This is a school presentation for a class on Art and Music Sources. The presentation is based on the book, "Van Gogh: The Life" by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith.

1. VAN GOGH:
THE LIFE

2. “I want to paint what I feel
and feel what I paint.”
~ Vincent Willem Van Gogh

3. Red Vineyards near Arles,
Vincent van Gogh, 1888. Oil on canvas, 73 x 91 cm.

4. VAN GOGH’S LIFE…
THE EARLY
YEARS
BECOMING AN
ARTIST
THE FRENCH
YEARS
THE ASYLUM
YEARS
FINAL
GOODBYE
(1853 - 1878)
(1878 - 1886)
(1886 - 1888)
(1888 – 1890)
(1890)

5. THE EARLY YEARS
1853 - 1878

7. MARCH
30
1852
Vincent van Gogh stillborn.
Buried in Zundert Cemetery, Holland.

8. MARCH
30
1853
Vincent Willem van Gogh born.
in Groot Zundert ("Big Zundert” ), a small
village near the Belgian border, Holland.

9. The Markt in Zundert:
The parsonage where Vincent was born is at centre

10. Vincent van Gogh
1852 - 1852
Vincent Willem van Gogh
1853 - 1890
Anna Cornelia van Gogh
1855 - 1930
Theodorus (Dorus) van Gogh
1822 - 1885
Theo van Gogh
1857 - 1891
Elisabeth (Lies) Huberta van Gogh
1859 - 1936
Willemina (Wil) van Gogh
Anna Cornelia Carbentus
1862 - 1941
1819 - 1907
Cornelis (Cor) Vincent van Gogh
1867 - 1900

11. The Mother:
Anna Cornelia Carbentus
1819 - 1907
•! Middle daughter grew up with a dark
and fearful view of life at the Hague
•! Obsessed with the benefits of
preoccupation and urged on her
children at every opportunity
•! Knit at "terrifying speed”; busy hands
took her into art
•! Echoed the mandate of family unity –
family totalitarianism
•! Defined happiness – Duty. Decency,
Solidity.

12. The Mother:
Anna Cornelia Carbentus
1819 - 1907
•! Inspired by Alphonse Karr's A tour
round my garden, Anna used the
garden she built to school her
children in the meaning of nature
•! Vincent wrote: Trees - especially tree
roots- affirmed the promise of life
after death
•! Introduced drawing, music and
singing to children
•! Together with Dorus, Anna often
share stories of family history and
the children inherited their nostalgia
for the past

13. The Father:
Theodorus (Dorus) van Gogh
1822 - 1885
•! A minister of the Dutch Reformed
Church in Zunbert
•! Earned a modest salary, but the
church provided the family with the
perquisites of status – a house, a
maid, 2 cooks, a gardener, a
carriage and a horse.
•! Responsible for educating children in
religion

14. The Dutch Reformed Church in Zundert

15. A Strange Boy:
Vincent Willem van Gogh
1853 - 1890
•! A head full of thick, curly red locks
•! The face was odd: oblong, with a
high brow and prominent chin, puffy
cheeks, shallow-set eyes, and a
wide nose, lower lip protruded in a
perpetual pout
•! Favoured his mother red hair and
broad features
•! Shared her taste for creature
comforts and finer things – in flower
arrangements, fabrics, and home
décor
Vincent (Age 13)

16. Barn and Farmhouse
February 1864, pencil on paper, 7 7/8 x 10 5/8 in.
Created for his father’s birthday.

17. Vincent van Gogh on the steps of the Tilburg School

18. •! In March 1868, Vincent walked out of
the Tilburg School
•! Vincent resisted all suggestions
about his future and lived in idleness
•! Anna and Dorus’s to educate their
eldest son in Zundert had ended in
frustration and failure
•! In July 1869, Vincent relented and
went to The Hague to work as an
“office clerk” at Goupil & Cie, a
leading art dealer co-owned by
Uncle Cent van Gogh
Vincent (Age 18)

19. Interior of Goupil & Cie’s Gallery, The Hague, Netherlands

20. •! Surrounded by art in Goupil–
paintings, woodcuts, engravings,
etchings, photographs, artists’
albums, illustrated books and
magazines, etc.
•! Books and latest art journals on
artists, art history and art collections
in Holland and elsewhere
View on Delft,
Vermeer, Johannes, c.1661, Oil on canvas
•! Frequent visits to the Dutch royal
collection at the Mauritshuis –
exposed to Golden Age paintings
like Vermeer’s View of Delft and
Rembrant’s Anatomy Lesson
•! Travel to see paintings by masters,
such as Jan van Eyck, Hans
Memling and Peter Paul Rubens
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp,
Rembrandt, 1632, Oil on canvas,

21. •! Saw the first sign of a new art
movement: the importance of plein
air (outdoor) painting and the new
mandate to capture “the virgin
impression of nature”.
Frozen Waterway,
Schelfhout, Andreas, 1845, Oil on panel
•! Often visit the just-opened Museum
van Morderne Kunst (museum of
Modern Art)
•! Exposed to Dutch contemporary
artists like Andreas Schelfhout and
Cornelis Springer
•! Such paintings looked unfinished to
Vincent’s unaccustomed eye
Along the Canal,
Cornelis Springer, 1844, Oil on canvas

22. Caroline
Haanebeek
Vincent
Celebration of the 80th birthday of Johannes Andricus Stricker, a great uncle of
Vincent van Gogh
August 1872, Huis te Hoorn, Rijswijk, The Hague

23. “If I cannot get a good woman, I shall
take a bad one... I would sooner be with
a bad whore than be alone.”
~ Vincent told his brother, Theo
Note: Vincent’s correspondence totaled to more than 2,000 letters. Only 902 letters
were discovered. About four-fifths of them were addressed to his brother, Theo.

24. •! Vincent got into trouble and he
suspected that his boss, H. G.
Tersteeg, was responsible for
“putting [him] in a bad light”. The
exact details of the trouble remains
unknown.
•! His poor work performance has
been raised to the highest level. His
father, Dorus was extremely
unhappy and say unpleasant things
to him in letters
•! Theo was given a job at Goupil as
well
•! Decision was made to dismiss
Vincent. Plans were made to
arrange him to work in London.
H. G. Tersteeg

25. While in London between 1873 to 1875:
“The house here is not so
interesting as the one [there]…
Good pictures [are] quite difficult
to find. Tell me especially what
pictures you have seen lately, or
any new etchings or lithographs
have been published. Tell me all
you can about these things, for I
do not see much of them here.”
~ From Vincent to Theo

26. Ursula Loyer
Eugenie Loyer
87 Hackford Road, Brixton, London
[1873-1875], Pencil and chalk on paper

27. Photograph of National Gallery London by Morio

28. “I am not what many people think
I am just now.”
~ Vincent response to complaints about his unsuitability in Goupil
In mid-May 1875, Vincent was transferred to Paris

29. What use is there in banishing him
From one shore and then another…
He is the desolate son
Of a beloved land.
Let us give a homeland
A homeland
To the poor exile
~ From Vincent to his parents, poem L’exile,
translated into Dutch

30. Uprising of the impressionists
•!
Other names includes impressionalists
and lunatics
•!
Claimed that they represented the “next
wave” in art
•!
Storm broke in March 1875 when the
upstarts (including Monet and Renior) try
to sell some of their paintings at the
city’s central auction house, the Hôtel
Drouot
“50 francs for a Monet landscape.
– That’s for the frame!”
Rue Montorgueil, Paris
Claude Monet, 1878, Oil on Canvas

31. Impression Sunrise
Claude Monet, 1872, Oil on Canvas
Monet painting in his garden in Argenteuil,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1873, Oil on Canvas
Music in the Tuileries
Edouard Manet, 1862, Oil on Canvas
Ballettprobe
Edgar Degas, 1873, Oil on Canvas

32. “I have seen absolutely nothing about them. From
what you told me about ‘impressionism’, it’s not
quite clear to me what it really is.”
~ Vincent’s response to Theo on the “new artists”

33. How impetuously a wounded heart rushes…
Towards the first refuge where, young and at peace,
He used to listen to himself singing amidst the
silence
With what bitter zeal, my soul, do you revel
In the house where you were born…
An yet, O chimera, you were deceiving us!
For in your beautiful illusion a superb future
Was opening out its rich sheaves like a glorious
summer,
Its fluttering ears like real suns.
Christus Consolator
Ary Scheffer, 1836-37, Oil on canvas,
You lied. But what irresistible charms they have,
These ghosts one sees in the ruby-red distance
Shimmering iridescently through the great prism of
one’s tears!

34. Vicarge and church at Etten
Vincent van Gogh, April 1876, Pencil & ink on paper
Churches at Petersham & Turnham Green
Vincent van Gogh, November 1876, Ink on paper

35. DECEMBER
21
1875
Come home, come home! You are weary at heart,
For the way has been dark, and so lonely and wild;
O Prodigal child!
Come home; oh come home!
Come home, come home! From the sorrow and blame,
From the sin and the shame, and the tempter that smiled;
O Prodigal child!
Come home; oh come home!
After months of wandering, he
returned to his parents in Etten.

36. Scheffersplein: the market square in Dordrecht
The bookstore Bluss and Van Braam where 22-year old Vincent worked is at center

37. From January 1976 to November 1978:

38. BECOMING AN
ARTIST
1878 - 1886
Painting designed by Adrien Midzic from The Noun Project

39. “When I think the eyes of so many are fixed on me,
who will know where the fault is if I do not succeed,
who will make me reproaches… the fear of failure,
of disgrace – then I also have the longing: I wish I
were far away from everything!”
~ A Confession by Vincent

40. •! Au Charbonnage [to the coal fields]
“It always strikes me, that when we
see the image of indescribable and
unutterable desolation – of loneliness,
of poverty and misery, the end of all
things, or their extreme – the rises in
our mind the though of god.”
“The workmen come there to eat their
bread and drink their glass of beer
during the lunch hour”
•! He, too, was heading to
au charbonnage
The “Au Charbonnage” Café
November 1878, Pencil and ink on paper, 40 x 40cm

41. “… I did not lack courage. I would learn and
observe and come back having something to say
that was really worth hearing – a better and riper
man”.
~ From Vincent to Theo
In November 1878, with no means of support, no
plans and no prospects, Vincent head to Borinage
a.k.a Le pays noir (the black country)

42. Marcasse Coal Mine - Pit #7

43. Charles Bargue’s 2-part Drawing
Courses
Miners in the Snow at Dawn
August 1880, Pencil on Paper, 20 x 13 cm
In October 1880, he left for Brussels with a portfolio of
drawings to seek for a better studio, the company of artists and
“good things to look at” in order to forget those miseries and
“make good things myself”.

45. The Sower
Jean-François Millet, 1850, Oil on canvas
The Sower (After Millet)
Vincent Van Gogh, 1881, Ink on paper

46. “Anyone who has mastered a figure
drawing can earn quite a bit.”
~ From Vincent to Theo
Thinking that if he mastered figure drawing, he
could make the kinds of images that often
appeared in illustrated magazines – especially
images of picturesque country life. Vincent spent a
lot of money hiring models and renting studio for
his drawings.

47. •! Met Rappard, who played a big role in
his life
•! Rappard described Vincent as “violent
and fanatical” and Vincent described
Rappard as “elegant and superficial”
•! Vincent returned to Etten and Rappard
joined him shortly after
•! Explored drawing together – Rappard
lead and Vincent followed
Anthon Gerad Alexander Ridder
van Rappard (Rappard)

48. The Passievaart near Seppe (Landscape near Seppe)
Anthon Gerad Alexander Ridder van Rappard, June 1881,
Pencil on paper
Marsh with Water Lilies
Vincent Van Gogh, June 1881, Pencil on paper

49. •! Fell in love with widow, Kee Vos but was
responded with “no, nay, never”
•! Vincent was persistent and unwilling to
gave up. Eventually Vincent clashed with
Kee Vos’s father though letters and
punches
•! Tensions built up between Dorus and
Vincent – declaring, “There is no God!”
and refused to attend church services
•! On Christmas day, 1881, Vincent
unleashed all his frustration in a fury
•! “Enough! Get out of my house!” Dorus
thundered and ordered his son to leave
the house and never to return.
Kee Vos-Stricker and Son Jan
c. 1881

50. •! Vincent headed straight to the Hague to
be an apprentice to his cousin, Anton
Mauve.
•! Mauve was a master colourist, a realist
Dutch painter and a leading figure in the
Hague School (Dutch art movement)
•! Taught Vincent watercolouring and loan
him money to set up a studio
Anthonij (Anton) Rudolf Mauve

51. Fishing boat on the beach
Anton Mauve, 1882, Oil on canvas, 172 x 115 cm

52. • But the apprenticeship did not last long
(in fact barely a month).
• Mauve insist that Vincent should start by
drawing from plaster casts – the
traditional method – rather than wasting
money on playacting with street people
• Vincent find him “narrow-minded,
unfriendly, moody and rather unkind”
• Mauve banished Vincent from his studio
• His quick-temper was well-known as he
continued to fought with mentors,
patrons and fellow artists.

53. Torn-Up Street with Diggers
April 1882, Pencil and ink on Paper

54. •! Continued to hire models to re-create
poses from the Bargue exercises,
from his print collection and from his
previous drawings.
•! Subsequently, Vincent asked Theo for
more money to set up a bigger studio
for his models to pose better.
[Why is figure drawing so damn
important to Vincent???]
Woman Sitting on a Basket with Head in Hands
March 1883, Chalk on Paper

55. Carpenter's Yard and Laundry
May 1882, Pencil and ink on
Paper
“You must picture me sitting in my attic window as early as
four o’clock in the morning, studying the meadows and the
carpenter’s yard with my perspective frame”
~ From Vincent to Theo

56. •! In early May 1882, declared his
love for a woman, a prostitute,
who was pregnant, named
Sein Hoornik
•! Revealed that he had been
secretly supporting her and her
family for months
•! Said that he was going to
marry her
•! Saw the birth of her son
•! However, after his brother,
Theo’s continuous urging,
Vincent put an end to the
relationship to pursue his
career in 1883

57. Between 1882 to 1885, Vincent continues to experiment and
improve on his drawing.

58. MARCH
26
1885
Theodorus (Dorus) van Gogh
passed away after a massive
stroke, aged 63.

59. A Peasant Family at the Table
Jozef Israëls, 1882, Oil on canvas

60. The Potato Eaters
April 1885, Lithograph

62. The Old Church Tower at Nuenen
June - July 1885, Oil on Canvas
Still Life with Bible
October 1885, Oil on Canvas

63. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Soon after completion in 1885

64. The Jewish Bride
Rembrandt, 1667, Oil on canvas
Night Watch
Rembrandt, 1642, Oil on canvas

65. Feeling “overstrained and far from well”
•! smoked a pipe to calm his digestion
•! gums grew sore and his teeth loosen
•! developed a hacking cough and losing
weight
Treated for syphilis with mercury
•! bain de siège [seated bath]
•! Side effects include hair loss, sexual
asthenia, insanity, death, stomach
cramps, anemia, depression, organ
failure, sight and hearing impairment,
salivation
•!
Self-portrait with Dark-felt Hat
1886, Oil on canvas
Did not admit the disease to his
brother, Theo

66. JANUARY
18
1886
Age 32, Vincent began classes
at the Antwerp Royal Academy,
studying painting (with school
director) and drawing (from plaster
casts of antique sculptures)

67. Plaster room at the Antwerp Academy

68. Plaster Torso of a Woman
1886, Pencil on Paper
Venus of aMilo (Plaster) a Burning Cigarette
Head de Skeleton with
January - February 1886, Oil on Canvas

69. JANUARY
28
1886
•
Vincent arrived at Paris unannounced,
unexpected, and unwelcome
•
Theo asked Vincent to meet at the
Salon Carré (Square Salon) of
Lourve Museum
•
Only purpose is to please Theo and
work together for The Potato Eaters

70. THE FRENCH YEARS
1886 - 1888

71. View of the Grand Salon Carré in the Louvre
Giuseppe Castiglione, 1861, oil on canvas

72. Fernand Cormon
1845 - 1924
Atelier of Fernand Cormon
Cormon at easel, c. 1885

73. Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse
Fernand Cormon, 1880, Oil on Canvas

74. Eugène Boch
1855 to 1941
John Peter Russell
1858 to 1930
John de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Peter Russell
1858 to 1930
1864 1901
Émile Bernard
1868 to 1941

75. Monet’s Impression Sunrise
1872, Oil on Canvas
Renoir’s Monet painting in his garden in Argenteuil,
1873, Oil on Canvas
Manet’s Music in the Tuileries
1862, Oil on Canvas
Degas’s Ballettprobe
1873, Oil on Canvas

76. Camille Pissarro
1830 to 1903
Paul Gauguin
1848 to 1903

77. Portraits of Vincent van Gogh in different styles
Between 1886 to 1887

78. The rise of japoniseme
(Japanesery) or the
influence of Japanese Art
Title page of Paris Illustré "Le Japon'
vol. 4, May 1886, no. 45-46.
The illustration, after a print by Kesai Eisen

79. Tracing of “Le Japon”
from the Cover of
“Paris Illustré”
1886, Pencil and ink on
Tracing Paper
Courtesan (after Eisen)
1887, Oil on Cotton

80. The Plum Garden in Kameido
One Hundred Famous Views of
Edo series
Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857
Japonaiserie, Flowering Plum Tree
(after Hiroshige)
1886

81. Great Bridge, Sudden Shower
at Atake
One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
series
Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857
Japonaiserie, The Bridge in the Rain
(after Hiroshige)
1886

82. In February 1888, he left Paris for Arles suddenly.
No one knows the reason only later.
“After Father was no more and I came to Theo in
Paris, then he became so attached to me that I
understood how much he had loved Father… It is a
good thing that I did not stay in Paris, for we, he
and I, would have become so close.”
~ By Vincent, two years later and only months before his death

83. The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum,
Arles, at Night
September 1888, Oil on Canvas
Café Van Gogh Today

84. The Yellow House (“The Street”)
Bedroom
October 1888, Oil Oil on Canvas
September 1888, on Canvas

85. Paul Gauguin
1848 - 1903
Autoportrait avec portrait de Bernard, 'Les Misérables
Paul Gauguin, 1888, Oil on Canvas

86. SUNFLOWER
PAINTINGS
1888

87. Sunflowers Sketch
August 1888, Pencil on Paper
Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers
August 1888, Oil on canvas

88. Vase with Five Sunflowers
August 1888, Oil on canvas
Vase with Twelve Sunflowers
August 1888, Oil on canvas
Vase with Three Sunflowers
August 1888, Oil on canvas

89. Paul Gauguin (Man in a Red Beret)
1888, Oil on Canvas
Self-portrait (Dedicated to Paul Gauguin)
September 1888, Oil on canvas

90. Night Café in Arles (Madame Ginoux)
Paul Gauguin, 1888, Oil on Canvas
Night Café
1888, Oil on Canvas
“The painting is one of the ugliest I’ve done. It’s equivalent, though different, of
the potato eaters. I’ve tried to express the terrible passions with the red and the
green”
~ Vincent to Theo, 8 Sep 1888

91. Gauguin’s Armchair
December 1888, Oil on Canvas
Vincent’s Chair with His Pipe
December 1888, Oil on Canvas

92. “I am obliged to return to
Paris, Vincent and I
absolutely cannot live sideby-side any longer without
friction because of the
incompatibility of our
temperaments and because
he and I both need
tranquility for our work. He’s
a man of remarkable
intelligence whom I hold
great esteem and leave with
regret, but, I repeat, it is
necessary that I leave.”
Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers
Paul Gauguin, November 1888, Oil on Canvas
~ Gauguin to Theo,
December 1888

93. •! A stranger – an “ill-starred
wretch” who had failed his family,
killed his father, bled his brother
of money and health, destroyed
his dream of a studio in the
South, and driven his Bel Ami
•! Swam with images of
punishments exacted for sin
Self-Portrait
November-December 1888, Oil on Canvas

94. •! Picked up a razor blade,
grabbed the criminal's ear, pulled
the lobe as hard as he could,
brought his arm across his face
and slashed at the offending
flesh
•! Washed the small fan of his
flesh, carefully wrapped it like a
piece of meat, in a piece of
newspaper
•! Dressed his wound and
bandage, passed it to Gauguin
(via a sentry at a brothel) with
words!
“Remember me.”
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe
January 1889, Oil on Canvas

95. The Courtyard of the Hospital a Arles
April 1889, Oil on Canvas
Ward in the Hospital at Arles
April 1889, Oil on Canvas

96. MAY
27
1889
Vincent was admitted to the Asylum of
Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, Saint-Rémy,
aged 36.

97. THE ASYLUM YEARS
1889 - 1890

98. View of Asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole,
Saint-Rémy
Baths, Asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole,
Saint-Rémy

99. Paintings of Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy
Between October 1889 to April 1890

100. •! Painted a unlike any the
world had ever seen with
ordinary eyes:
A kaleidoscope of pulsating
beacons, whirlpools of stars,
radiant clouds, and a moon
that shone as brightly as any
sun – a fireworks of cosmic
light and energy visible only
in Vincent’s head.
Starry Night
June 1889, Oil on Canvas

101. Copies after Jean-François Millet and Eugène Delacroix
Between October 1889 to April 1890

102. “We painters are always asked to compose ourselves
and to be nothing but composers. Very well – but in
music it isn’t so – and if such a person plays some
Beethoven he’ll add his personal interpretation to it
– in music, and then above all for singing – a
composer’s interpretation is something, and it isn’t a
hard and fast rule that only the composer plays his
own compositions…

103. …Good – since I’m above all ill at present, I’m trying
to do something to console myself, for my own
pleasure. I place the black-and-white by Delacroix or
Millet or after them in front of me as a subject. And
then I improvise colour on it but, being me, not
completely of course, but seeking memories of their
paintings – but the memory, the vague consonance of
colours that are in the same sentiment, if not right –
that’s my own interpretation.”
~ From Vincent to Theo, 20 September 1889

104. JANUARY
31
1890
•
The son of Theo and his wife, Joanna,
was born.
•
He was named Vincent Van Gogh.

105. Almond Blossom
February 1890, Oil on Canvas
Joanna with Son Vincent
1890

106. MAY
16
1890
•
Vincent was “cured” and discharged from
the Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint Rémy.
•
He left for Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris, to
join Theo and his family the next morning.

107. Auberge Ravoux Today
The Ravoux family in front of the Ravoux Inn

108. Dr. Paul Gachet
1826 - 1909
Portrait of Dr. Gachet
June 1890, Oil on Canvas

109. Tree Roots
July 1890, Oil on Canvas
Daubigny's Garden
July 1890

110. Wheat Field with Crows
July 1890, Oil on Canvas

111. FINAL GOODBYE
1890

112. JULY
27
1890
•
Vincent shot himself at the chest at the
wheat field where he painted before.
•
He limped back to his room and was
subsequently attended by Dr. Gachet and
another doctor.

113. Vincent's bedroom at the Ravoux Inn

114. “I will not expressly seek death, but
I would not try to evade it if it
happened”.
~ Vincent
No one knows exactly what happened that day.

115. JULY
28
1890
•
Theo arrived at mid-day.
•
Vincent thanked his brother for coming
and giving them this opportunity to “be
together constantly”. He asked about
Jon and the baby.

116. JULY
29
1890
•
Half-past midnight, Vincent cradled in his
brother’s arm and struggling for breath.
•
Vincent uttered his last words:
“I want to die this way”.
•
Vincent Willem van Gogh, aged 37, died
after about half an hour later.

117. •! In Vincent’s life, Theo had
provided unfailing
emotional and financial
support for his brother to
devote in art
•! Six months after Vincent’s
passing, Theo died of
dementia paralytica on
25 January 1891 at the
age of 33.
•! They were eventually
buried together in Auvers.
Graves of Vincent and Theo van Gogh
In Auvers

118. In loving memory of my brother,
Randy Sum
1980 - 2012
THANK YOU