Vincent Willem van Gogh

taught by Lakelyn (USA), illustrated by Michal Anna (USA)

He was a poor man, he died a poor man. During his lifetime he only sold one painting. More than a hundred years after his death one of his paintings was purchased for $82.5 million dollars. The painting was called (Portrait of Dr. Gachet.) This painting was the most expensive painting ever sold.

On March 30, 1853 in the village of Groot Zundert Vincent Willem van Gogh was born. Until he was 33 he lived in Holland . Van Gogh moved to Paris to live with his art dealing brother, Theo in 1886.The work of Pissarro, Monet, and other Impressionists changed Vincent's style rapidly as he studied them. From Paris he moved into a yellow house in Arles . He wanted it to be a studio and center for painters. No one came except artist Paul Gauguin. This was a disastrous arrangement as the two quarreled or argued about everything. Vincent cut off part of his own ear after a particularly violent argument with Gauguin.
The next year, he finally agreed to enter the asylum of Saint-Remy where he could continue his art while he recovered. A recovery never came about. Vincent continued to suffer from attacks of mental breakdowns interspersed with lucid, rational periods. Realizing that he would never be free of his illness and feeling like a burden on his brother Theo, Vincent shot himself to death on July 27, 1890.

There is a museum in Amsterdam dedicated to van Gogh. He is probably the most reproduced painter in history.