Vincent van Gogh: Self Portrait


       The short and turbulent life of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) is a definitive example of the tragic misunderstood artist unappreciated in his own time but venerated by future generations. Although his father was a pastor many of Van Gogh's closest relatives were art dealers. After bouncing around in various jobs including art dealer, teacher, and studying for the clergy Vincent decided to become an artist at the age of 27 despite having no formal artistic training and having had a very cursory interest in art before 1880. But the fanatical dedication of his Protestant work ethic not only made him a great artist but enabled him to produce a truly prolific and prodigous output of paintings during the last few years of his life when his artistic talents had fully matured.
       Alienated from his father because of his lifestyle, were it not for the vision, courage, and strength of his art dealer brother Theo who supported him financially and emotionally in the face of the virtually unanimous opinion among the artistic establishment of his day that Vincent's work and talents were childishly insipid, Van Gogh would certainly never have been able to accomplish what he did. Van Gogh never made any money worth noting from his paintings and lived in grinding poverty, spending the little money sent by his brother first on artistic supplies and then whatever was left on the necessities of life, which led to malnourishment, madness, and an early grave.
       Van Gogh's skills as an artistic mirror of reality were clearly second rate in comparison with other great artists. But no one, not Michelangelo, not Leonardo da Vinci, or any other great renaissance or northern European artist was able to express the intensity of his emotions in his art the way Van Gogh did with his use of colors. This skill was, of couse, completely overlooked and discounted in the Victorian culture of the late 19th century when all expression of emotion was hidden behind the curtain of propriety and tradition. So little was thought of Van Gogh's work after his death that although some 800 of his paintings are extant many more were used as kindling or simply discarded as trash until the post World War II world came to revere his talents (his paintings regularly sell for upwards of 10 million dollars apiece in today's market).


There are many quality web sites devoted to Van Gogh, the Vincent van Gogh Gallery has a complete image collection of his work.

I found the page about the Roulin family fascinating.