Vincent Willem Van Gogh was born in Groot Zundert, North Brabant, Holland on March 30, 1853.

Van
Gogh spent his whole childhood in North Brabant, where the whole area was vast flat land covered in corn
fields and sandy heath. From 1860 Van Gogh went to the school in the village of Zundert. Despite doing
well his father took him and his sister Anne away to be taught by a governess. In October 1864 he was then
sent to a boarding school 20 miles away. After completing elementary school in 1866, he moved onto a
middle school in Tilburg. Less than 2 years later he left the school in 1868. In 1869, he got a position at the
art dealers, Goupil and Co. through his uncle, and worked with them until he was dismissed from the
London office in 1873. He worked as a schoolmaster in England in 1876, before training for the ministry at
Amsterdam University in 1877. After he failed to get a post in the Church, he went to live as an
independent missionary among the Borinage miners.

He was largely self-taught as an artist, although he received help from his cousin, Mauve. His first works
were heavily painted and clumsy attempts to represent the life of poor people. Influenced by one of his
artistic heroes, Millet, he moved to Paris in 1886, living with his devoted brother, Theo, who as a dealer
introduced him to artists like Gaugin, Pissarro, Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec. Van Gogh had a good
relationship with his brother Theo. His brother would support him when Van Gogh was in troubled times
and would always help him buy supplies to keep him painting. Theo was an art dealer and always believe
in Van Gogh.

In Paris, he discovered colour as well as the divisionist ideas which helped to create the dashed
brushstrokes of his later work. He moved to Arles, in the south of France, in 1888, hoping to create an
artists' colony there, and was immediately struck by the hot reds and yellows of the Mediterranean, which
he used to represent his own moods.

He was joined by Gaugin in October 1888, Van Gogh also had a good relationship with Gaugin. At one
point they even shared a house together. They got on well and influenced each other and learnt from each
other. A final argument led to the incident in which Van Gogh mutilated his ear.

In 1889, he became a voluntary patient at the St. Remy asylum, where he continued to paint, making copies
of artists he admired. His palette softened to mauves and pinks. He moved to Auvers, to be closer to Theo
in 1890 - his last 70 days spent in a hectic program of painting. He died, having sold only one work.