he moved to Borinage a part of Belgium,

and became a lay-preacher. When he witnessed the conditions of the poor in that area, he gave

up all his belongings and was now poor as well. Although, he put much effort, one year after this

job, the ministry that was sponsoring him, decided to fire him with claims that he was enough for

that occupation. Without much money and no place to live, Vincent slept on the floors. With no

success with his career choices, Van Gogh realized that he wanted to move into the art

profession. This was due to the fact that he had done relatively good sketches of the peasants and
miners in Belgium. At this point in his life, his brushstrokes had become harder and his

depictions was not confined to the impressionism period. Instead, he painted mostly what he saw

in his thoughts and put the emotions he felt into the colors and strokes. The emotions that he felt

were mostly frustration, anger and sadness. This was because of all the failures in his career

choices.

3.3 The Relationship between Van Gogh’s Love and Family relations upon his Paintings.

Thirdly, his work was influenced by his love and family relationships. At this point , he led to

depression s most of these relationships failed and thus his paintings became and exaggeration of

these emotions. He used harsher strokes and bolder colors with more whimsical and unrealistic

depictions. At this time, his younger brother, Theo was an art dealer and thus tried his best to

support Vincent both emotionally and financially.While in the Netherlands, he fell in love with

his widowed cousin, and because his parents disapproved of this match and his career, his

relationship with them as well sunk. He persisted with his cousin, but it all ended in rejection. He

then pursued a prostitute, named Hoornik, but his parents did not accept that either and thus that
ended as well. He would then go on to have about two more failed relationships with women,

namely Margot Begemann and Angostina Segatori. (Nix, “7 Things.”)

In 1886, he moved to Paris with Theo and this opened his mind to many ideas and styles of the

Impressionism Movement. During this time, he experimented with light brush strokes and tones.

Many theories revolve around this incident, but in 1888, a portion of Vincent’s ear was cut off.

Many believe that famous artist, Paul Gauguin has an argument and cut off his ear in response to

his anger. However, van Gogh never revealed what happened that night and it is believed that he

kept it to himself to cover up for Gauguin. In 1889, due to his mental illnesses and instability,

van Gogh checked himself into an asylum called Saint Paul de Mausole. While here, he

produced some of his most famous art pieces such as The Starry Night. Earlier, he was diagnosed

with epilepsy, but upon further research, doctors navigated some of his behaviors to alcoholism,

bipolar disorder and a metabolic disorder as well. While at the hospital, he painted over 100

paintings that were inspired by the scenery of their gardens and such. In July, 1890, he died not

knowing the worth of his work. (Naifeh and Smith 1-40)

4. Brief Description of Van Gogh’s Famous Art Pieces and their Influences

Vincent van Gogh’s work did not become famous until after his death and today it has influenced

and rendered more unrealistic art styles.. His brother’s wife, after his death had made it her

mission to promote his work and so she did. Most of van Gogh’s work that made him famous
was done in the last seven years of his life. His earlier works, as said before explored just the

themes of the Impressionism Period, which were composed of mostly light styles. However, van

Gogh was known to influence, another Period, the Expressionism Period. The works he died

before he died were depictions of how he felt after experiencing much trials and tribulations with

love, family and occupation. He began using harder and more defined brush strokes with bolder

colors which was intensified due to his mental stability. This could be seen in his famous and

world- renowned piece, The Starry Night. This is said to be the portrayal of how van Gogh saw

the village that could be seen through the window of his asylum room. He painted the stars and

wind in swirls which exaggerated their volume and intensity with his rough strokes. He had

given a depiction of nature that was considered rare as most artists only painted what was

obvious to their sight.

Another art piece that holds an infamous stature is The Potato Eaters, which was his first piece

done. This showed the harsh reality of the peasants that he saw in Belgium. When doing this

piece, he was not exactly concerned with achieving perfection in body anatomy. Instead, he

painted the people in earth colors, with bony and somewhat dirty hands. This represented the fact

that they had rightfully earned their food true hard work. At the time, he conceived his piece,

most critics were not appreciative of the meaning and thought behind but pointed out the

anatomical mistakes in his figures. To this day, The Potato Eaters is one of his and the world’s

most famous paintings. Wheatfield and Crows is another piece which was done during his last

days. In 1890, Because his brother Theo had become ill, van Gogh did not want to be a burden to

and so he moved back to Auvers.

His depression increased and leading up to his suicide, Wheatfield and Crows was painted. The

wheat is said to represent the ripening and reaping of life and the manual labor he endured. The
crows suggest that his emotions and state of mind were in a dark place due to his failures in life.

At the time, he painted it, he presumably shot himself and died later that week. His death never

produced solid evidence that he did indeed kill himself other than a note he wrote on his

deathbed claiming that he shot himself. Vincent van Gogh had endured multiple failed

relationships, family disapproval and job failures as well. His latter art pieces were true

reflections of the anger, depression and acceptance issues that he had manifested during his life.

He had longed for the one desire of acceptance and love, but was never fully given this by

anyone, with a comparative exception of his brother, Theo. He had experienced much pain at an

early age, as every goal he had deemed unattainable. Because of this, he developed mental issues

and along with that, he starved himself in response to his low self- worth. Despite these

problems, he managed to portray his consciousness on a canvas, which many artists of his time

could not achieve. His thoughts were almost tangible and represented most of what he had

experienced not just as an artist but as a man. (Blumer 519-526)

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, Vincent van Gogh’s experience is what gradually altered his style of painting. His

style was a major influential aspect of the art works that followed his reign. His art works

emphasized the symbolism behind his piece instead of the physical aspects. This is what makes

his work different from most and this is what triggered the evolution of a great era of art.
References:

1. Meier-Graefe, Julius. Vincent van Gogh: A biographical study. California, Medici Society,

1922.

2. Naifeh, Steven. W., and Gregory White Smith. Van Gogh: The Life. Random. House

Incorporated, 2011.

3. Niels Arnold, Wilfred. The illness of Vincent van Gogh. American Journal of Psychiatry,

(2004). 13.1, 22-43