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Vincent van Gogh is a well known figure in the field of painting and is considered as the father of impressionlist movement. He has painted many master pieces but could sell only one during his life time. Born on March 30th 1853 in Hollend , he struggled whole his life to become an famous artist. But lady fame did not favour him with luck. Most of his life he spent in poverty and lived on the money sent by his brother Theo. He used to starve to save money with which he can buy the oils colors for his work.
Lady love too has ditched him twice. He had 2 love failures. He worked for some time with a art dealer and for some time with miners. Here he decided to become a prefessional artist. Since he does no have money to pay to the professional models he painted the miners and peasents as his models.
His ambition to become a master painter made him to join a academy where he learned different techniques of paintings especially of Rubins and Japanese artists. These techniques had a great influence on his later paintings.
By early 1886 Gogh moved to paris which is the major art center at that time. There he got acquiented with famous artists like  Paul Gauguin, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, and Emile Bernard.
Towards the end of 1888 the first signs of Van Gogh’s mental illness began to take hold. He suffered from various types of epilepsy, psychotic attacks, and delusions. One such episode entailed Gogh pursuing Gaugin with a knife and threatened him intensely. Later that day Gogh returned to their house and mutilated his ear, then offered it to a prostitute as a gift. Gogh was temporarily hospitalized and released to find Gaugin swiftly leaving Arles and his dream of an artistic community shattered.

As the year of 1888 came to an end Gogh traveled to Saint Remey where he committed himself to an asylum. Here his paintings became a torrent of activity. Although he could not draw and paint for long periods of time without suffering from an attack, he managed to create ‘Starry Night’ which resides as his most popular work and one of the most influence pieces in history. The swirling lines of the sky are a possible representation of his mental state. This same shaken style is visible in all of his work during his time in the asylum.

Gogh left Saint Remey in 1890 and began contacting his Brother Theo. Van Gogh continued working and created a number of pieces; nearly one painting day. Gogh viewed his life as horribly wasted, personally failed, and impossible. On 27 July 1890 Van Gogh attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest. He survived, but died two days later from the wound.

The story of Vincent Van Gogh’s tragic life filled with mental evils and artistic triumphs lingers, almost becoming that of legend. His work is still astounding millions around the world daily, and though he sold only one painting in his life, his influence on the outcome of art has been amazing and overwhelming. His paintings have reached new records when sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, and his persona has sparked number one hit songs. Vincent Van Gogh has altered mankind forever… and he believed his life was a terrible failure!
He is no doubt a success and lived after his death through his paintings.
One of the most fascinating biographies of van Gogh I read was “Lust for Life” by Irving Stone and his letters to his brother were published under the title “My dear Theo” by Irving Stone again. Read them if u can lay ur hands on these books

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