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"I could have told you, Vincent

This world was never meant for one

As beautiful as you ..."

[ Don McLean - Starry starry night]

This is a tribute to the life and tormented genius of Vincent van Gogh who would have been astonished to know that he had inspired a hit song, many decades after his tragic death.

Vincent was born on March 30 1853 exactly one year after his mother had given birth to a stillborn son who also had been given the name Vincent. There were several other children in the family of the Dutch Reformed minister but the only one who mattered to Vincent was his brother Theo, four years younger. Theo was the brother who became Vincent's emotional and material support and who loved him unconditionally even through the later melancholy years.

After leaving school at the age of sixteen Vincent did a number of jobs from 1870 to 1880 beginning with working for an art dealer, Goupil and co. in The Hague. This firm transferred him to London in 1873. Rejected by a girl with whom he had fallen in love Vincent became depressed; he was transferred back to The Hague where it was thought that he might regain his spirits. Instead, Vincent became engrossed in religion and was dismissed by Goupil in 1876. He returned to England and became a teaching assistant for a brief time before going to Amsterdam in 1877. His wish was to study theology but he failed to apply himself to studies and instead became a preacher in a poor mining region of Belgium. At this time he produced a few charcoal sketches.

In 1880 Vincent moved to Brussels and his brother Theo then living in Paris, undertook to finance his efforts to become an artist; this financial assistance was given ungrudgingly for the rest of Vincent's life. He began to study drawing and techniques after moving to The Hague where he became involved with Sien; she was a foul-mouthed prostitute who acted as his model for a time and who transmitted gonorrhea to him.

Vincent returned home to Nuenen in 1884 guilt-ridden at having abandoned Sien but determined to paint. He did ten paintings including The Potato Eaters and The Weavers, both dark and heavy in texture, in great contrast to later work. The following year, Vincent's father died suddenly and eight months after that event Vincent left Holland and never returned to that country.

He enrolled in art classes in Antwerp and became aware of color for the first time - he who would become the most intense colorist of his time. Antwerp was an exciting city

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