Paris Stay

“Vincent was a great, a very great painter. The strongest of them all! His house was full of paint and I was the one who sold it to him! […] We both enjoyed redesigning the world. He didn’t always pay on time and I didn’t run after him. And then he sometimes complained because he was so demanding, the guy! But it was a fair game. Such heart, Vincent, and such talent! A giant like we rarely see.“

Père Tanguy (1825-1894), paint dealer

“In the spring of 1887, Vincent and I had a […] let’s say romantic relationship. It didn’t last very long. He was also […] Vincent! Friendly, generous, but he always messes things up. He often came to the Tambourin, the café I had founded. He exhibited dozens of paintings there, especially flower still lifes. And later those of his friends who were just as passionate as he was: Toulouse-Lautrec, Bernard […] the whole gang.“

Agostina Segatori (1841-1910), café owner, mistress

“Vincent […] how should one describe Vincent? The loyal and demanding friend who knew little about social conventions, but all the more about painting. He was a bon vivant who liked to party with Toulouse-Lautrec and little Bernard. He had divided the Impressionists into two categories: the small boulevard and the large boulevard. But he didn’t fit into either category.“

Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927), friend and painter

“My friend Vincent had drinks, friends and girls for a franc. What a laugh we had! They say he’s serious, and that’s true, but only when he was working or shouting at someone. When he was painting, he was inaccessible. I’ve never seen such strength of concentration. But apart from that […] A damn good party animal! A good pedigree, tremendous culture and so much humor. We cried, we laughed. He was my friend.“

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), friend and painter

“I was 17 when Vincent cured me of my arrogance as a naive, sensitive teenager. With his kicks and well-placed roughness, he knew how to unsettle the paladin intoxicated by his poetry who had taken control of my personality. He taught me to see what I saw, to feel what I touched, to suffer from what touched me. I can still hear him shouting at me the hard words that lead to the truth. I buried him under the sun of Auvers, together with his brother. I loved him and I still do.“

Émile Bernard (1868-1941), friend and painter

“Vincent van Gogh was a very dear friend. Boisterous, abrupt, but deep and fair. […] I often worked with him. But I had to keep a little distance because he gesticulated a lot and his brush didn’t just touch his canvases […] When he lost his mind, I visited him in Arles. He was aware of his condition. A great painter and an unrivaled designer.“

Paul Signac (1863-1935), friend and painter

Like his compatriot Rembrandt, whose work he admired, Vincent van Gogh created dozens of self-portraits. They are moments of learning and intense self-observation. In a time without photos, films and cell phones, the portrait was a person’s ambassador and always also an examination of the self.

Van Gogh created most of his self-portraits with the help of a mirror. The left-right mirroring is particularly striking in the self-portraits with the bandaged left ear.

1 | Zundert, 1853 – 1869

Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in the village of Zundert in the Brabant region of South Holland. He attended various schools and boarding schools, but did not graduate.

2 | The Hague, 1869 – 1873

At the age of 16, he began an apprenticeship at the art dealership Goupil & Cie, The Hague branch,
which his uncle ‘Cent’ had co-founded.

3 | London, 1873 – 1875

Vincent is transferred to the branch in London. He reads many religious texts and visits numerous museums.

4 | Paris, 1875 – 1876

Goupil & Cie calls Vincent to the parent company in Paris. However, Vincent prefers reading the Bible to working. He resigns on April 1, 1876.

5 | Ramsgate and Isleworth, 1876

Following his conviction, Vincent worked as a temporary teacher and assistant preacher in England.
He was convinced that he wanted to dedicate his life to missionary work.

6 | Dordrecht, 1877

At Christmas 1876, Vincent comes home so emaciated that his worried mother won’t let him return to England. Uncle ‘Cent’ organizes a job for him with a bookseller in Dordrecht. Vincent’s religious zeal alienates the family more and more.

7 | Brussels, 1878

Vincent has found his calling as a missionary. However, he does not pass the entrance exam for the evangelist school in Brussels.

8 | Borinage, Belgian coalfield, 1878 – 1879

Even without any training, Vincent travels to the poorest – the coal workers in Belgium. But he is a bad missionary and for the first time seriously considers serving God as a painter.

9 | Brussels, 1880

In October, Vincent travels to Brussels again. This time to the art academy. Encouraged by his brother Theo, he now wanted to become a painter for good. Anton Mauve (1838-1888) became his first teacher, Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) a great role model for the young painter.

10 | Etten, 1881

Vincent lives with his parents. His painting develops through practice and conversations with his brother Theo and Anthon van Rappard.

11 | The Hague, 1882 – 1883

Vincent moves to The Hague because of disputes with his parents. There he receives his first
commission for 20 city views from an uncle, art dealer Cornelis Marinus van Gogh.

12 | Drenthe, 1883

A two-month trip to the peat landscapes around Drenthe, which are very popular with painters.

The parents move to Nuenen.

13 | Nuenen, 1883 – 1886

Vincent sets up a small studio in the washhouse of his father’s parish. A large part of his early work was created during this time. His father died in March 1885 and his mother moved to Breda in
May 1886.

Van Gogh’s early work consists of around 250 paintings.

14 | Paris, 1886 – 1888

In March 1886, at the age of 33, Vincent van Gogh arrives in Paris!

In terms of painting, it was a time of new beginnings, comparison and experimentation. He became part of the artistic community, lived with his brother Theo and studied together with Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), Paul Signac (1863-1935) and Émile Bernard (1868-1941) in one of the leading Parisian studios under Fernand Cormon (1845-1924).

During the Paris years, he created more than 200 paintings.

15 | Arles, 1888 – 1889

In February 1888, Vincent is drawn to the south. The warmth, the light and the colors made a deep impression on him. He wanted to found an artists’ colony in Arles, his ‘Studio of the South’. But his lifelong dream failed. As a result, he became a social outcast. The citizens of Arles demand the internment of the ‘fou roux’, the crazy redhead.

Van Gogh created more than 300 works in Arles.

16 | Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 1889 – 1890

At his own request, Vincent van Gogh went to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum for the mentally ill near Saint-Rémy on May 8. The doctors diagnose epilepsy. He is only allowed to paint when he is healthy and under supervision. Despite the seizures, he exhibited several paintings at the ‘Salon des Indépendants’ in Paris and gained artistic recognition.

Van Gogh created almost 200 works in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, including ‘The Starry Night’.

17 | Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890

Brother Theo brings Vincent back to Paris.
Vincent lives in Auvers-sur-Oise, where he is cared for by Dr. Gachet. Vincent recovers
mentally and physically. The 70 days in Auvers are full of creative energy and confidence. Why Vincent van Gogh committed suicide here on July 27, 1890 remains a mystery to this day. He succumbs to his injuries on July 29.

In the 70 days that Van Gogh spent in Auvers-sur-Oise, he created more than 70 works.

In Paris, Vincent lived with his brother Theo. Both quickly became recognized figures in the day and night life of the artists’ and entertainment district of Montmartre. His work as a painter shaped the relationships Vincent made in the art world: he sought out models, exchanged paintings, collaborated with other painters and helped organize exhibitions.

As an art dealer, his brother Theo was in a position to sell avant-garde works at good
conditions. This made his friendship with Vincent particularly interesting for progressive painters such as Paul Gauguin. Sincere friendships developed with Paul Signac, Émile Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the paint dealer Père Tanguy.

Vincent was always on the move. As a talker, drinker or painter, he explored the smallest corners of Paris to find his motifs. After two years of an intense and turbulent life, he moved to Provence.

The juxtapositions shown here demonstrate Vincent van Gogh’s confrontation with the styles of his time. He understood and mastered all styles, but felt he belonged nowhere and remained a seeker – searching for his own way of expression.

Here, Van Gogh practiced Impressionism on the same subject as Claude Monet. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Vincent van Gogh did not see Impressionism as the perfection of painting.

Pointillism offers the viewer’s eye mere dots, the message of which also depends on the distance and detail of the picture. In Paris, Vincent van Gogh also tried his hand at this style, which ultimately seemed unsuitable for capturing the beauty of nature.

Symbolism always strives for deeper expressiveness. This inspired Van Gogh, but he was never able to agree on a common conception of art with the representatives of the style, above all Paul Gauguin.

Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) was one of the leading painters of realism and a great role model for Vincent van Gogh. The two shared a fascination for the life of poor peasants in the countryside. Vincent copied and quoted Millet’s paintings again and again. Vincent did not usually paint religious motifs according to his own ideas, but rather from Millet’s models.