Van Gogh Biography

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Vincent Van Gough was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853. His father, Theodorus Van Goh was a Protestant minister, so he grew up in a religious atmosphere. A year before Vincent was born, his mother, Cornelia, gave birth to a son, named Vincent, who was stillborn. Throughout his childhood, he was haunted by the baby’s grave with his own name on it. He was the oldest of his siblings which consisted of one younger brother and three younger sisters. His mother encouraged him to draw and paints and when he became a teenager, he draw and painted on a regular basis. When he turned sixteen, he started at his uncle’s firm, Goupil and Company, and was there for six years. He traveled to The Hague, Paris, and then London, where he found …show more content…
It was full of warmth which restored Van Gogh’s health. He painted over two hundred pictures and he added a lot of color. While painting in Arles, he suffered fainting spells and involuntary muscle spells. In October, Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin got into a fight and Van Gough threw a fit and cut off his ear. So in May 1889, he was admitted into an insane asylum at Saint-Remy-de Provence. While in the asylum, he created over 150 paintings and hundreds of drawings. He went back to darker colors, like copper and brownish tones. He became interested in “nature under stress”, like swirling trees and mountains. During this time he created his very famous Starry …show more content…
One of my favorite piece is Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette. He uses very dark colors even the bones are dark tan. I believe that this painting represents how a single cigarette can affect the human body and what damage it can cause. He used a lot of value throughout this piece to make the bones actually look real. He started dark, then gradually went lighter, then went back darker to create a 3-D bone. The texture of this piece seems really rough as I can see the hard brushstrokes everywhere, especially on the cranium. I also like how he used a bright yellow to make the cigarette look like it is active and still burning. With having a black background, it seems as if the skeleton is alone and in a depressing state. I guess that is why some people start to smoke if they are depressed over

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