Van Gogh - A Tragedy

I finished watching the documentary "Painted with Words" starring Benedict Cumberbatch by Andrew Hutton, yesterday in a second attempt. It is a biography of the great artists Vincent Van Gogh showing details of his life to his death. I watched it a few weeks ago and honestly did not speculate the intensity of the movie beforehand. I had to stop watching it midway because I was already not feeling too great for some reason and the documentary pushed me over the edge.

It left me feeling very sad when I learnt of his tragic story of dealing with sickness and struggling to make it as an artist. I somewhat knew about his iconic art pieces but very little about his personal life and inspiration behind his work.

Vincent Van Gogh - Self-Portrait - 1889

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The Dutch artist was born in Zundert in the southern Netherlands. His first job was an art gallery in The Hauge with the help of his uncle which was him stepping into the world of painting and drawing. After a few years he decided to serve in the name of god and become a preacher. He later discovered his love for painting and drawing and take it more seriously from thereon.

He spent few years painting in the countryside and then left for Paris in 1886 to live with his younger brother Theo. He met several other artists through the arrangements made by his brother, also befriending Paul Gaugin. But very soon the two brothers found it difficult to live with each other and this was when Vincent traveled to the south of France, Arles. This led to a huge change in his color palette and productivity and his paintings became more vibrant with attractive combinations of hues. In fact, when he heard that his dear friend was coming to visit, he went to the fields and brought 12 sunflowers to paint and gift the painting to him! They lived together to explore the world of art. (after Vincent's waiting for quite sometime).

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That didn’t work out too well and Van Gogh cut off a small portion of his ear and lived in a hospital after that. He painted self portraits of himself with bandage on his ear and this is place where he painted, which would later be one of his most iconic paintings, "The Starry Night" It seems nearly impossible to believe that it was painted in his hospital room purely from imagination! I cannot even begin to fathom how his great mind worked and produced such works of art.

He finally moved to Auvers in 1890 with Dr. Gachet and his daughter after being suggested by his brother, Theo. He painted several landscapes and portraits during this time describing the beauty of fields and mountains in his letters to his dear brother. On 27 July 1890, he shot himself and died within 2 days. Theo remained at his side during his final hours with his last words being "The sadness will last forever".

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I could not help but feel sad about his struggles and the fact that he gained worldwide recognition only after his death. He is believed to have sold only one painting in his lifetime because his style of art wasn't appreciated and understood by people at that time. Van Gogh wrote about 850 letters of which more than 650 were written to this brother Theo. The letters and the paintings depict his entire life's journey and now serve as a window to his world. Theo died after 6 months of his brother's death and both rest side by side in the municipal cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise..

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