Description
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 18531890) was born and raised in the southern Netherlands, where his father was a minister. Beginning at age sixteen he worked in succession as an art dealer, teacher, preacher, and missionary. While evangelizing in a poor coal-mining district, he began to draw in earnest. Dismissed by church authorities in 1880, Van Gogh finally found his vocation in art. After studying art in The Hague and Antwerp, in March 1886 he arrived on his brother Theo's doorstep in Paris. Theo, an art dealer, provided constant emotional and financial support throughout the rest of Van Gogh's life. In Paris, Vincent's art took flight. He worked with Camille Pissarro, who encouraged him to brighten his somber palette. And younger artists like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin influenced him to use color symbolically and for emotional effect. Wanting to "look at nature under a brighter sky," he moved early in 1888 to Arles, in southern France. He hoped the warm climate would relax him and that bright colors illuminated by a strong sun would provide artistic inspiration. Working feverishly, he pushed his style to greater expression with intense, active brushwork and saturated, complementary colors. He used those colors and the rhythmic(more...) - INDIVIDUAL ITEM RRP £6.98
