Love, Van Gogh: The Story Of A Suicide

Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most renowned painters in the world. His work, like that of painters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Salvador Dalí, is known by thousands of people. The starry night and its sunflowers are reprinted on so many objects that they have become commonplace. We can see his works on the internet and also on television.

Its popularity is the reason the movie With Love, Van Gogh was such a blockbuster. Released in 2017, With Love, Van Gogh is an animated feature film about the life and mysterious death of this painter.

Directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, each of the photographs in the film is an individual oil painting. More than 125 painters have worked non-stop for years to make this work of art possible.

The film is mainly based on research done by art historians on the painter’s life. There are many gaps, but also many records about your life. Thus, today we ask: who was Vincent Van Gogh?

Van Gogh, an unconventional painter

Vincent Van Gogh was born in Holland in the year 1853, into a Protestant family. Some might say that, at the time of his birth, Van Gogh was already born along with a bad omen.

Vincent was given the same name as his older brother would have been baptized, a child who was stillborn exactly a year earlier. During his childhood, Van Gogh would have been a reserved and sullen child, being the eldest of six siblings.

After leaving his studies, he started working in an art trading company. While apprenticing at Goupil & Co., one of the most important international merchants of the time, he developed a great love for painting.

Despite enjoying his daily contact with art, working as a merchant was not something for Van Gogh. Within a few years, his lack of interest led to his being fired. After his failure as a merchant, Vincent decided to devote his life to religion.

While traveling through Holland and Belgium preaching the gospel, the future painter developed his artistic vision. During this period, he began to paint. In his first sketches it is possible to observe themes that later became recurrent.

Among his artistic concerns were life in poverty, the countryside, the nature of autumn and winter. Above all, Van Gogh dedicated his painting to the working class, to a life dedicated to work. These themes are consistent with the values ​​of his Protestant background.

He was an incredibly productive painter : throughout his entire career, which was not that long, he painted around 900 pictures. Furthermore, at least 1600 drawings are assigned to it.

Van Gogh belongs to the artistic movement called post-impressionism. In it, the most important thing is to capture movement and light. In Vincent’s paintings we can see loose lines that are full of color.

Letters to Theo

Much of the information we have today about Van Gogh was collected from his correspondence. Vincent has always been an avid writer. Theo, Vincent’s younger brother, was the recipient of most of his letters. More than 600 letters from Van Gogh to Theo are preserved in perfect condition.

Four years younger than Vincent, Theo was a lifelong supporter. From an early age, Theo and Vincent developed a very close friendship. Theo deeply admired his older brother.

For this reason, when he turned 15, he started working at the same company as an art dealer. Unlike his older brother, Theo stayed with the company his entire life and was successful at work. This job brought him economic stability, which even allowed him to finance Vincent’s artistic ideas.

From an early age, Theo began sending remittances to Van Gogh, who was never financially independent. From his letters, it was possible to observe that he made requests to his brother constantly. Theo was both his friend and his patron, so his relationship with Vincent was as professional as it was personal.

Their friendship was very deep, and they both shared an unconditional love.

Goodbye Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh died in suspicious and very unusual circumstances. After taking a walk around the village where he lived, the painter returned home with a shot in the abdomen.

Although he survived a few more days, he died of blood loss and a possible infection. Theo was traveling and managed to arrive to see his brother moments before his passing.

Although the theory that Vincent committed suicide has been defended for decades, recent analyzes suggest otherwise. According to the angle of the shot, it is very unlikely that Van Gogh fired the gun at himself.

At the same time, there were two young men on vacation in the village. They were the very violent Secrétan brothers who liked to kill animals in the field. It is very possible that a shot hit the painter, who did not want to betray the young people later.

After his brother’s death, young Theo fell into a deep depression. It seems that their lives were tied together, deeply intertwined. Despite having a young son and a wife, Theo was unable to recover from the blow. A year after his brother’s death, Theo Van Gogh also passed away.

It was Theo’s wife who devoted herself to the task of compiling the letters between them, years after they were exchanged. She also knew the trade of art dealer. In this way, she managed to group together all of Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings, most of them on display today in a museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.