Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh is a world-renowned artist famous for paintings such as Sunflowers, many of his self portraits, and Starry Night; the painting that will be discussed later. Van Gogh was diagnosed with several mental and physical disorders. The disorders he suffered from include; manic depression, epilepsy, and bipolar disorder. Through these disorders and problems Van Gogh produced some of the most amazing and popular works of art seen through out the world today. Could Van Gogh’s illnesses be the cause for the certain styles and colors he used in his paintings? Or was it his time period that influenced his style of paintings? Vincent Van Gogh’s illnesses, failures, and the post-impressionist era greatly influenced his style and methods of painting.
It is proven time and time again that Vincent van Gogh’s many diagnosed illnesses have greatly influenced his paintings. Van Gogh suffered from many diagnosed diseases and problems such as Lead poisoning, Epilepsy, and Manic Depression. These diseases could have greatly altered the way he painted, the colors he used, and the theme of his paintings. He also may have suffered other diseases or mental issues that were never discovered by doctors or by his family. We will never completely know what exactly went on in the mind of Vincent Van Gogh.
“Lead poisoning occurs when lead builds up in the body, often over a period of months or years. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems. At very high levels, lead poisoning can be fatal.” (Clinic, 2009) Painters and artists of Van Gogh’s day used lead based paint. This paint can cause many problems from exposure. It is said that Van Gogh may have gotten into a habit of eating paint chips. That being said lead poisoning could have been a possible cause for his fatigue, headaches, irritability, and abdominal pain. (Arnold 2004)
“Epilepsy is a central nervous system disorder (neurological disorder) in which the nerve cell activity in your brain is disturbed, causing a seizure during which you experience abnormal behavior, symptoms and sensations, including loss of consciousness.” (Clinic, 2009) Van Gogh had many hallucinations, random bouts of episodes, and interictal times of normal behavior, which can all point to epilepsy. (Arnold, 2004) “Bipolar disorder — sometimes called manic-depressive disorder — is associated with mood swings that range from the lows of depression to the highs of mania. When you become depressed, you may feel sad or hopeless and lose interest or pleasure in most activities. When your mood shifts in the other direction, you may feel euphoric and full of energy. Mood shifts may occur only a few times a year, or as often as several times a day. In some cases, bipolar disorder causes symptoms of depression and mania at the same time.” (Clinic, 2009) Vincent Van Gogh was a very troubled and ill man. HE had a very bipolar like personality, cyclic pattern of affective episodes, random periods of productivity, irritability, hallucinations of both visual and auditory, alcohol misuse, bad sleep patterns, lucidity between affective attacks, and many other problems. All of these issues point to Bipolar Disorder. This disorder however, could have been caused by misuse of absinthe or because of his Epilepsy. His family though, had a history of bipolar disease, which could also be the cause. (Jamison et al. 1992)
Van Gogh lived a very short and drama filled life along with many heartbreaks and diseases and physical problems. One problem he had was that he only sold 1 painting during his lifetime. He sold “The Red Vineyard” for 400 francs only 4 months before he died. He painted for 9 years of his life and produced many great and popular paintings that we see today. His paintings will continue to awe and inspire others for the rest of history, even if he will never know how influential he really was. (Butterfield, 2011) “Following his first exhibitions in the late 1880s, Van Gogh's fame grew steadily among colleagues, art critics, dealers and collectors. After his death, memorial exhibitions were mounted in Brussels, Paris, The Hague and Antwerp. In the early 20th century, there were retrospectives in Paris (1901 and 1905), and Amsterdam (1905), and important group exhibitions in Cologne (1912), New York (1913) and Berlin (1914). These had a noticeable impact on later generations of artists.[186] By the mid 20th century Van Gogh was seen as one of the greatest and most recognizable painters in history. In 2007 a group of Dutch historians compiled the "Canon of Dutch History" to be taught in schools and included Van Gogh as one of the fifty topics of the canon, alongside other national icons such as Rembrandt and De Stijl. Together with those of Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings ever sold, based on data from auctions and private sales. Those sold for over US$100 million (today's equivalent) include Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Portrait of Joseph Roulin and Irises. A Wheatfield with Cypresses was sold in 1993 for US$57 million, a spectacularly high price at the time, while his Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear was sold privately in the late 1990s for an estimated US$80/$90 million.
A newly discovered painting by the Dutch artist was publicly unveiled on September 10, 2013, after it was retrieved from the attic of a Norwegian collector who misjudged the work as a fraud following its purchase in 1908. Sunset at Montmajour is a large oil landscape painting and, as of September 24, 2013, is displayed at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum.[193] Along with a problem of being ill and not selling many paintings, he had a problem with women. It all started with his love for a woman named Eugenia. She was an upper class woman with no interest in Van Gogh. She was in fact, insulted by his advances and harshly denied him. Because Van Gogh had a problem with reading the intent and emotions of others, he never realized that she had never made any indication that she had any interest in him. Second of all he fell in love with his first cousin Kee Vos. Even back then it was frowned upon intermarrying in the family. She, like Eugenia had no interest in having a relationship with him. He visited her family and asked to speak with her but they continually said no she was not home. He in his sick mind thought they were just keeping him from her so he stuck his hand in a lamp flame and told them he would not take it out until he was able to see her. Kee’s father took Vincent to a saloon to get drunk and reduce his crazy behavior. Vincent returned home and began a relationship with a prostitute named Sien. This was not a healthy relationship as the prostitute had many internal sufferings as well. Through and through Vincent had no such luck with women, and furthered his depression. (Butterfield, 2009)
Van Gogh’s paintings were greatly influenced by Impressionistic art. Impressionist art is a style in which the artist captures the image of an object as someone would see it if they just caught a glimpse of it. They paint the pictures with a lot of color and most of their pictures are outdoor scenes. Their pictures are very bright and vibrant. The artists like to capture their images without detail but with bold colors. He, however did always keep his unique style influenced throughout all of his paintings. “Throughout the two years Van Gogh would incorporate some of the techniques of the Impressionists, but he never let their powerful influence overwhelm him.” Van Gogh was in Paris when he began to become interested in Japanese art. He began to acquire a large collection of Japanese woodblock prints and “his paintings during this time would reflect both the vibrant use of color favored by the Impressionists, and distinct Japanese overtones. Van Gogh's two years in Paris had a tremendous impact on his ongoing evolution as an artist.” (The Impressionist Era, 2001) Nonetheless, it set the stage for the later development of a new style of painting called Expressionism, although Van Gogh is considered a post-impressionist. Expressionism is characterized by the use of symbols, bright colors and a style that expresses the artist's inner feelings about his subject. As Vincent Van Gogh said, "What lives in art and is eternally living, is first of all the painter, and then the painting." (Butterfield, 2009) Van Gogh used expressionism in almost all of his paintings. He was a very emotional man and liked to do many self portraits portraying his mood or his current state of mind. Overall Van Gogh lead a tragic and very short life. Van Gogh not only suffered many illnesses and mental problems but he also had almost no success in the relationship world. He had almost no success in the business world either, only selling 1 painting in his lifetime. Today Van Gogh’s paintings not only are some of the most popular in the world, but also are some of the most expensive paintings known this day and age. Van Gogh was successful, just not until after he died.