After Vincent van Gogh died, his work got a new lease on life. During his lifetime, Vincent had sent paintings and drawings to his brother Theo in the hope that Theo would be able to sell them. The works would then serve to pay Theo back for all the help he had given Vincent in providing him with a monthly …
In order to practise drawing and painting from live models, Vincent went to study under Fernand Cormon (1845–1924), a French painter who had made a name for himself in the salons of Paris. Before leaving Antwerp, Vincent had made plans to go to Cormon’s studio to improve his knowledge and skill in figure drawing. In early March 1886, just after …
n early November 1880, Vincent registered for a course in drawing from antiquity at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles. Both the artist Willem Roelofs and the art dealer Tobias Schmidt had advised him to enroll there. Vincent had little interest in doing so, but he wrote to his brother Theo: “I don’t, however, dismiss the idea of L’Ecole …
From mid-August 1878, Vincent took lessons at the Flemish school for evangelists on Sint-Kathalijneplein. That July, he had taken a trip to Brussels with his father and the Rev Slade-Jones to look into his possibilities of studying in order to become a preacher. Vincent wrote to his brother Theo: “We saw the Flemish training college, it has a 3-year course …
Vincent greatly desired to gain more experience drawing from nude models. He had drawn a large number of people in their work attire in Etten but was convinced that more practice with nudes would improve his knowledge of anatomy and benefit his work. He had trouble finding women or men willing to model for him, however, and studying at the …
The classicist Maurits Benjamin Mendes da Costa (1851–1938) gave Vincent van Gogh daily lessons in Latin and Greek. Vincent had to immerse himself in the classical languages to attain the proficiency required for the theology course on which he hoped to enrol. He had difficulty mastering the material but Mendes told him he was on track in his preparation for …
In 1864, when Vincent was eleven years old, his parents sent him to Jan Provily’s boarding school in Zevenbergen. He had previously gone to the village school in Zundert and received lessons at home from his governess Anna Birnie and his father. A small group of pupils from well-to-do Dutch Reformed families in the area went to school in the …
Vincent came to Tilburg in September 1866 to study at the King William II secondary school. It was housed in an impressive building that was originally intended as a palace for King William II (1792–1849) but never used as such, since the king died before it was finished. The building was therefore given to the city of Tilburg in 1864 …
Vincent attended Zundert’s village school, which was close to the family home. Since 1861 is the only year for which the student register has been preserved, it is the only year in which we can say for certain that Vincent was enrolled. The school must have been a lively place: all the pupils sat together in one classroom, and there …
Vincent arrived in Amsterdam in May 1877, intending to prepare for technology studies at the university. He had several contacts in the city and three of them were family: his uncle Johannes Paulus Stricker was a minister there, his uncle Cor van Gogh dealt in books and art, and his uncle Jan van Gogh was the director of the city’s …