Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890)

Vincent Van Gogh was born in the year 1853 in Holland at Groot Zundert near the Belgian border. He had three sisters and two brothers. One brother was called Theo. When Vincent left school at the age of 15 his uncle found him a job in the Hague office of an art firm where he worked for four years. At 20 he was transferred to London. He was rather rude to customers and he was sacked. He taught for a year and then he worked in a bookshop. He spent a year studying to be a protestant mimister but his behaviour shocked his superiors who dismissed him.

He turned to painting and he taught himself. He earned very little and depended on his brother Theo for money. He lived first in the Hague, then Paris and then he moved to Arles a little village in the south of France. He painted his best pictures here. He loved the bright colours and painted non-stop. He suffered from mental illness and spent some time in an asylum here. He then went to Auvers sur Oise where he shot himself in 1890.

Vincent had red hair a long beard and china blue eyes. He wasn't handsome at all.

Vincent you're gone and there's nothing left to do.

At least your brother Theo helped you through.

Through the years of turmoil and unhappiness.

All you did was painting, you never had time to rest.

Maybe if you had a wife things might have changed in your life.

Now you're gone but your paintings live on.

The Bedroom

The sunflowers are bright.

They fill the picture full of light.

Vincent was in a good mood that day,

For he couldn't have been any other way.

The sunflower was Vincent's favourite flower. He liked to stroll through fields of sunflowers. He painted seven sunflower paintings - four originals and three replicas. Kim Fetherston