The Mind Creative
Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most influential painters of the 20th
century and his style that encompassed bold colours and coarse exquisiteness, has had far-reaching influence in the world of art. Van Gogh
was born on 30th March 1853 and started to draw at a very tender age.
Little did anyone realise that this boy would be tormented by severe
mental instability for the majority of his life, die from his own
hands, and ultimately change the outlook on art for the rest of
history. His life was to become one of uncertainty and madness,
involving largely his own need to find a niche and the undeniable
love for art.
The passion for drawing and painting continued till Van Gogh decided to make a living
as an artist. Strangely enough, he started
painting in earnest only in his twenties and
produced some of his best works only during the last couple of years of his life. Within
a decade, Van Gogh produced prodigious
amounts of work totaling up to 2100 pieces
of art that includes 860 oil paintings, more
than 1,300 watercolors, drawings,
sketches, and prints with subjects ranging from self-portraits, landscapes, stilllife,
portraits
and
paintings
of
cypresses, wheat fields, and sunflowers.
Young Van Gogh
During his early adulthood years in
1870, Van Gogh worked for a firm of
art dealers and traveled extensively
between The Hague, London and Paris.
These relocations frustrated him and
given his fragile mental state, his parents allowed him to start a ministry
with the miners of Borinage. It was
during these years that his brother
Theo convinced him to become an
artist. Van Gogh had grave doubts
about his abilities since he had no
formal education in the arts and continued to receive financial help from
his brother.
13
Early adulthood