Once upon a time…
So, this post is about a legendary man, an artist, and a
true intellect, troubled for sanity, whose life overflowed with a torrent of
ideas and images, and ended in one of the most tragic suicides ever. He was a
man who died 120 years ago, when Sigmund Freud
was 34, Alfred Adler 20, Karl Jung 15 and the understanding of the human mind
barely in its infancy. However, his legacy still continues and manages to
amuse and captivate the hearts and wits of millions of intellects, as well as
mere final year psychology students, like myself.
This study is about THE artist of ‘Starry night’, widely
regarded as one of history's greatest painters and an important contributor to
the foundations of modern art- Vincent
Willem van Gogh. Van gogh produced more than 2,000 artworks, consisting of
around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches. Although he was little known during
his lifetime, his work was a strong influence on the modernist art that
followed. Today many of his pieces—including his numerous self-portraits,
landscapes, portraits and sunflowers—are among the world's most recognizable
and expensive works of art.
A glimpse into his early years…
Born to Anna
Cornelia Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh, on the 30 March 1853, Van gogh was
the eldest among six siblings. He died early at the age of 37 by a
self-inflicting gunshot wound in 1890.Van
gogh’s father was a (pastor) minister of the Dutch Reformed Church and his
mother was an artist. Thus, Art and religion were the two occupations to which
the Van Gogh’s family gravitated.
As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and thoughtful.
After attending the village school in his childhood, when he was sent to the
elementary boarding school about 20 miles (32 km) away, he was severely
distressed to leave his family and home, and recalled this even in adulthood.
Van Gogh abruptly left his middle school too in 1868, where he learnt the
basics of painting, and returned home. A later comment on his early years was, "My
youth was gloomy and cold and sterile".
Van gogh was increasingly isolated and fervent in his
adolescence about religion. He was later sent to work in a dealership by his
father and uncle, however that too turned out to be a failure and his
employment there was soon terminated. He then took a position as a supply
teacher in a small boarding school; nevertheless, the arrangement did not work
out.
Failed Love…
In 1869, when Van gogh fell in love for the first time with
Eugénie Loyer, she rejected him when he finally confessed his feeling to her.
She was already secretly engaged to a former lodger. Van gogh was gravely hurt
and disturbed by this event.
A few years later, after subsequent failures in his career,
he spent time with his recently widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker. He proposed
marriage, but she refused with the words, "No, never, never".
Kee refused to see him again and her parents wrote, "Your persistence
is disgusting". Eventually, in
desperation, he held his left hand in the flame of a lamp, with the words "Let
me see her for as long as I can keep my hand in the flame."
In 1882, Van gogh had a new domestic arrangement with an
alcoholic prostitute, "Sien" Hoornik. Van Gogh's father, on the
discovery of the relationship, put considerable pressure on his son to abandon
Sien and her children. Vincent was at first defiant, however, he left them
eventually. Sien drowned at her own hand in the river Scheldt. That December,
driven by loneliness, he went to stay with his parents.
In autumn 1884, Margot Begemann, a neighbor's daughter ten
years older than him, often accompanied Van gogh on his painting forays. She
fell in love, and he reciprocated—though less enthusiastically. They decided to
marry, but both families opposed the idea.
On 26 March 1885, Van gogh’s father died of a heart attack
and he grieved deeply at the loss.
Religious
Breakthrough…
When Van gogh left to become a Methodist minister's
assistant in 1876, to follow his wish to "preach the gospel everywhere”,
he was not happy in this new position and spent most of his time doodling or
translating passages from the Bible. His religious emotion grew increasingly
until he felt he had found his true vocation. In an effort to support him to become a pastor, his family sent him to Amsterdam to study theology.
There, he failed the entrance examination. He later undertook, but failed, a
three-month course at a Protestant missionary school.
Taking Christianity
to what he saw as its logical conclusion, Van Gogh opted to live like a
missionary—sharing their hardships, to the extent of sleeping on straw in a
small hut at the back of the baker's house where he was billeted. The
baker's wife reported hearing Van Gogh sobbing all night in the hut. The
following year, he returned home where he became a cause of increasing concern
and frustration for his parents. There was particular conflict between Vincent
and his father; his father made inquiries about having his son admitted to a
lunatic asylum.
Discovering Creativity…
Van Gogh wished to become an artist while in God's service
as he stated,
"...to try to understand the real significance of what
the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that
leads to God; one man wrote or told it in a book; another in a picture."
In his final years of artistic breakthrough, hoping to have
a gallery to display his work, his major project at this time was a series of
paintings which included: Van Gogh's Chair (1888), Bedroom in Arles
(1888), The Night Café (1888), The Café Terrace on the Place du
Forum, Arles, at Night (September 1888), Starry Night Over the Rhone
(1888), Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (1888), all intended to
form the decoration for the Yellow House. (Home)
Van Gogh wrote about
The Night Café: "I have tried to express the idea that the café
is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime.”
Van gogh’s paintings are a remarkable reflection of his
imagination, inner conflicts, thinking and lifestyle. The pain and grief of the
artist are expressed in his art.
Self-Mutilation or Rebel…?
After repeated requests, when the then famous artist Gauguin
finally arrived to live with Van gogh, the two painted together. However, their
relationship deteriorated rapidly and they quarreled fiercely about art; Van
Gogh felt an increasing fear that Gauguin was going to desert him. In 1888,
frustrated and ill, Van Gogh confronted Gauguin with a razor blade and in panic
left their quarters and fled to a local brothel. While there, he cut off the
lower part of his left ear lobe which he wrapped the severed tissue in
newspaper and handed it to a prostitute asking her to "keep this object
carefully." Gauguin left Arles and never saw Van Gogh again.
Days later, Van Gogh was hospitalized and left in a critical
state for several days.
Suffering health…
Bread, coffee and tobacco were Van gogh’s staple intake. His
teeth became loose and caused him much pain. Van Gogh had also begun to drink
absinthe heavily in his late twenties. Besides, he was also treated for
syphilis. Van gogh also suffered from epileptic attacks frequently. Due to excessive intake of absinthe and the
subsequent medication, Van gogh also suffered from a medical condition that led
to faulty vision. He saw yellow colour in everything and thus, all his
paintings are overflowing with yellow. It is believed to be his favourite
colour.
There has been much debate over the years as to the source
of Van Gogh's illness and its effect on his work. Over 150 psychiatrists have
attempted to label its root, and some 30 different diagnoses have been
suggested. Diagnoses that have been put forward include schizophrenia, bipolar
disorder, syphilis, poisoning from swallowed paints, temporal lobe epilepsy and
acute intermittent porphyria. Any of these could have been the culprit and been
aggravated by malnutrition, overwork, insomnia and a fondness for alcohol,
especially absinthe.
The End…
Recently acquitted from the hospital, Van Gogh suffered a
severe setback in December 1889. Although he had been troubled by mental
illness throughout his life, the episodes became more pronounced during his
last few years. In some of these periods he was either unwilling or unable to
paint, a factor, which added to the mounting frustrations of an artist at the
peak of his ability. His depression gradually deepened. On 27 July 1890, aged
37, he walked into a field and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He
survived the impact and managed to walk back to the Inn. He died there two days
later. Theo, the brother he was closest to, rushed to be at his side. Theo
reported his brother's last words as "La tristesse durera toujours" (the
sadness will last forever).
Van Gogh- Explained…
If one had to draw parallels between Van Gogh’s early life
with that of Alfred Adler’s, he would be amazed to find the striking
similarities. Like Van gogh, Adler came from a family of artists (music) too.
Adler had brothers and sisters who were very good at playing the piano and
singing, but Adler couldn’t cope with them because of his health problems. He
suffered from rivalry with his brother and always felt that his brother is
always ahead of him, which we observe was also the case with Van gogh. Van gogh
also suffered from many health issues and found it difficult to overcome his
psychological weaknesses too. Adler and Van gogh both indulged themselves into
books and read voraciously, especially about religion. Adler’s divergent
thinking led to his break up with Freud which is similar to Van gogh’s break up
with Gauguin leading to the epilepsy of his left ear lobe. Both of them felt
the urge to serve the society, one through medicine and the other through
painting.
Love, Life and Work...
According to Adler, the three basic problems in life are Love, Life
(communal or society), and work. People must build as many relationships
as possible to have a fulfilled life. One environmental problem that
leads to neurosis is
rejection. Van Gogh experiences much
rejection (almost in every step of his life) from family, the church and the
women he loved. This destructive environment left him feeling inferior
and he threw himself into becoming an artist to prove that he is superior over
others. (Over Compensation)
Inferiority Complex and compensation…
Vincent's experience with inadequate parenting left him feeling
inferior. Vincent was not able to cope with life's stressors in a healthy
way. As Adler explains, one feels the need for aggression and strives hard
to achieve superiority. Van gogh first attempted to obtain perfection by becoming
an evangelist. This too was an attempt to keep his parents (father mainly)
happy and prove his worth to them. He was rejected by the church, which
lead to a severe depression. Also, he was rejected by the ones he loved,
over and over again, which added to the devastation in his life. Vincent
in turn abandoned his religious beliefs that disturbed his parents
greatly. As mentioned earlier, the relationship between he and his
parents was difficult at best, and violent with his father.
Neglect…
Vincent was also the first born and
had to accommodate for his brothers and sisters and was no longer the center of
attention in childhood. Due to the lack of ability to establish long
lasting relationships with family (other than his brother Theo, of whom he was
emotionally and financially dependant), friends and intimate
relationships, he threw himself into becoming an artist
to prove his
superiority. He has already been dismissed by the church and was
fired by the firm where he worked as an art dealer. He threw himself into
becoming an artist, setting high goals of superiority over others. Theo
believed in his genius and supported him financially. However, even
when Vincent lived with Theo, Theo had a hard time handling his outbursts
and egotistic ways. It is believed that Van gogh was secretly even
envious of his brother for having a settled life, a healthy marriage and a
child. He did not like to take financial support from his younger brother and
always felt indebted to him. He also felt insecure that Theo would neglect him
after his marriage. However, Vincent loved him dearly.
Unrealistic goals and style of life…
This led him to set unrealistic goals of perfection and attempts to
avoid failure at all costs. His personal goal of superiority, lead to his
destructive lifestyle that included abuse of absinthe, prostitutes, and
psychotic behavior. He also tried living like missionaries do and adopted
their lifestyle in an effort to prove himself, but he wasn’t happy with it at
all.
Creative Power of an individual…
Adler pointed out that we respond actively and creatively to
the various influences affecting our lives. Each individual has a center where
he or she is free. This center, for Van gogh, was his love for art. It stressed
on Van gogh’s positive, creative and healthy capacities. Inspite of his mental
illness, he culminated goals and set means for achieving them that made him
organize his life into a consistent life style.
Adler once stated that “An individual is both- the
picture and the artist. He is the artist of his own personality”. Van gogh
is a classic example to understand this expression.
Evaluation…
It was not until the end of his
life, after a significant stay in an asylum, that his artwork began to be
appreciated. It was shortly after that he took his own life.
If Vincent Van Gogh had been able to gain insight into his childhood
experiences and the times of rejection during his life, he may have had a
chance to work out some of his unrealistic expectations and mistaken
beliefs. He could have re-established realistic goals and identified
strengths and potential. His behavior was guided by his attitude about
his experiences and the meaning he gave to those experiences.
Troubled with mental illness, financial ruin, and romantic heartbreak,
Vincent's troubled life is reflected in the honesty and emotion that his
paintings are known for. The world surely benefited from his artwork which was
an over compensation and need to prove his superiority over others, as Adler
would describe it. Even after hundreds of years, Van gogh is considered a
legendary artist and the legacy still continues…
Personally, I wrote my first blog on him- It was a first love thing!
