Vincent Van Gogh
... and got him a job at a local bookstore. Vincent did not enjoy it and the job only lasted four months. Vincent desperately wanted to become a clergyman but, at 24 his family questioned his ability to study rigorously, never the less they rallied around him. It was arranged for him to move to Amsterdam and live with him Uncle Johannes, the admiral. He started taking lessons in Latin and Greek to get him ready for the theological-school exams. After a year of study he gave up. In August of 1878, Vincent was 25 and he enrolled in a training school for lay preachers, which was located in Brussels. Graduating did not allow him to be a full-fledged minister but, did allow him to spread the Gospel and do missionary work among the poor. He didn’t do well in the school. He was in the school on a probationary basis anyway and when he was to finish he was to be offered a missionary position in Belgium. He wanted it so bad he moved down there anyway. He found a job at a coal mine and helped the workers with injuries and illness. He would preach there in an old dance hall and started a bible school. He finally thought he had found work that he was meant to do. The missionary society out of Brussels was impressed with his recent work and offered him a trial missionary position as a lay preacher at a salary of $10 a month. At this point Vincent began to take the bible too literally and gave away all of his possessions. He would dress in rags and soon after was released by the missionary society. His brother Theo was sent by his family to help offer some guidance but, to no avail. Vincent soon faded into obscurity, which he referred to as “molting time”, upon his emergence his religious fanaticism had disappeared. Only to be replaced by a burning wrath for the organized church. It was during his “molting time” that Vincent decided to become an artist. He would seek out an artist by the name of Jules Breton, who was an established artist who he knew from working at the firm. Vincent walked all the way to Courrieres, which is about 30 kilometers away. Upon his arrival, he was so overwhelmed by the appearance of his studio that he never even knocked and walked all the way back. Vincent was basically a self-taught artist who now pursued it whole-heartedly. His still life drawings were extremely realistic and showed fine detail of real life. He started out drawing still life of the peasants he remembered working with at the coal mine. At 27 he established his first studio in a Borinage cottage. His work space was so small he was forced to work outdoors. Theo offered him to move to Paris, the art capital of the world but, was reluctant and opted for Brussels instead. After living there for a year or so his living expenses became too much to handle, so he decided to move back home for the summer, a few weeks after his 28th birthday. He was uncertain of his welcome but things went well and when he got home he worked very hard on his art. Soon after this a cousin of his moved in to the Van Gogh parsonage. Her name was Kee Vos and she had a 4 year old son who Vincent became very good friends with. He soon fell in love with her and when he told her she rejected him. Vincent could not accept this and would write her letters but she would not open them. Despite the problems he had with her he continued to draw and was introduced to Anton Mauve, who was a successful painter and supplied Vincent with his first set of water colors. He respected Mauve as a person and painter but their relationship faltered when Vincent began living with a prostitute. Her was Clasina Maria Hoornik aka Sien and she had 2 children who would all pose for him. During this period his artistic skills would develop greatly. He and Sien parted ways in September of 1883 and returned to his parent’s house. His neighbor, Margot Begemann, fell in love with Vincent and was so upset about his last relationship that she tried to commit suicide and that troubled him very much. In 1885, He continued to paint portraits of peasant which were his favorite. He kept working hard on his art but was briefly distracted by his father’s death. He then created his first true masterpiece The Potato Eaters. After a brief study at the Academy of Antwerp in 1886, Vincent left the school and said “formal study was a poor substitute for practical work.” In early 1888 he move to Arles because he thought it would be much warmer during his current miserable winter months. He soon found that he didn’t like because it was unusually cold and dusted with snow. He began to feel much better when warmth came. Vincent then ventured outside and created on of his best works Landscape with Path and Pollard Trees and The painting Path through a Field with Willows. Vincent was known throughout his life to be a solitary figure but tired very hard to make friends. He tried to convince Paul Gauguin to move to Arles with him. Theo...