What Van Gogh Did to Become a Post-Impressionist Painter
How the early years of Vincent’s life made him a leading artist
The appeal of Vincent Van Gogh shows no signs of fading. The sense of Van Gogh’s artistic genius is more than ever tied to a personal heroism, defined by his short tragic life, the intense work rate of his last few years, and the sickness that became evermore manifest. The allure of this dialectic — pain and productivity — has coloured Van Gogh’s life with the hue of folklore, as if we can read from his story a paradigm of creativity itself.
Yet I wouldn’t be the first to point out that Van Gogh’s draughtsmanship and deft handling of colour are evidence of a deeply methodical turn of mind, and not, as the critic Robert Hughes assessed, “the vulgar image of a madman issuing orgasmic squirts of yellow and blue at the dictation of his lunacy.”
There is much more to learn about the man and his art. By tracing Van Gogh’s movements during his younger days, it’s possible to see that the Dutchman was a subtle and sophisticated collector of influences, both artistically and socially.
A Youthful Wanderer
The youthful Van Gogh was a keen traveller and rarely stayed for more than a few years in any one place. Born in 1853, at the age of 16 he…
