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Vincent Van Gogh, the son of a minister, was born in The Netherlands on March 30th, 1853. He worked with art dealers in London until 1873. After this job he became a schoolmaster in England and then trained to be a minister, but was not successful in that plight. He volunteered as an independent missionary who worked with the poor, and some of his first works were depictions of that existence.

Van Gogh, for the most part, was a self-taught painter. In 1886 he moved in with his brother Theo, an art dealer, who introduced him to the works of Gauguin, Seurat, Pissarro and Toulouse-Lautrec. During this time he developed his own signature style of painting, which would later be known as Expressionism.
Van Gogh and Gauguin became good friends and began to collaborate their ideas. Shortly after, a disagreement arose between the two, which put an end to their union. During this difficult time, it is written that Van Gogh suffered a mental-breakdown and cut off part of his own ear.

Van Gogh had a history of mental instability which presented itself in his work. He was fond for a time of Mediterranean colors such as bold reds and yellows. The vivid colors and harsh brush strokes were indicative of his emotions at that time. He admitted himself to a mental facility in 1889 where he stayed for a year and continued his painting. Towards the end of his life he moved back to Auvers to be close to his brother, and continued his painting up until the end. Having created over 2,000 works of art, his most notorious works were created during the last couple years of his life. Sadly, his mental instability led to him taking his own life on July 29, 1890 at the young age of thirty-seven.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V an_Gogh
http://www.artchive.com/artchi ve/V/vangogh.html

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