Painting van gogh paintings. Vincent Van Gogh - biography and paintings of the artist in the genre of Post-Impressionism - Art Challenge. Severe psychological shock

Biography of Vincent Van Gogh is shining example how talented person was not recognized during his lifetime. He was appreciated only after his death. This talented artist the post-impressionist was born on March 30, 1853 in the Netherlands in a small village, which was located near the border with Belgium. In addition to Vincent, his parents had six children, of which his younger brother Theo can be distinguished. He provided great influence on the fate of the famous artist.

Childhood and early years

As a child, Van Gogh was a difficult and “boring” child. This is how his relatives described him. With strangers, he was quiet, thoughtful, friendly and affable. At the age of seven the boy was sent to the local village school, where he studied for only a year, then he was transferred to homeschooling. After some time, he was sent to boarding school, where he felt unhappy. This affected him greatly. Then the future artist was transferred to college, where he studied foreign languages ​​and drawing.

Test of the pen. Beginning of an artist's career

At the age of 16, Vincent was hired into a branch of a large company that sold paintings. His uncle owned this company. Future artist worked very well, so he was transferred to . There he learned to understand and appreciate painting. Vincent attended exhibitions and art galleries. Because of his unhappy love, he began to work poorly and was transferred from one office to another. Around the age of 22, Vincent began to try his hand at painting. He was inspired by exhibitions at the Louvre and the Salon (Paris). Because of his new hobby, the artist began to work very poorly and was fired. He then worked as a teacher and assistant pastor. The choice of his last profession was influenced by his father, who also chose to serve God.

Gaining mastery and fame

At the age of 27, the artist, with the support of his brother Theo, moved to, where he entered the Academy of Arts. But, after a year, he decided to quit studying, because he believed that diligence, and not study, would help him become an artist. Your first famous paintings he painted in The Hague. There, for the first time, he mixed several techniques at once in one work:

• watercolor;
• feather;
• sepia.

Vivid examples of such paintings are “Backyards” and “Rooftops. View from van Gogh's studio." Then he had another unsuccessful attempt to start a family. Because of this, Vincent leaves the city and settles in a separate hut, where he paints landscapes and working peasants. During that period, he painted such famous paintings as “Peasant Woman” and “Peasant and Peasant Woman Planting Potatoes.”

Interestingly, Van Gogh was unable to draw human figures correctly and smoothly, which is why in his paintings they have somewhat straight and angular lines. After some time, he moved in with Theo. There he again took up the study of painting in a local famous studio. Then he began to gain fame and participate in impressionist exhibitions.

Death of Van Gogh

Died great artist July 29, 1890 from loss of blood. The day before that day, he was wounded. Vincent shot himself in the chest with the revolver he carried with him to scare away birds. There is, however, another version of his death. Some historians believe he was shot by teenagers with whom he sometimes drank in bars.

Van Gogh paintings

To the list of the most famous works Van Gogh includes the following paintings: " Starry night"; "Sunflowers"; "Irises"; "Wheat field with crows"; "Portrait of Doctor Gachet."

• There are several facts in Van Gogh's biography that historians still argue about. For example, it is believed that during his lifetime they bought only one of his paintings, “Red Vineyards in Arles.” But, despite this, it is absolutely indisputable that Van Gogh left behind a great legacy and made an invaluable contribution to art. He was not appreciated in the 19th century, but in the 20th and 21st centuries, Vincent's paintings are sold for millions of dollars.

Starry night

Irises

Night cafe terrace

Potato eaters

Portrait of Father Tanguy

Bridge over the Seine

Harvest. La Croe Valley

Fishing boats in Sainte-Marie

Landscape in Auvers after rain

Crows over a wheat field

Noon: rest from work

Red vineyards in Arles

Church in Auvers

Bedroom in Arles

Self-portrait

Vase with sunflowers

Pair of leather clogs

Van Gogh Vincent, Dutch painter. In 1869-1876 he served as a commission agent for an art and trading company in The Hague, Brussels, London, Paris, and in 1876 he worked as a teacher in England. Van Gogh studied theology and in 1878–1879 was a preacher in the Borinage mining region in Belgium. Defending the interests of miners brought Van Gogh into conflict with church authorities. In the 1880s, van Gogh turned to art, attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels (1880–1881) and Antwerp (1885–1886).

Van Gogh used the advice of the painter A. Mauwe in The Hague, and enthusiastically painted ordinary people, peasants, artisans, and prisoners. In a series of paintings and sketches from the mid-1880s (“Peasant Woman,” 1885, State Museum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo; “The Potato Eaters”, 1885, Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam), painted in a dark painterly palette, marked by a painfully acute perception of human suffering and feelings of depression, the artist recreates an oppressive atmosphere of psychological tension.

In 1886–1888, van Gogh lived in Paris, attended a private art studio, studied impressionist painting, Japanese engraving, and the “synthetic” works of Paul Gauguin. During this period, van Gogh’s palette became light, earthy colors disappeared, pure blue, golden-yellow, red tones appeared, his characteristic dynamic, flowing brush stroke (“Bridge over the Seine”, 1887, “Papa Tanguy”, 1881). In 1888, van Gogh moved to Arles, where his originality was finally determined creative manner. Fiery artistic temperament, a painful impulse towards harmony, beauty and happiness and at the same time fear of forces hostile to man are embodied either in landscapes shining with sunny colors of the south (“Harvest. La Croe Valley”, 1888), or in ominous ones reminiscent of the night nightmare images (“Night Cafe”, 1888, private collection, New York). The dynamics of color and brushwork in Van Gogh’s paintings fills with spiritual life and movement not only nature and the people inhabiting it (“Red Vineyards in Arles”, 1888, Pushkin Museum, Moscow), but also inanimate objects(“Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles”, 1888).

Van Gogh's intense work recent years accompanied by seizures mental illness, which led him to a mental hospital in Arles, then to Saint-Rémy (1889–1890) and to Auvers-sur-Oise (1890), where he committed suicide. The work of the last two years of the artist’s life is marked by ecstatic obsession, extremely heightened expression color combinations, sudden changes in mood - from frenzied despair and gloomy visionary (“Road with Cypresses and Stars”, 1890, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) to a tremulous feeling of enlightenment and peace (“Landscape at Auvers after the rain”, 1890, Pushkin Museum, Moscow) .

One of the most bright artists XIX century, whose name is known to all fans of painting, is Vincent Willem van Gogh (03/30/1853 – 07/29/1890). His popularity, according to sociologists, is comparable to the fame of Pablo Picasso. Although the facets of their creativity still differ. The genius of the Great Leonardo covers many branches of knowledge; Picasso was known not only as a painter, but also as a talented sculptor, graphic artist, and designer. Van Gogh devoted himself entirely to painting. Van Gogh’s most famous paintings with titles that can be found on our website were painted by him in just ten years of his creative activity.

The post-impressionist artist from the Netherlands, who never managed to receive a special education, lived for 37 years. He created a lot paintings, some of them after his death were recognized as real masterpieces and included in the list of the most expensive paintings peace.

It cannot be said about Van Gogh that he was far from the world of art until he took up painting seriously. After leaving school, young Vincent worked at the art company Goupil and Co., co-owned by his uncle, selling paintings. For seven years Van Gogh was a successful art dealer and often visited the Hague Museum. In 1872, he began to conduct active correspondence with his younger brother Theo. In 1873 he was promoted and transferred to London, where his career was ruined by unrequited love. After bitter disappointment, Van Gogh left for Belgium, to the mining village of Borinage, to serve as a preacher there, and then follow in the footsteps of his father and enter the Evangelical School. However, upon returning, he learns that tuition has already begun to be charged and indignantly refuses this opportunity. That's when Van Gogh began to paint. For a whole year he attended classes at the Royal Academy fine arts, and then decided to return to his parents, because he believed that he could study on his own.

The artist's character was not easy. His temper, constant overwork and alcohol abuse, and mental turmoil influenced the development of epileptic psychosis in his last years of life, to which he had a predisposition. The story of the cut off earlobe has several options. But she is the one who counts a clear sign mental illness, which subsequently contributed to the deterioration mental health Van Gogh, which led him to suicide.

Van Gogh worked with ecstasy. He was a real workaholic. In two hours he could paint a painting that would have taken other artists much longer. Controversy still rages around his name, and the legend of poverty and madness, created by the German gallery owner and art critic Julius Meyer-Graefe, is perceived by many as a real historical fact.

In fact, Van Gogh was educated person and read a lot. He graduated from a prestigious gymnasium and was fluent in three foreign languages. For erudition and developed thinking in the society of artists he was even called Spinoza.

Of course, Van Gogh's throwing did not please the family, but he was never left without financial support. The artist’s grandfather was a famous bookbinder of ancient documents and manuscripts, and carried out orders for several European courts. His uncles were famous and wealthy people. Three of them were engaged in the sale of paintings and other forms of art, and one was an admiral who headed the port in Antwerp. Young Vincent lived in his house when he studied in a painting class at the Academy of Arts during the day and attended a private school in the evenings. In fact, the artist was a rather pragmatic person, he assessed his capabilities quite realistically and devoted himself entirely to his work. He learned to draw using the latest textbooks, which were sent to him by his uncles, real art experts.

In 1886, Van Gogh, on the recommendation of his younger brother Theo, left for Paris. It was Theo, who successfully sold art, who advised the artist to engage in joyful and light painting. He introduces him to critics, artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir and others. An agreement was concluded between the brothers that in exchange for Vincent's paintings, Theo undertakes to pay him 220 francs monthly and also provides him best canvases, paints and brushes. In addition, the younger brother took on all the expenses associated with Vincent's treatment and bought him books, clothes, and necessary reproductions. In this regard, the artist never needed money; he even collected Japanese prints.

Van Gogh was a permanent member of the most prestigious art exhibitions, his paintings were shown by fashionable and successful art dealers at so-called “house shows”. Vincent's sudden suicide interrupted the methodically calculated “path of glory” that he had already set on by that time. The younger brother, in whose arms the great artist was dying, could not survive him and died six months later. From their friendly collaboration There are a lot of paintings left, real masterpieces that were appreciated in the twentieth century.

The paintings painted by the artist, some time after his death, were recognized as truly brilliant and priceless. Among the many paintings he painted, there are the most famous ones, the names of which are familiar even to those who are far from art at all. His paintings are characterized by some features, namely:

• dynamic thick strokes;
• bright, in some cases almost “open” colors;
• bold, experimental color combinations.

"Potato Eaters"

Vincent Van Gogh painted his first serious painting back in 1885. It was not created “in one breath”; it was preceded by a difficult preliminary work. The artist completed 12 sketches for the canvas, which he subsequently destroyed.

The painting shows peasant family de Grootov, who after a difficult working day gathered at the table to have dinner by the light of a kerosene lamp. There is only one dish on the table - baked potatoes and cups of barley coffee. The tired faces of the peasants, their large, rough hands. The color palette of this work is very sparse, but unusually accurately conveys the atmosphere of peasant life.

Some researchers of the artist’s work argued that this painting is an undisguised satire on people who are not even aware of their ignorance. But in his letters, Van Gogh spoke with great respect about this family, their honesty and simple moral principles. He wanted to show in the picture the steam from hot potatoes and tired peasants busy eating, and also to evoke a feeling of compassion in the viewer.

"Self-portrait with a bandaged ear and a pipe"

In January 1889, the artist created this painting with a very strange backstory. It is still impossible to say with certainty whether Van Gogh himself cut off his earlobe or whether it was an accident that occurred during a quarrel with another famous artist- Paul Gauguin. Tired and thoughtful, with a pipe in his mouth, Vincent wrote his work, which truly became his calling card.

"Starry Night"

The artist painted this picture in 1889, while being treated in a psychiatric hospital in the small town of Saint-Rémy, in French Provence, which Cote d'Azur. The painting depicts a starry sky, which is the most important thing in the artist’s plan. It shows the possibilities of human mental activity, which contribute to a deep understanding of the nature of things, the interweaving of cosmic secrets and earthly cypress trees growing on a hill. The painter clearly demonstrates in the foreground the incomprehensible harmony of the Universe, its mysteries and secrets. And somewhere in the shadow of the twilight he placed city houses and mountains. He subsequently admitted to his brother that the stars were very close to him, he could look at them for a very long time and indulge in dreams.

"Irises"

The painting is considered one of the very last paintings of the great artist. Even though the disease continued to progress, he was still working. In this picture he departs from his usual technique and imbues it with extraordinary lightness and weightlessness. The color scheme he selected allows you to endlessly look at images of irises growing in the field without tension, with a feeling of relaxation and even peace. The influence is obvious here Japanese art, which the artist liked so much, and French impressionism. Such a complex combination of two different directions in art ensured the painter the complete success of this painting.

"Sunflowers"

Paintings with a variety of sunflowers are very famous among Van Gogh lovers and art connoisseurs. First, in Paris, the artist begins to work on images of cut flowers, and later, in Arles, he paints bouquets in vases. As it became known, he simply wanted to decorate the walls of the house for the arrival of his friend, Paul Gauguin. Gauguin liked the paintings so much that he even purchased two of them for himself.

Even a small acquaintance with the work of this genius artist, who created more than one masterpiece for a very long time short time, can serve as a significant incentive to make Van Gogh’s paintings with titles much clearer. And this one short life the hardworking master was appreciated by fans of his work.

Vincent Van Gogh - Dutch artist, one of the brightest representatives of post-impressionism. He worked a lot and fruitfully: over the course of just over ten years he created such a number of works that none of the famous painters. He painted portraits and self-portraits, landscapes and still lifes, cypress trees, wheat fields and sunflowers.

The artist was born near the southern border of the Netherlands in the village of Grot-Zundert. This event in the family of Pastor Theodore van Gogh and his wife Anna Cornelia Carbentus occurred on March 30, 1853. In total, there were six children in the Van Gogh family. Younger brother Theo helped Vincent throughout his life and took an active part in his difficult fate.

In the family, Vincent was a difficult, disobedient child with some oddities, so he was often punished. Outside the house, on the contrary, he looked thoughtful, serious and quiet. He hardly played with children. His fellow villagers considered him a modest, sweet, friendly and compassionate child. At the age of 7 he was sent to a village school, a year later he was taken from there and taught at home, in the fall of 1864 the boy was taken to a boarding school in Zevenbergen.

Departure hurts the boy's soul and causes him a lot of suffering. In 1866 he was transferred to another boarding school. Vincent is good at languages, and here he also gains his first drawing skills. In 1868, in the middle of the school year, he left school and went home. His education ends here. He remembers his childhood as something cold and gloomy.

Traditionally, generations of Van Goghs realized themselves in two areas of activity: painting paintings and church activities. Vincent will try himself both as a preacher and as a merchant, giving his all to the work. Having achieved certain successes, he abandons both, consecrating his life and his whole self to painting.

Start of a career

In 1868, a fifteen-year-old boy entered the branch of the art company Gupil and Co. in The Hague. For good job and his curiosity are directed to the London branch. During the two years that Vincent spent in London, he becomes a real businessman and connoisseur of engravings by English masters, quotes Dickens and Eliot, and a gloss appears in him. Van Gogh faced the prospect of a brilliant commission agent in the central branch of Goupil in Paris, where he was supposed to move.

In 1875, events occurred that changed his life. In a letter to Theo, he calls his condition “painful loneliness.” Researchers of the artist's biography suggest that the reason for this state is rejected love. It is not known exactly who the object of this love was. It's possible that this version wrong. The transfer to Paris did not help change the situation. He lost interest in Goupil and was fired.

Theology and missionary activity

In his search for himself, Vincent affirms his religious destiny. In 1877, he moved to his uncle Johannes in Amsterdam and prepared to enter the Faculty of Theology. He gets disappointed in his studies, quits classes and leaves. The desire to serve people leads him to a missionary school. In 1879, he received a position as a preacher in Wham in the south of Belgium.

He teaches the Law of God at the miners' center in Borinage, helps the families of miners, visits the sick, teaches children, reads sermons, and draws maps of Palestine to earn money. He lives in a miserable shack, eats water and bread, sleeps on the floor, physically torturing himself. In addition, it helps workers defend their rights.

Local authorities remove him from his post, as they do not accept vigorous activity and extremes. During this period, he painted a lot of miners, their wives and children.

Becoming an artist

To escape the depression associated with the events in Paturage, Van Gogh turned to painting. Brother Theo befriends him and he attends the Academy of Fine Arts. But after a year he dropped out of school and went to his parents, continuing to study on his own.

Falls in love again. This time to my cousin. His feelings do not find an answer, but he continues his courtship, which irritates his relatives, who asked him to leave. Due to a new shock, he abandons his personal life and leaves for The Hague to take up painting. Here he takes lessons from Anton Mauve, works a lot, observes city life, mainly in poor neighborhoods. Studying “Drawing Course” by Charles Bargue, copying lithographs. Masters mixing various techniques on canvas, achieving interesting works color shades.

Once again he tries to start a family with a pregnant street woman whom he meets on the street. A woman with children moves in with him and becomes a model for the artist. Because of this, he quarrels with relatives and friends. Vincent himself feels happy, but not for long. The difficult character of his cohabitant turned his life into a nightmare, and they separated.

The artist goes to the province of Drenthe in the north of the Netherlands, lives in a hut, which he equipped as a workshop, paints landscapes, peasants, scenes from their work and life. Early works Van Gogh, with reservations, but can be called realistic. The lack of academic education affected his drawings and inaccurate depictions of human figures.

From Drenthe he moves to his parents in Nuenen and draws a lot. Hundreds of drawings and paintings were created during this period. Along with his creativity, he paints with his students, reads a lot and takes music lessons. Subjects of works of the Dutch period – ordinary people and scenes written in an expressive manner with a predominance of a dark palette, gloomy and dull tones. Masterpieces of this period include the painting “The Potato Eaters” (1885), depicting a scene from the life of peasants.

Parisian period

After much deliberation, Vincent decides to live and create in Paris, where he moves at the end of February 1886. Here he meets his brother Theo, who rose to the rank of director art gallery. Artistic life The French capital of this period is in full swing.

A significant event is the Impressionist exhibition on Rue Lafitte. For the first time, Signac and Seurat, who led the post-impressionism movement, which marked the final stage of impressionism, are exhibiting there. Impressionism is a revolution in art that changed the approach to painting, displacing academic techniques and subjects. The first impression and pure colors are of paramount importance, and preference is given to plein air painting.

In Paris, Van Gogh's brother Theo takes care of him, settles him in his house, and introduces him to artists. In the studio of the traditionalist artist Fernand Cormon, he met Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard and Louis Anquetin. He is greatly impressed by the paintings of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. In Paris, he became addicted to absinthe and even painted a still life on this topic.

The Parisian period (1886-1888) turned out to be the most fruitful; the collection of his works was replenished with 230 canvases. It was a time of searching for technology, studying innovative trends modern painting. He is forming new look for painting. The realistic approach is replaced by a new manner, gravitating towards impressionism and post-impressionism, which is reflected in his still lifes with flowers and landscapes.

His brother introduces him to the most prominent representatives this direction: Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and others. He often goes out plein air with his artist friends. His palette gradually brightens, becomes brighter, and over time turns into a riot of colors, characteristic of his work in recent years.

In Paris, Van Gogh communicates a lot, visiting the same places where his brothers go. In "Tambourine" he even starts a small affair with its owner Agostina Segatori, who once posed for Degas. From it he paints a portrait at a table in a cafe and several works in the nude style. Another meeting place was Papa Tanga's shop, where paints and other materials for artists were sold. Here, as in many other similar institutions, artists exhibited their works.

A group of Small Boulevards is being formed, which includes Van Gogh and his comrades, who have not reached such heights as the masters of the Grand Boulevards - more famous and recognized. The spirit of competition and tension that reigned in Parisian society at that time became unbearable for the impulsive and uncompromising artist. He gets into arguments, quarrels and decides to leave the capital.

Severed ear

In February 1888, he goes to Provence and becomes attached to it with all his soul. Theo sponsors his brother, sending him 250 francs a month. In gratitude, Vincent sends his paintings to his brother. He rents four rooms in a hotel, eats in a cafe, the owners of which become his friends and pose for pictures.

With the arrival of spring, the artist is captivated by the southern sun, flowering trees. He is delighted with the bright colors and transparency of the air. The ideas of impressionism are gradually disappearing, but loyalty to the light palette and plein air painting remains. The works predominate yellow, acquiring a special radiance coming from the depths.

To work plein air at night, he attaches candles to his hat and sketchbook, illuminating his work in this way. workplace. This is exactly how his paintings “Starry Night over the Rhone” and “Night Cafe” were painted. An important event becomes the arrival of Paul Gauguin, whom Vincent repeatedly invited to Arles. An enthusiastic and fruitful life together ends in quarrel and breakup. Self-confident, pedantic Gauguin was the complete opposite of the disorganized and restless Van Gogh.

The epilogue to this story is the stormy showdown before Christmas 1888, when Vincent cut off his ear. Gauguin, afraid that they were going to attack him, hid in the hotel. Vincent wrapped his bloody earlobe in paper and sent it to their mutual friend, the prostitute Rachelle. His friend Roulen discovered him in a pool of blood. The wound heals quickly, but his mental health returns him to his hospital bed.

Death

The residents of Arles begin to fear a city dweller who is unlike them. In 1889, they wrote a petition demanding that they be rid of the “red-haired madman.” Vincent realizes the danger of his condition and voluntarily goes to the hospital of St. Paul of Mausoleum in Saint-Rémy. During treatment, he is allowed to pee outside under the supervision of medical staff. This is how his works with characteristic wavy lines and swirls appeared (“Starry Night”, “Road with Cypress Trees and a Star”, etc.).

In Saint-Rémy, periods of intense activity are followed by long breaks caused by depression. At the moment of one of the crises, he swallows paint. Despite the increasing exacerbations of the disease, brother Theo promotes his participation in the September Salon of Independents in Paris. In January 1890, Vincent exhibited “Red Vineyards in Arles” and sold them for four hundred francs, which is quite a decent amount. This was the only painting sold during his lifetime.

His joy was immeasurable. The artist did not stop working. His brother Theo is also inspired by the success of Vineyards. He supplies Vincent with paints, but he begins to eat them. In May 1890, the brother negotiated with the homeopathic therapist Dr. Gachet to treat Vincent in his clinic. The doctor himself is fond of drawing, so he happily takes on the artist’s treatment. Vincent is also attracted to Gasha and sees him as a kind-hearted and optimistic person.

A month later, Van Gogh was allowed to travel to Paris. His brother does not greet him very kindly. He has financial problems and his daughter is very sick. This technique unbalanced Vincent; he realizes that he is becoming, perhaps, and has always been a burden for his brother. Shocked, he returns to the clinic.

On July 27, as usual, he goes out into the open air, but returns not with sketches, but with a bullet in his chest. The bullet he fired from the pistol hit the rib and went away from the heart. The artist himself returned to the shelter and went to bed. Lying in bed, he calmly smoked his pipe. It seemed that the wound did not cause him pain.

Gachet summoned Theo by telegram. He immediately arrived and began to reassure his brother that they would help him, that there was no need to give in to despair. The response was the phrase: “Sadness will last forever.” The artist died on July 29, 1890 at half past one in the morning. He was buried in the town of Mary on July 30.

Many of his artist friends came to say goodbye to the artist. The walls of the room were hung with his latest paintings. Doctor Gachet wanted to make a speech, but he cried so much that he managed to utter only a few words, the essence of which boiled down to the fact that Vincent was a great artist and an honest man that art, which was above all for him, will repay him and perpetuate his name.

The artist's brother Theo Van Gogh died six months later. He did not forgive himself for the quarrel with his brother. His despair, which he shares with his mother, becomes unbearable, and he suffers from a nervous breakdown. This is what he wrote in a letter to his mother after his brother’s death:

“It is impossible to describe my grief, just as it is impossible to find consolation. This is a grief that will last and from which I will certainly never be freed as long as I live. The only thing that can be said is that he himself found the peace he was striving for... Life was such a heavy burden for him, but now, as often happens, everyone praises his talents... Oh, mom! He was so my, my own brother.”

And this is Vincent’s last letter, written after a quarrel:

“It seems to me that since everyone is a little nervous and also too busy, there is no need to fully clarify all the relationships. I was a little surprised that you seemed to want to rush things. How can I help, or rather, what can I do to make you happy with this? One way or another, I mentally shake your hands tightly again and, in spite of everything, I was glad to see you all. Don't doubt it."

In 1914, Theo's remains were reburied by his widow next to Vincent's grave.

Personal life

One of the reasons for Van Gogh's mental illness could have been his failed personal life, he never found a life partner. The first attack of despair occurred after the refusal of the daughter of his housewife Ursula Loyer, in whom he for a long time was secretly in love. The proposal came unexpectedly, shocked the girl, and she rudely refused.

History repeated itself with widowed cousin Key Stricker Voe, but this time Vincent decides not to give up. The woman does not accept advances. On his third visit to his beloved’s relatives, he puts his hand into the flame of a candle, promising to hold it there until she gives her consent to become his wife. With this act, he finally convinced the girl’s father that he was dealing with a mentally ill person. They did not stand on ceremony with him anymore and simply escorted him out of the house.

Sexual dissatisfaction was reflected in his nervous state. Vincent begins to like prostitutes, especially those who are not very young and not very beautiful, whom he could raise. Soon he chooses a pregnant prostitute, who moves in with his 5-year-old daughter. After the birth of his son, Vincent becomes attached to the children and considers getting married.

The woman posed for the artist and lived with him for about a year. Because of her, he had to be treated for gonorrhea. The relationship deteriorated completely when the artist saw how cynical, cruel, sloppy and unbridled she was. After the separation, the lady indulged in her previous activities, and Van Gogh left The Hague.

In recent years, Vincent has been stalked by a 41-year-old woman named Margot Begemann. She was the artist's neighbor in Nuenen and really wanted to get married. Van Gogh, rather out of pity, agrees to marry her. The parents did not give consent to this marriage. Margot almost committed suicide, but Van Gogh saved her. In the subsequent period he has many promiscuous relationships, he visits brothels and is occasionally treated for sexually transmitted diseases.