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Vincent van Gogh – 30 Interesting Facts About His Life and Art

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Almond Branches in Bloom by Vincent van Gogh
Almond Branches in Bloom, San Remy, c.1890

I have always been fascinated with the well known artist and works of Vincent van Gogh. Below are a few facts to help whet your appetite to learn more about the art around us.

  • On March 30, 1853, Anna Cornelia Carbentus gave birth to Vincent van Gogh in Groot-Zundert, Holland.

  • Vincent’s father was Reverend Theodorus van Gogh.

  • He was named after his grandfather and stillborn brother who died a year earlier than Van Gogh’s birth.

  • “Van Gogh” is pronounced differently in English and Dutch. In the United States his name has a silent “gh” — /van-goh/ which is the most common pronunciation. However, in Holland, the “v” in “van” is silent. Listen here.

  • He had several siblings – a brother named Theodorus nicknamed Theo, another named Cor, and three sisters whose names were Elisabeth, Anna and Willemina.

  • As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and thoughtful.

  • Vincent van Gogh suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, hallucinations and mental illness.

  • Van Gogh was close friends with Paul Gauguin, another famous artist.

  • Vincent van Gogh’s earliest career aspiration was to be a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church like his father. He was a missionary temporarily, but eventually gave in to pressure from his parents and gave up on the idea.

  • Astonishingly, Vincent wrote over 800 letters in his lifetime with the majority of them written to his brother and closest friend, Theo.

  • When Van Gogh first began painting, he used peasants as models and later would paint flowers, landscapes and himself, mostly because he was too poor to pay the models.

  • Van Gogh never found romantic love in his life after a couple failed relationships.

  • It is simply amazing that Vincent created a total of 2000 pieces of art which included 900 paintings and 1100 sketches/pencil drawings.

  • Vincent van Gogh was a self-taught artist with little training.

  • Van Gogh was financially supported most of his life by his brother, Theo.

Irises by Vincent van Gogh
Irises, Saint-Remy, c. 1889

  • Vincent van Gogh never had much formal training in art, however, he attended an art school for a few months in Antwerp, in 1885, which was four years before his death.

  • In a short period of ten years, Van Gogh created approximately 900 paintings. Think about it – in just ten years, he created 900 paintings that are now known to be some of the greatest works of art ever created.

  • Van Gogh is considered to be a Dutch Post-Impressionist.

  • Unfortunately, Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime and it was called The Red Vineyard.

  • Van Gogh only became famous after his death.

  • During an epileptic seizure, Van Gogh attempted to attack his friend Paul Gauguin with an open razor. This ultimately resulted in the Vincent cutting off a piece of his own ear – not the whole ear.

  • At the age of twenty-eight, in a letter to Theo, he wrote: “I came away from him with some painted studies and a few watercolours. They are not masterpieces, of course, yet I really believe that there is some soundness and truth in them, more at any rate than what I’ve done up to now. And so I reckon that I am now at the beginning of the beginning of doing something serious. And because I can now call on a couple of technical resources, that is to say, paint and brush, everything seems fresh again, as it were.” Van Gogh would be shocked to know how people marvel at his work every day all over the world. Yes, Vincent, we know you did something serious.

  • Van Gogh painted 37 self-portraits.

  • In 1890, Vincent van Gogh ended his battle with sanity and shot himself in a wheat field in Auvers, France, when he was only 37 years old, but did not die until two days later.

  • His brother Theo died six months after Vincent and is buried next to him in Auvers, France.

  • Theo, at his side when he died, said that Vincent’s last words were “La tristesse durera toujours” which means “the sadness will last forever.”

  • More than one hundred and fifty psychiatrists have tried to diagnose the cause of Vincent van Gogh’s illnesses and the diagnoses range from schizophrenia, porphyria, syphilis, bipolar disorder, and epilepsy.

  • His brother’s wife collected Vincent’s paintings and letters after his death and dedicated herself to ensuring that his work received the recognition it deserved.

  • Van Gogh’s work began to shoot to fame eleven years after his death due to the diligence of his brother’s wife.

  • Vincent van Gogh’s most famous work and my favorite is Starry Night, c.1889 and was created while staying in an asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France.

Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

Starry Night, c.1889

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  2. I adore his work. I use posters of his work as writing inspiration in my classroom.

    Thanks for all the info!

    Reply

  3. Did you know that the reason his later paintings such as the SUNFLOWERS had a yellow glaze on them was due to the jaundice he was suffering thanks to the absinthe habit he had- he was actually seeing the world with a yellow film on it.

    Reply

  5. Vincent was a very spiritual person. His art was his attempt to paint the soul, or spiritual essence of those things in which he painted. Vincent referred to the spiritual essence of things as the “it.”

    Reply

  6. why did vincent van gough paint 37 self portraits and then killled him self at 37 did he have like A.D.D or A.D.H.D? it make me wounder why don’t people take these fact to figure out if he has a desiese i found that he can have 2.

    Reply

    • Ally,

      I think they have researched his health and found he did suffer from several things. I can’t remember right off the top of my head, but maybe I will do a post on it sometime. Thanks for your comment!

      Reply

    • A.D.D is attention deficit disorder and A.D.H.D is attention deficit hyperactive disorder. So I don’t think that would be the cause. However I did notice that myself and thought there might be a connection. He obviously had several diseases/mental illness’/disorders. It seems pretty clear that he had depression; so maybe for every single year of his life he painted a self-portrait. He aspired to be something so great, but all he saw were his flaws. He painted 37 years of his life of how he WANTED, hoped, desired to be. After his 37 portraits/years he got tired of his mistakes and flaws and tried to commit suicide. And if people did shoot him (because that is a theory;) maybe THEY only saw his flaws and attempted to end his life. Nobody really know, nor ever will (unless he has a secret journal that somebody finds which would be totally AWESOME!) It’s another story of wonders lost to the mysteries of time.

      Reply

  16. Dylan Baldwin

    Thank you this helped me a lot with my fact file!
    P.S Maybe you could do a whole website all with Van Gogh’s paintings?!

    Reply

  18. His death, the cause, is currently disputed. There is strong evidence he was accidently shot by 2 young boys from the village he lived in. Van gogh protected the boys with his silence.

    Reply

  19. i believe that Van Gogh didnt kill himself, i thought that he was shot by a local farmboy on accident, due to a “malfunctioning gun” and Van Gogh didnt want the boy to be in trouble so he said that he shot himself. also, it was said that Van Gogh welcomed his death. i think he also ate yellow paint because it would bring happiness inside of him? anyways, he is a sad but inspiring person. :c

    Reply

  20. WOW! So much good infomation about van gogh! THANKS!! That really helped with my homework and it was very interesting too. My teacher will be sooooooo GLAD- my homework is always rubbish! I showed my twin sister this website and she got jealous, as she has the same h.w as me! 🙂 😀 😉

    Reply

  29. vincent van gogh is my inspiration for my artist mind. Thank you alot for these mind blowing facts. Keep writing. Take care. Bye:)

    Reply

  33. Thanks for helping me with my homework my teachers gonna be sooooooooooo PROUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I got so AMZAED at how many facts I got off this sherry riter! You are AWESOME!!
    ~Thistle.

    Reply

  35. Thanks for making this website because this helped a ton on my book report XD. also the saddest fact that i think is his last words D:

    Reply

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