Life
Early years
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 into a Dutch Reformed family in Groot-Zundert, in the predominantly Catholic province of North Brabant in the southern Netherlands. He was the oldest surviving child of Theodorus van Gogh, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and Anna Cornelia Carbentus. Van Gogh was given the name of his grandfather, and of a brother stillborn exactly a year before his birth. Vincent was a common name in the Van Gogh family: his grandfather, Vincent, who received a degree in theology at the University of Leiden in 1811, had six sons, three of whom became art dealers. This Vincent may have been named after his own great-uncle, a sculptor.
Emergining artist
In Nuenen, Van Gogh focused on painting and drawing. Working outside and very quickly, he completed sketches and paintings of weavers and their cottages.[83] From August 1884, Margot Begemann, a neighbour's daughter ten years his senior, joined him on his forays; she fell in love and he reciprocated, though less enthusiastically. They wanted to marry, but neither side of their families were in favour. Margot was distraught and took an overdose of strychnine, but survived after Van Gogh rushed her to a nearby hospital.
Death
On 27 July 1890, aged 37, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest. There were no witnesses and he died 30 hours after the incident. The bullet was deflected by a rib and passed through his chest without doing apparent damage to internal organs – probably stopped by his spine. He was able to walk back to the Auberge Ravoux, where he was attended to by two doctors, but without a surgeon present the bullet could not be removed. The following morning Theo rushed to his brother's side, finding him in good spirits. But within hours Vincent began to fail, suffering from an untreated infection resulting from the wound. He died in the early hours of 29 July.
Appearance
Among his many works Van Gogh was known for his many self portraits, the majority of
them were painted in less than a five year period and portray the artist in a variety of ways. He drew
and painted at least 43 self-portraits in less between 1885-1890.
Through his many self portraits we have a good idea of his physical appearance, Van Gogh had red hair
and blue eyes and he wore a beard most of the time. He had a rather thin face, making him appear older
than his mid-30's, he had deep set eyes and a long, straight nose. He usually has a look of intense
concentration, perhaps as he is both the model and artist in these works and needed to concentrate.
Smiling in a portrait didn't come into fashion until the early 20th century as it wouldn't have been
possible to hold the pose of a smile, either as a model for a painting or for one of the earlier and
much slower photographic methods.
