Vincent made attempts at several careers, but in general he was poorly cut out to be a salesman, someone’s lackey or even a good student. The term spoilt could easily come to mind.
Irving Stone wrote in his story, “Lust for Life”, very compellingly of Vincent’s year in missions work. Since I have reason to doubt Mr. Stone had much insight into conditions Vincent faced, I will rely upon his usage of Vincent’s letters.
Vincent was posted to a destitute coal mining district where the deplorable conditions awakened within him the compelling need to do something to help the spiritual and then the physical conditions of these people. It is very hard for us as products of an affluent western culture to understand what Vincent faced without having experiences similar in areas of oppressive poverty – such as what communism did to the Eastern Bloc or third world nations.
His recognition of the need to identify with the people, to reach the people, so horrified his supervisors – he was stripped of his ministry. And in his poverty he began to sketch and draw and to define the movement he was to become a part of.
The Letch
Van Gogh, abandoned by the faith he had served, in turn abandoned his service to God. Here he began to make really poor choices in life which were to bring the wrath of the civilized art community upon him. Mind you, not a one of them was not a letch, but his open un-churched relationships were more than the Victorian age could tolerate. Although we may define friendship as a commitment to one another, in their era friendship was an approval of each other’s behavior. One by one, Vincent managed to transgress even what his family was willing to put up with.
He alienated a part of his family over a desire to marry his widowed cousin. He turned the rest of his family from him by living with a prostitute in Den Hague. When he could resolve the issues with his parents, by leaving the prostitute, he turned them completely against him when he wanted to marry the older neighbor woman. Her attempted suicide was not a real hit with the village, though they realized she tried to kill herself due to rejection from her mother and sisters over the penniless Vincent. And finally, he ran for his life when he was credited with the pregnancy of a 17 year old girl. Though innocent of this one, he had so scandalized his name, even in peasant society, no one could think the best of him.
Of course his best known fling was with a 16 year old prostitute in
The Artist
Certainly, Vincent was a complete failure in artistic terms. His brother, Theo, sold one painting for him for 400 francs, and to an artist’s wife at that! Vincent did sell copies of famous drawing to picture sellers such as his uncle, at least until his behavior became so unacceptable that the uncle would no longer buy from him!
Vincent first worked in pencil, ink, and charcoal making decent studies of workers and faces. His letters to Theo were filled with line drawings of what was of interest to him at that time. He moved on to watercolor, a difficult medium, however his watercolors were quite nice as shown in this one from June 1882! And like Homer, also an accomplished watercolorist, was only known for his oil paintings.
He felt his rejection as an artist as a rejection of his being a man or a contributing member of the human race…
His Method
Much has been written in the past concerning how Vincent went about a painting, even to the point of one dissertation concerning his nearsightedness as an explanation of his imagery. Not to mention his creative nature.
However, even in his letters, Vincent refers to hauling his glass about with him. Seemingly, no one has picked up on this reference to what was probably a Camera Lucida. Certainly, we know these have been in use since the days of Leonardo de Vinci by artists. And some evidence would support his use of one to at least make tracings if not to paint directly from the image projected upon a canvas or paper.
I know, purist will scoff, but I would recommend reading through his letters before disagreeing.
I was delighted to find on the internet a site with exactly the same opinion and did the above tracing to prove their point! You may read an extract of their article at: http://www.bettyanddupree.com/?p=7
The Madness
Probably what has always drawn me to Vincent is the decline in his mental abilities. Madness is generally not of interest to me, but what took someone from seeing man through God’s eyes to that of a madman? His letters give us a hint, without having to speculate too much.
First, Theo wrote Vincent and felt that he should not be allowed near tubes of paint any longer as he was apparently eating the stuff. Since we know from Vincent’s writings he used Malachite green and ground his own Malachite, that he used and ground the Cadmium series of colors as well as the Leads, we have a very strong case for heavy metals poisoning. Do not blame him out of hand, honey was often used as a binder in oils and if you are starving ….. well, he certainly was not the last to do something like this.
Having had a friend similarly poisoned a few years ago, I can vouch for the mental instability this brings about and the unexplainable violence! Today this can be treated to some extent, however in Vincent’s day – you were institutionalized until death.
Secondly, there was no appearance of his irrationality until he began oil painting. As he did charcoals, pencil and pen, even watercolors, he seems to have been a down on his luck artist. Nothing seems to show the problems which appeared years later.
Oil paints are cleaned off of brushes with mineral oils or turpentine (more common). Either will cause great illness across time as they are absorbed through the skin and play havoc with the liver, kidneys and mind. Theo’s death shortly after Vincent’s of kidney failure would have been a good indicator they were using turpentine as a cleaner. And, as there is some evidence Theo painted as well … it is not much of a guess Vincent would have had the same problems as his brother, had he lived longer.
Thirdly, much is made of Vincent’s drinking of Absinthe, a powerful narcotic liquor. Certainly, it is addictive. Certainly, it will calm you down. Certainly, you will have experiences unshared by those around you! (I know from experience!)
Fourth, many have second guessed he suffered from epilepsy. This was the diagnosis of the hospital to which he was last committed, however, they would have had no basis for this diagnosis in modern terms. Given three stronger possibilities for his behavior, this one is just guess work.
Finally, syphilis is always a possibility. Theo was institutionalized for this just prior to his own death. Given the, er, company, Vincent kept it would not be hard to see him with most any disease! And yes the problems Vincent exhibited certainly could have been caused by this or another disease, however, even Vincent recognized his mental stability was cyclical.
He was able to estimate to within days when it would reoccur. So he would rest and not paint until the problems passed and then paint again. 90 days later he would repeat the cycle.
Hence, the stronger argument for his mental problems being environmental. Paint? Cleaner? Absinthe? A combination of the three? Here is where we should place the blame for his behavior.
The Death
Vincent attempted to kill himself with a gunshot to the chest. As with most gunshot victims of the 19th century he lived long enough to realize that you would not die immediately. No, you need to die of blood poisoning, other infection or blood loss. He lingered long enough to speak with his brother for a last time – six days later.
His death was perhaps unavoidable given his deteriorated mental condition.
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