How Vincent Van Gogh got his inspiration

“As a suffering creature, I cannot do without something greater than I—something that is my life—the power to create” (Vincent Van Gogh). Vincent Van Gogh was a smart and fast learner in his day. With his education and his will power he wanted to paint the world in his own color. Although his family was not supportive of him, he made friends along the way who helped him become who he is today. Vincent Van Gogh was inspired through education, styles of painting, and from people and places. Besides his peculiar behavior, Van Gogh was a brilliant painter.
To Vincent Van Gogh education was the key component to becoming a successful painter. Vincent Van Gogh was born, lived, and worked in northern Brabant which is located in London (Thomson). As he got older, Van Gogh began to self-teach by using English literature, French works, and journals. While studying, he worked as an art dealer and an English teacher. During his teaching days, Van Gogh wanted to become a writer, so in order for his dream to come true, he studied the writings of Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Zola (Thomson). With all of that knowledge that he acquired through the years, Van Gogh felt that he was ready to write his novel. As time went on, Van Gogh became frustrated with starting a story so he gave up writing. While sitting in a chair in his house, he began to remember the lovely paintings that he used to see when he was an art dealer. Van Gogh wanted to learn more about paint techniques and colors, so he enrolled himself at Hague School in London to study art (Thomson). Therefore, Van Gogh’s journey begins as he leaves London to get more inspiration.
His styles of painting became the key points to Van Gogh’s fame. After Van Gogh graduated from Hague School, he began to practice different styles of painting techniques. He used realism and impressionism. Impressionism is a movement in French painting sometimes called optical realism (“huntfor.com/impressionism”). Impressionism to most is the scientific interest in the actual visual experience and effect of light and movement on appearance of objects (“huntfor.com/impressionism”). Realism, on the other hand, sets a goal not imitating past artistic achievements but the truthful and accurate depiction of the models that nature and contemporary life offer to the artist (“huntfor.com/realism”). With these two types of painting techniques, he began to paint Japanese prints. After a while he began to experiment with colors and wild effects to make strange, yet colorful works of art (Hudson). With these basic ideas, he got a job working for Groupil & Company (Thomson). While there, he became interested in portrait painting, so his boss taught him the secrets in making portraits. After working at Groupil &Company for three years, he began to do self portraits. Van Gogh painted over thirty self portraits between the years 1886 and 1889 (“vangoghgallery.com”). Eventually Van Gogh got bored and decided he wanted to travel and meet new people.
The people and places Van Gogh went helped him get his inspiration for his works. Van Gogh’s family was not supportive of his paintings and ideas of traveling. Therefore, Van Gogh was painfully isolated from his family (Hudson). However, in his desperate time of need, there was one member of his family who inspired and encouraged him in his dreams of becoming a painter. His cousin Anton Mauve was Van Gogh’s best friend and supporter. Anton helped Van Gogh with his traveling ideas (Thomson). Van Gogh decided to go to France and told Anton he would write to him when he settled. When Van Gogh arrived in France, he fell in love with the gardens and parks, and painted portraits of the nature that he saw. Before he knew it he called France home. He bought a home in Paris, where he continued to make paintings of nature and self portraits (“famouspainter.com”). The first time he wrote to Anton, he sent a painting of the nearby park, which he knew his cousin would treasure. A week went by and he received a return letter from Anton which read that he was sick. Van Gogh began to feel hopeless knowing that his cousin was sick. In the back of Van Gogh’s mind, he knew he had to continue to paint because his neighbors were big fans for his works. They bought paintings off of him and shared them with their family. Van Gogh was enjoying his life until he received word that Anton had died from cancer (“famouspaintert.com”). After receiving this letter, Van Gogh went through a depression and eventually went crazy. The neighbors had him admitted to St. Remy institution (“Famouspainter.com”). While in St. Remy, he painted the still life Sunflowers and the Starry night from his room (“Famouspainter.com”). Feeling like a failure Van Gogh shot himself in the chest (“Famouspainter.com”). After his death, his father went to Paris to pick up his son’s body and bring it back to London. When his father arrived he saw the work his son did and fell in love with his work. Feeling horrible for not being there for his son, he took the paintings back to London and demanded that they be put into the museum. Once the museum saw the art they put the work on display. Thanks to his family, Van Gogh became famous and recognized for his work (Hudson).
Vincent Van Gogh was a genius with his work. He will always be remembered as a crazy, yet creative painter in the art world. If he was alive today he could see how wonderful his works are and how people admire him as a person and as a painter. Thus, leading to his success today by finding his inspiration through education, styles of painting, and people and places he meet on the way.