Van Gogh: Legend of plastic art born on this day in 1853

CAIRO – 30 March 2022: Van Gogh was born in Holland on March 30, 1853.

Gogh is considered one of the most talented people in the world of plastic art and has many works that have turned into artistic treasures with time.

It is commonly known that Van Gogh was able to paint the most beautiful and famous paintings during his time in the mental hospital. The tale goes back to May 1889, when Van Gogh felt declining mental health and examined himself at the Hospital Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, a neurological and psychiatric hospital located in a former convent in the town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in southern France.

Van Gogh was diagnosed with seizures, but researchers at the time suggested a range of alternative diagnoses, including bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and acute intermittent porphyria, a diseased disorder. 

Indeed, Van Gogh stayed in the hospital for a year, during which he painted views of its gardens as well as the surrounding countryside, according to History.

The paintings he painted during his stay in the hospital exceeded 100 and are some of his most famous works such as "The Starry Night" acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1941, and “Irises”, which was bought by an Australian man in 1987 for a then-record sum of $53.9 million. Since 1990, the painting has been owned by the J. Paul Getty Museum that purchased it for an undisclosed amount.

On March 15, 1901, paintings of the late Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh were exhibited at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris. The 71 paintings, whose subjects were captured in bold brushstrokes and expressive colors, caused a sensation throughout the art world.

In 1890, while outside Paris, Van Gogh committed suicide, not knowing that his works would gain fame beyond his dreams. Only one painting sold for $40 million at Christie's in 1987.

Van Gogh was born in Zundert, the Netherlands in 1853. He worked as an art gallery salesman, language teacher, bookseller, and missionary among Belgian miners before settling on his true career as an artist.

During the first few years his interest was confined almost entirely to drawings and watercolors while gaining technical proficiency. In 1886, Van Gogh went to live with his brother Theo in Paris.

There Van Gogh met the most prominent French painters of the Post-Impressionism period, including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, Camille Pissarro, and Georges Seurat.

He was greatly influenced by the theories of these artists and on the advice of Pissarro he adopted the type of color painting for which he was famous. His Portrait of Pere Tanguy (1887) was the first successful work of his new Post-Impressionist style.

In 1888, Van Gogh left Paris and took home in Arles in southeastern France. The next 12 months was his first great period. Working with great speed and intensity, he produced such masterful works as the "Sunflowers Series." He hoped to form a community of like-minded artists in Arles and was joined by Gauguin for two months.

International artist Van Gogh passed away on July 29,1890.