1.

Biography (NGUYỆT QUẾ)

Vancient Van Gogh was a Dutch painter born in 1853 and died in 1890 into a middle-
class family in Zundert. His real name is Vincent Willem van Gogh. Van Gogh's father
was a pastor and his mother was an artist. When Van Gogh was a child, his family
often took each other to visit the countryside near his home to inspire his mother's
art. This also helps to nurture the artist's abundant love of nature in the future. Van
Gogh began his artistic career with the genre of "country painting", with dark colors
and realistic subjects. He is an artist of exceptional talent, he influenced by the
Impressionist painters and during that period, he developed his own instinctive,
improvisational style. Van Gogh became one of the most famous artists of the
twentieth century and played an important role in the development of modern art.
Van Gogh's paintings are characterized by strong emotional colors, rough
brushstrokes, images with large contours, all carrying within the suffering of a
talented, lonely and sick artist. Leaving at the age of 37, he left posterity a huge
painting legacy.
2. Career (THANH PHAN)
His artistic career was extremely short, lasting only the 10 years from 1880 to
1890. During the first four years of this period, while acquiring technical proficiency,
he confined himself almost entirely to drawings and watercolours. First, he went to
study drawing at the Brussels Academy; in 1881 he moved to his father’s parsonage
at Etten, Netherlands, and began to work from nature. During his 10-year artistic
career, Vincent van Gogh created a vivid personal style, noted for its striking colour,
emphatic brushwork, and contoured forms. His achievement is all the more
remarkable for the brevity of his career and considering the poverty and mental
illness that dogged him. His understanding of the possibilities of painting was
evolving rapidly; from studying Hals he learned to portray the freshness of a visual
impression. Van Gogh worked hard and methodically but soon perceived the
difficulty of self-training and the need to seek the guidance of more experienced
artists. He visited museums and met with other painters. Van Gogh thus extended
his technical knowledge and experimented with oil paint in the summer of 1882.

3. Tragedy of life (TRANG + THỊNH)

The real artist may renounce all except the third of the three things that
people generally desire: money, fame, and love. Women are not only a subject, a
tremendous source of inspiration for Van Gogh, but they are also a necessary
requirement for him, like food and water. "It’s hard to live long without a woman
without punishment," he said in a letter to his brother. It's possible to say that Van
Gogh is an unhappy person in love; his love is not universally supported, and this
influences his way of life. While he was still alive, Vincent Van Gogh never sold a
painting. People throw his paintings away because they are unappreciated.

At the same time as being attached to art, Van Gogh had bad signs of both
physical and mental health. He lived a secluded life, withdrawing to the point of fear.
The condition was so bad that he ate paint. And yet, on the evening of a few days
before Christmas, Van Gogh was discovered lying in bed with his left ear severed.
The most popular theory is that this is an act of self-harm by the Dutch artist.
According to another story, Gauguin cut Van Gogh's ear and lied to protect his
friend. Fearing for his and others' safety and believing that leaving the city would
stimulate his artistic creativity, Van Gogh isolated himself and lived alone in the
mental hospital "Saint Remy De Provence" in France. Finally, Vincent Van Gogh is
said to have shot himself in the chest with a gun in 1890. After the death of his
brother, Theo Van Gogh shared, "He affirmed: Sadness will last forever. I want to die
as I expect."

4. Styles and Works (TRANG + KHANG)

Van Gogh completed over 2,000 paintings during his lifetime, but many of
them were lost or thrown away. People only knew him after his death because of his
admiration for his artistic talent. Many of Van Gogh's works are regarded as the
most valuable contemporary masterpieces in the collections of the world's most
prestigious art galleries and museums.

Vincent Van Gogh's well-known work "The Starry Night Painted" in June 1889,
depicts the scene outside the window of his hospital room in Saint-Rémy-De-
Provence. It's in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, as
part of the Relics of Lillie P. Bliss, which dates from 1941. The painting is one of Van
Gogh's most famous works, marking a decisive turning point in his artistic freedom.
After "The Starry Night Painting," "Iris" is said to be the second most famous
painting. The art was completed in the artist's final year of life. He referred to the
painting as "A lightning rod for his illness", like many other works by Van Gogh and
other contemporary artists, is influenced by the Japanese woodblock ukiyo-e genre.
The resemblance can be seen in the bold outlines, unusual angles, and flat coloring
that does not follow the direction of the light. This art is currently on display at the
Louvres Museum in Paris.

5. Summary (TRANG)
"My mind is not always at ease, my life never enjoys a minute of peace. All I
have is sadness and pain, which has covered my professional life." Van Gogh said
affectionately but ironically. However, this cover is also quite magical; if you look
attentively, you can see that Van Gogh has never given up his passion for painting, no
matter how bad the situation.