Editing Vincent van Gogh (section)

==Life==
{{See also|Vincent van Gogh chronology}}

===Early years===
{{See also|Van Gogh's family in his art}}
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in [[Zundert|Groot-Zundert]], in the predominantly Catholic province of [[North Brabant]] in the Netherlands.{{sfnp|Pomerans|1997|loc= 1}} He was the oldest surviving child of Theodorus van Gogh (1822–1885), a minister of the [[Dutch Reformed Church]], and his wife, Anna Cornelia Carbentus (1819–1907). Van Gogh was given the name of his grandfather and of a brother stillborn exactly a year before his birth.{{efn|group=note|It has been suggested that being given the same name as his dead elder brother might have had a deep psychological impact on the young artist and that elements of his art, such as the portrayal of pairs of male figures, can be traced back to this.{{sfnp|Lubin|1972|loc=82–84}}}} His grandfather, Vincent (1789–1874), was a prominent art dealer and a theology graduate from the [[University of Leiden]] in 1811. This Vincent had six sons, three of whom became art dealers, and may have been named after his great-uncle, a sculptor (1729–1802).{{sfnp|Erickson|1998|loc= 9}}

Van Gogh's mother came from a prosperous family in [[The Hague]].{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 14–16}} His father was the youngest son of a minister.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 59}} The two met when Anna's younger sister, Cornelia, married Theodorus's older brother Vincent (Cent). Van Gogh's parents married in May 1851 and moved to Zundert.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 18}} His brother Theo was born on 1 May 1857. There was another brother, [[Cor van Gogh|Cor]], and three sisters: Elisabeth, Anna, and [[Wil van Gogh|Willemina]] (known as "Wil"). In later life, Van Gogh remained in touch only with Willemina and Theo.{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 16}} Theodorus's salary as a minister was modest, but the Church also supplied the family with a house, a maid, two cooks, a gardener, a carriage and horse; his mother Anna instilled in the children a duty to uphold the family's high social position.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 31–32}}

Van Gogh was a serious and thoughtful child.{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 13}} He was taught at home by his mother and a governess, and in 1860, was sent to the village school. In 1864, he was placed in a boarding school at [[Zevenbergen]],{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 25–35}} where he felt abandoned, and he campaigned to come home. Instead, in 1866, his parents sent him to the middle school in [[Tilburg]], where he was also deeply unhappy.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc=45–49}} His interest in art began at a young age. He was encouraged to draw as a child by his mother,{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc=36–50}} and his early drawings are expressive,{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 25–35}} but do not approach the intensity of his later work.{{sfnp|Hulsker|1980|loc=8–9}} [[Constant Cornelis Huijsmans]], who had been a successful artist in Paris, taught the students at Tilburg. His philosophy was to reject technique in favour of capturing the impressions of things, particularly nature or common objects. Van Gogh's profound unhappiness seems to have overshadowed the lessons, which had little effect.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 48}} In March 1868, he abruptly returned home. He later wrote that his youth was "austere and cold, and sterile".{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let403/letter.html Letter 403]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh, Nieuw-Amsterdam, on or about Monday, 5 November 1883.}}

In July 1869, Van Gogh's uncle Cent obtained a position for him at the art dealers [[Goupil & Cie]] in The Hague.{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc=20}} After completing his training in 1873, he was transferred to Goupil's London branch on [[Southampton Street, London|Southampton Street]], and took lodgings at [[87 Hackford Road (Van Gogh)|87 Hackford Road]], [[Stockwell]].{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let007/letter.html Letter 007]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh, The Hague, Monday, 5 May 1873.}} This was a happy time for Van Gogh; he was successful at work and, at 20, was earning more than his father. Theo's wife, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, later remarked that this was the best year of Vincent's life. He became infatuated with his landlady's daughter, Eugénie Loyer, but she rejected him after he confessed his feelings; she was secretly engaged to a former lodger. He grew more isolated and religiously fervent. His father and uncle arranged a transfer to Paris in 1875, where he became resentful of issues such as the degree to which the art dealers commodified art, and he was dismissed a year later.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 35–47}}

[[File:Cuesmes JPG001.jpg|thumb|[[Maison Van Gogh|Van Gogh's home in Cuesmes]]; while there he decided to become an artist|alt=Photo of a two-storey brick house on the left partially obscured by trees with a front lawn and with a row of trees on the right]]

In April 1876, he returned to England to take unpaid work as a [[supply teacher]] in a small [[boarding school]] in [[Ramsgate]]. When the proprietor moved to [[Isleworth]] in Middlesex, Van Gogh went with him.{{sfnp|Pomerans|1997|loc= xxvii}}{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let088/letter.html Letter 088]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. Isleworth, Friday, 18 August 1876.}} The arrangement was not successful; he left to become a [[Methodist]] minister's assistant.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc=47–56}} His parents had meanwhile moved to [[Etten-Leur|Etten]];{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 113}} in 1876 he returned home at Christmas for six months and took work at a bookshop in [[Dordrecht]]. He was unhappy in the position, and spent his time doodling or translating passages from the Bible into English, French, and German.{{sfnp|Callow|1990|loc=54}} He immersed himself in Christianity and became increasingly pious and monastic.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 146–147}} According to his flatmate of the time, Paulus van Görlitz, Van Gogh ate frugally, avoiding meat.{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 175}}

To support his religious conviction and his desire to become a pastor, in 1877, the family sent him to live with his uncle [[Johannes Stricker]], a respected theologian, in Amsterdam.{{refn|{{harvp|McQuillan|1989|loc= 26}}; {{harvp|Erickson|1998|loc= 23.}}}} Van Gogh prepared for the [[University of Amsterdam]] [[theology]] entrance examination;{{sfnp|Grant|2014|p= 9}} he failed the exam and left his uncle's house in July 1878. He undertook, but also failed, a three-month course at a [[Protestant]] missionary school in [[Laken]], near Brussels.{{sfnp|Hulsker|1990|loc=60–62, 73}}

In January 1879, he took up a post as a missionary at [[Petit Wasmes|Petit-Wasmes]]{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 101}} in the working class, coal-mining district of [[Borinage]] in Belgium. To show support for his impoverished congregation, he gave up his comfortable lodgings at a bakery to a [[homeless]] person and moved to a small hut, where he slept on straw.{{sfnp|Fell|2015|loc=17}} His humble living conditions did not endear him to church authorities, who dismissed him for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood". He then walked the {{convert|75|km|mi}} to Brussels,{{sfnp|Callow|1990|loc=72}} returned briefly to [[Cuesmes]] in the Borinage, but he gave in to pressure from his parents to return home to Etten. He stayed there until around March 1880,{{efn|group=note|Hulsker suggests that van Gogh returned to the Borinage and then back to Etten in this period.{{sfnp|Geskó|2006|loc=48}}}} which caused concern and frustration for his parents. His father was especially frustrated and advised that his son be committed to the lunatic asylum in [[Geel]].{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 209–210, 488–489}}{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let186/letter.html Letter 186]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. Etten, Friday, 18 November 1881.}}{{efn|group=note|See Jan Hulsker's speech ''The Borinage Episode and the Misrepresentation of Vincent van Gogh'', Van Gogh Symposium, 10–11 May 1990.{{sfnp|Erickson|1998|loc= 67–68}}}}

Van Gogh returned to Cuesmes in August 1880, where he lodged with a miner until October.{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let156/letter.html Letter 156]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. Cuesmes, Friday, 20 August 1880.}} He became interested in the people and scenes around him, and he recorded them in drawings after Theo's suggestion that he take up art in earnest. He travelled to Brussels later in the year, to follow Theo's recommendation that he study with the Dutch artist [[Willem Roelofs]], who persuaded him – in spite of his dislike of formal schools of art – to attend the {{lang|fr|[[Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts]]|italic=no}}. He registered at the Académie in November 1880, where he studied anatomy and the standard rules of [[Shading|modelling]] and [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]].{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 67–71}}
{{clear}}

===Etten, Drenthe and The Hague===
{{See also|Early works of Vincent van Gogh}}
[[File:Kee Vos met zoon Jan-cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|Kee Vos-Stricker with her son Jan {{circa|lk=no|1879–80}}|alt=A young woman facing left sits with a child to her right]]

Van Gogh returned to Etten in April 1881 for an extended stay with his parents.{{sfnp|Pomerans|1997|loc= 83}} He continued to draw, often using his neighbours as subjects. In August 1881, his recently widowed cousin, Cornelia "Kee" Vos-Stricker, daughter of his mother's older sister Willemina and [[Johannes Stricker]], arrived for a visit. He was thrilled and took long walks with her. Kee was seven years older than he was and had an eight-year-old son. Van Gogh surprised everyone by declaring his love to her and proposing marriage.{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 145}} She refused with the words "No, nay, never" ("''nooit, neen, nimmer''").{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let179/letter.html Letter 179]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. Etten, Thursday, 3 November 1881.}} After Kee returned to Amsterdam, Van Gogh went to The Hague to try to sell paintings and to meet with his second cousin, [[Anton Mauve]]. Mauve was the successful artist Van Gogh longed to be.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 239–240}} Mauve invited him to return in a few months and suggested he spend the intervening time working in [[charcoal (art)|charcoal]] and [[pastel]]s; Van Gogh returned to Etten and followed this advice.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 239–240}}

Late in November 1881, Van Gogh wrote a letter to Johannes Stricker, one which he described to Theo as an attack.{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let189/letter.html Letter 189]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. Etten, Wednesday, 23 November 1881.}} Within days he left for Amsterdam.{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let193/letter.html Letter 193]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh, Etten, on or about Friday, 23 December 1881, describing the visit in more detail.}} Kee would not meet him, and her parents wrote that his "persistence is ''disgusting''".{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let228/letter.html Letter 228]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh, The Hague, on or about Tuesday, 16 May 1882.}} In despair, 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."{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let228/letter.html Letter 228]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh, The Hague, on or about Tuesday, 16 May 1882.}}{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 147}} He did not recall the event well, but later assumed that his uncle had blown out the flame. Kee's father made it clear that her refusal should be heeded and that the two would not marry, largely because of Van Gogh's inability to support himself.{{sfnp|Gayford|2006|loc=125}}

Mauve took Van Gogh on as a student and introduced him to watercolour, which he worked on for the next month before returning home for Christmas.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 250–252}} He quarrelled with his father, refusing to attend church, and left for The Hague.{{efn|group=note|"At Christmas I had a rather violent argument with Pa, and feelings ran so high that Pa said it would be better if I left home. Well, it was said so decidedly that I actually left the same day."}}{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let194/letter.html Letter 194]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh, The Hague, Thursday 29 December 1881}} In January 1882, Mauve introduced him to [[oil painting|painting in oil]] and lent him money to set up a studio.{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let196/letter.html Letter 196]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Tuesday, 3 January 1882.}}{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 64}} Within a month Van Gogh and Mauve fell out, possibly over the viability of drawing from [[plaster cast]]s.{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let219/letter.html Letter 219]}} Van Gogh could only afford to hire people from the street as models, a practice of which Mauve seems to have disapproved.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 258}} In June, Van Gogh suffered a bout of [[gonorrhea|gonorrhoea]] and spent three weeks in the hospital.{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let237/letter.html Letter 237]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Thursday, 8 June 1882.}} Soon after, he first painted in oils,{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 110}} bought with money borrowed from Theo. He liked the medium, and he spread the paint liberally, scraping from the canvas and working back with the brush. He wrote that he was surprised at how good the results were.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 306}}

[[File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 016.jpg|thumb|''Rooftops, View from the Atelier The Hague'', 1882, private collection|alt=A view from a window of pale red rooftops. A bird flies in the blue sky; in the near distance there are fields and to the right, the town and other buildings can be seen. On the distant horizon are chimneys.]]

By March 1882, Mauve appeared to have gone cold towards Van Gogh, and stopped replying to his letters.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 96–103}} He had learned of Van Gogh's new domestic arrangement with an alcoholic prostitute, [[Sien (Van Gogh series)|Clasina Maria "Sien" Hoornik]] (1850–1904), and her young daughter.{{refn|{{harvp|Callow|1990|loc=116}}; cites the work of Hulsker; {{harvp|Callow|1990|loc= 123–124}}; {{harvp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let224/letter.html Letter 224] |ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Sunday, 7 May 1882 }}}} Van Gogh had met Sien towards the end of January 1882, when she had a five-year-old daughter and was pregnant. She had previously borne two children who died, but Van Gogh was unaware of this.{{refn|{{harvp|Callow|1990|loc=116–117}}. citing the research of [[Jan Hulsker]]; the two dead children were born in 1874 and 1879.}} On 2 July, she gave birth to a baby boy, Willem.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 107}} When Van Gogh's father discovered the details of their relationship, he put pressure on his son to abandon Sien and her two children. Vincent at first defied him,{{refn|{{harvp|Callow |1990|loc= 132}}; {{harvp|Tralbaut|1981|loc=102–104, 112}}}} and considered moving the family out of the city, but in late 1883, he left Sien and the children.{{sfnp|Arnold|1992|loc=38}}

Poverty may have pushed Sien back into prostitution; the home became less happy and Van Gogh may have felt family life was irreconcilable with his artistic development. Sien gave her daughter to her mother and baby Willem to her brother.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc=113}} Willem remembered visiting [[Rotterdam]] when he was about 12, when an uncle tried to persuade Sien to marry to legitimise the child.{{sfnp|Wilkie|2004|loc=185}} He believed Van Gogh was his father, but the timing of his birth makes this unlikely.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 101–107}} Sien drowned herself in the [[Scheldt|River Scheldt]] in 1904.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 111–122}}

In September 1883, Van Gogh moved to [[Drenthe]] in the northern Netherlands. In December, driven by loneliness, he went to live with his parents, then in [[Nuenen]], North Brabant.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 111–122}}

===Emerging artist===
====Nuenen and Antwerp (1883–1886)====
{{see also|Peasant Character Studies (Van Gogh series)|Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands)|List of drawings by Vincent van Gogh}}

In Nuenen, Van Gogh focused on painting and drawing. Working outside and very quickly, he completed sketches and [[Peasant Character Studies (Van Gogh series)#The weaver|paintings of weavers]] and [[Cottages (Van Gogh series)|their cottages]]. Van Gogh also completed ''[[The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen]]'', which was stolen from the [[Singer Laren]] in March 2020.<ref name="artnet News 2020">{{cite news | title=Opportunistic Thieves Just Stole a Prized Van Gogh Landscape From a Locked-Down Dutch Museum Under Cover of Night | website=artnet News | date=30 March 2020 | url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/thieves-stolen-van-gogh-masterpiece-dutch-museum-1819743 | access-date=30 March 2020 | archive-date=31 March 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200331160056/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/thieves-stolen-van-gogh-masterpiece-dutch-museum-1819743 | url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 174}} From August 1884, Margot Begemann, a neighbour's daughter ten years his senior, joined him on his forays; she fell in love and he reciprocated, though less enthusiastically. They wanted to marry, but neither side of their families approved. Margot was distraught and took an overdose of [[strychnine]], but survived after Van Gogh rushed her to a nearby hospital.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 107}} On 26 March 1885, his father died of a heart attack.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 154}}

Van Gogh painted several groups of [[Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands)|still lifes]] in 1885.{{sfnp|Hulsker|1980|loc=196–205}} During his two-year stay in Nuenen, he completed numerous drawings and watercolours and nearly 200 oil paintings. His palette consisted mainly of sombre earth tones, particularly dark brown, and showed no sign of the vivid colours that distinguished his later work.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 123–160}}

There was interest from a dealer in Paris early in 1885.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 436}} Theo asked Vincent if he had paintings ready to exhibit.{{sfnp|van Uitert|van Tilborgh|van Heugten|1990|loc=29}} In May, Van Gogh responded with his first major work, ''[[The Potato Eaters]]'', and a series of "[[Peasant Character Studies (Van Gogh series)|peasant character studies]]" which were the culmination of several years of work.{{sfnp|McQuillan|1989|loc= 127}} When he complained that Theo was not making enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, his brother responded that they were too dark and not in keeping with the bright style of Impressionism.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 123–160}} In August his work was publicly exhibited for the first time, in the shop windows of the dealer Leurs in The Hague. One of his [[Peasant Character Studies (Van Gogh series)#Woman|young peasant sitters]] became pregnant in September 1885; Van Gogh was accused of forcing himself upon her, and the village priest forbade parishioners to model for him.{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 709}}

<gallery widths="165" heights="165" class="center">
File:Stilleven met bijbel - s0008V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg|alt=An image of a large opened bible on a table top|''[[Van Gogh's family in his art|Still Life with Open Bible, Extinguished Candle and Novel]]'', also ''Still Life with Bible'', {{circa}} 1885. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
File:Vincent van Gogh - Head of a skeleton with a burning cigarette - Google Art Project.jpg|alt=A skull smoking a cigarette|''[[Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette]]'', {{circa}} 1885–86. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
File:Vincent van Gogh - Peasant woman digging.jpg|alt=A woman facing away working with a spade|''[[Peasant Woman Digging]]'', or ''Woman with a Spade, Seen from Behind'', {{circa}} 1885. [[Art Gallery of Ontario]], Toronto
File:Vincent van Gogh - Tête de paysanne à la coiffe blanche (1884).jpg|''[[Head of an Old Farmer's Wife in a White Hat|Tête de paysanne à la coiffe blanche]]'', {{circa}} 1884. Private collection.
</gallery>

He moved to Antwerp that November and rented a room above a paint dealer's shop in the rue des Images (''Lange Beeldekensstraat'').{{sfnp|Callow|1990|loc=181}} He lived in poverty and ate poorly, preferring to spend the money Theo sent on painting materials and models. Bread, coffee and [[tobacco smoking|tobacco]] became his staple diet. In February 1886, he wrote to Theo that he could only remember eating six hot meals since the previous May. His teeth became loose and painful.{{sfnp|Callow|1990|loc=184}} In Antwerp he applied himself to the study of [[colour theory]] and spent time in museums{{mdash}}particularly studying the work of [[Peter Paul Rubens]]{{mdash}}and broadened his palette to include [[carmine]], [[cobalt blue]] and [[Paris green|emerald green]]. Van Gogh bought Japanese [[ukiyo-e]] woodcuts in the docklands, later incorporating elements of their style into the background of some of his paintings.{{sfnp|Hammacher|1985|loc=84}} He was drinking heavily again,{{sfnp|Callow|1990|loc=253}} and was hospitalised between February and March 1886,{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 477}} when he was possibly also treated for [[syphilis]].{{sfnp|Arnold|1992|loc= 77}}{{efn| group= note |The only evidence for this is from interviews with the grandson of the doctor.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 177–178}} For an overall review see Naifeh and Smith.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc=477 n. 199}}}}

{{multiple image
 | direction = vertical
 | width = 220
 | image1 = Vincent van Gogh - Farm with stacks of peat - Google Art Project.jpg
 | caption1 = ''Farm with Stacks of Peat'', {{circa}}1883
 | image2 = Van-willem-vincent-gogh-die-kartoffelesser-03850.jpg
 | alt2 = A group of five sit around a small wooden table with a large platter of food, while one person pours drinks from a kettle in a dark room with an overhead lantern.
 | caption2 = ''[[The Potato Eaters]]'', {{circa}}1885. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
}}

After his recovery, despite his antipathy towards academic teaching, he took the higher-level admission exams at the [[Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp)|Academy of Fine Arts]] in Antwerp and, in January 1886, matriculated in painting and drawing. He became ill and run down by overwork, poor diet and excessive smoking.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 173}} He started to attend drawing classes after plaster models at the Antwerp Academy on 18 January 1886. He quickly got into trouble with [[Charles Verlat]], the director of the academy and teacher of a painting class, because of his unconventional painting style. Van Gogh had also clashed with the instructor of the drawing class [[Franz Vinck]]. Van Gogh finally started to attend the drawing classes after antique plaster models given by [[Eugène Siberdt]]. Soon Siberdt and Van Gogh came into conflict when the latter did not comply with Siberdt's requirement that drawings express the contour and concentrate on the line. When Van Gogh was required to draw the ''[[Venus de Milo]]'' during a drawing class, he produced the limbless, naked torso of a Flemish peasant woman. Siberdt regarded this as defiance against his artistic guidance and made corrections to Van Gogh's drawing with his crayon so vigorously that he tore the paper. Van Gogh then flew into a violent rage and shouted at Siberdt: 'You clearly do not know what a young woman is like, ''God damn it!'' A woman must have hips, buttocks, a pelvis in which she can carry a baby!' According to some accounts, this was the last time Van Gogh attended classes at the academy and he left later for Paris.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 448–489}} On 31 March 1886, which was about a month after the confrontation with Siberdt, the teachers of the academy decided that 17 students, including Van Gogh, had to repeat a year. The story that Van Gogh was expelled from the academy by Siberdt is therefore unfounded.<ref name=lam>{{Cite web|url=https://janlampo.com/category/romantiek/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206170104/https://janlampo.com/category/romantiek/|url-status=dead|title=romantiek|archive-date=6 February 2017|website=Jan Lampo}}</ref>

====Paris (1886–1888)====
{{See also|Japonaiserie (Van Gogh)|Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris)}}
<!-- {{multiple image
 | direction = vertical
 | width = 200
 | image1 = Toulouse-Lautrec de Henri Vincent van Gogh Sun.jpg
 | alt1 = Blue-hued pastel drawing of a man facing right, seated at a table with his hands and a glass on it. He is wearing a coat. There are windows in the background.
 | caption1 = [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]], ''[[Portrait of Vincent van Gogh (1887)|Portrait of Vincent van Gogh]]'', 1887, pastel drawing, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
 | image2 = John Peter Russell Van Gogh drawings.jpg
 | caption2 = [[John Russell (Australian painter)|John Russell]] drew these five studies of van Gogh a year or so after painting [[Vincent van Gogh (Russell painting)|his 1886 portrait]] (studies, [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]], Sydney).<ref>[https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/346.2003/ Five studies of Vincent van Gogh] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805231406/https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/346.2003/ |date=5 August 2020 }}, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 15 August 2018.</ref>
}} -->
Van Gogh moved to Paris in March 1886 where he shared Theo's rue Laval apartment in [[Montmartre]] and studied at [[Fernand Cormon]]'s studio. In June the brothers took a larger flat at 54 [[rue Lepic]].{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 187–192}} In Paris, Vincent painted [[Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin|portraits of friends and acquaintances]], [[Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris)|still life paintings]], views of [[Le Moulin de la Galette (Van Gogh series)|Le Moulin de la Galette]], [[Montmartre (Van Gogh series)|scenes in Montmartre]], [[Asnières (Van Gogh series)|Asnières]] and along the [[Seine (Van Gogh series)|Seine]]. In 1885 in Antwerp he had become interested in Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints and had used them to decorate the walls of his studio; while in Paris he collected hundreds of them. He tried his hand at [[Japonaiserie (Van Gogh)|Japonaiserie]], tracing a figure from a reproduction on the cover of the magazine ''Paris Illustre'', ''[[Copies by Vincent van Gogh#Copy after Keisai Eisen|The Courtesan or Oiran]]'' (1887), after [[Keisai Eisen]], which he then graphically enlarged in a painting.{{sfnp|Pickvance|1984|loc= 38–39}}

After seeing the portrait of [[Adolphe Monticelli]] at the Galerie Delareybarette, Van Gogh adopted a brighter palette and a bolder attack, particularly in paintings such as his ''[[Saintes-Maries (Van Gogh series)|Seascape at Saintes-Maries]]'' (1888).{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 135}}{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let853/letter.html Letter 853]|ps= . Vincent to Albert Aurier. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890.}} Two years later, Vincent and Theo paid for the publication of a book on Monticelli paintings, and Vincent bought some of Monticelli's works to add to his collection.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 520–522}}

Van Gogh learned about [[Fernand Cormon]]'s [[atelier]] from Theo.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 702}} He worked at the studio in April and May 1886,{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 710}} where he frequented the circle of the Australian artist [[John Russell (Australian painter)|John Russell]], who painted [[Vincent van Gogh (Russell painting)|his portrait]] in 1886.{{sfnp|Pickvance|1986|loc=62–63}} Van Gogh also met fellow students [[Émile Bernard]], [[Louis Anquetin]] and [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]]&nbsp;– who painted [[Portrait of Vincent van Gogh (1887)|a portrait of him]] in pastel. They met at [[Julien Tanguy (art dealer)|Julien "Père" Tanguy]]'s paint shop,{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 710}} (which was, at that time, the only place where [[Paul Cézanne]]'s paintings were displayed). In 1886, two large exhibitions were staged there, showing [[Pointillism]] and [[Neo-impressionism]] for the first time and bringing attention to [[Georges Seurat]] and Paul Signac. Theo kept a stock of Impressionist paintings in his gallery on boulevard Montmartre, but Van Gogh was slow to acknowledge the new developments in art.{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 212–213}}

Conflicts arose between the brothers. At the end of 1886 Theo found living with Vincent to be "almost unbearable".{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 710}} By early 1887, they were again at peace, and Vincent had moved to [[Asnières-sur-Seine|Asnières]], a northwestern suburb of Paris, where he got to know Signac. He adopted elements of Pointillism, a technique in which a multitude of small coloured dots are applied to the canvas so that when seen from a distance they create an optical blend of hues. The style stresses the ability of [[complementary colour]]s – including blue and orange – to form vibrant contrasts.{{sfnp|van Uitert|van Tilborgh|van Heugten|1990|loc=29}}{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 710}}

<gallery widths="135px" heights="165px" class=center>
File:Vincent van Gogh - Windmills on Montmartre - Google Art Project.jpg|''Le Moulin de Blute-Fin'' ({{circa}} 1886) from the ''[[Le Moulin de la Galette (Van Gogh series)|Le Moulin de la Galette]]'' and ''[[Montmartre (Van Gogh series)|Montmartre]]'' series. [[Bridgestone Museum of Art]], Tokyo (F273)
File:Van Gogh - la courtisane.jpg|alt=A Japanese woman looks to the left in a Ukiyo-e style painting|''Courtesan'' (after [[Keisai Eisen|Eisen]]), {{circa}} 1887. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
File:Van Gogh - Portrait of Pere Tanguy 1887-8.JPG|alt=A bearded old man sits gazing directly at the viewer|''[[Portrait of Père Tanguy]]'', {{circa}} 1887. [[Musée Rodin]], Paris
</gallery>

While in Asnières Van Gogh painted [[Asnières (Van Gogh series)#Parks|parks]], [[Asnières (Van Gogh series)#Restaurants|restaurants]] and the [[Seine (Van Gogh series)|Seine]], including ''[[Seine (Van Gogh series)#Bridges across the Seine at Asnières|Bridges across the Seine at Asnières]]''. In November 1887, Theo and Vincent befriended Paul Gauguin who had just arrived in Paris.{{refn|{{harvp|Druick|Zegers|2001|loc= 81}}; {{harvp|Gayford|2006|loc= 50.}}}} Towards the end of the year, Vincent arranged an exhibition alongside Bernard, Anquetin, and probably Toulouse-Lautrec, at the Grand-Bouillon Restaurant du Chalet, 43 avenue de Clichy, Montmartre. In a contemporary account, Bernard wrote that the exhibition was ahead of anything else in Paris.{{sfnp|Hulsker|1990|loc= 256}} There, Bernard and Anquetin sold their first paintings, and Van Gogh exchanged work with Gauguin. Discussions on art, artists, and their social situations started during this exhibition, continued and expanded to include visitors to the show, like [[Camille Pissarro]] and his son [[Lucien Pissarro|Lucien]], Signac and Seurat. In February 1888, feeling worn out from life in Paris, Van Gogh left, having painted more than 200 paintings during his two years there. Hours before his departure, accompanied by Theo, he paid his only visit to Seurat in his studio.{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let640/letter.html Letter 640]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh, Arles, Sunday, 15 July 1888. Letter 695. Vincent to Paul Gauguin, Arles, Wednesday, 3 October 1888.}}

===Artistic breakthrough===

====Arles (1888–89)====
{{See also|Décoration for the Yellow House|Langlois Bridge at Arles|Saintes-Maries (Van Gogh series)}}
[[File:Vincent van Gogh - The yellow house ('The street').jpg|thumb|''[[The Yellow House]]'', {{circa}}1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam|alt=A large house under a blue sky]]

Ill from drink and suffering from smoker's cough, in February 1888, Van Gogh sought refuge in [[Arles]].{{sfnp|Hughes|1990|loc=143}} He seems to have moved with thoughts of founding an [[art colony]]. The Danish artist [[Christian Mourier-Petersen]] was his companion for two months and at first, Arles appeared exotic to Van Gogh. In a letter, he described it as a foreign country: "The [[Zouave]]s, the brothels, the adorable little Arlésienne going to her First Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinoceros, the people drinking [[absinthe]], all seem to me creatures from another world."{{sfnp|Hughes|1990|loc=144}}

The time in Arles was one of Van Gogh's more prolific periods: he completed 200 paintings and more than 100 drawings and watercolours.{{sfnp|Pickvance|1984|loc= 11}} He was energised by the local countryside and light; his works from this period are rich in yellow, [[ultramarine]] and [[mauve]]. They include harvests, wheat fields and general rural landmarks from the area, including ''The Old Mill'' (1888), one of seven canvases sent to [[Pont-Aven]] on 4 October 1888 in an exchange of works with Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, [[Charles Laval]] and others.{{sfnp|Pickvance|1984|loc= 177}} 

In March 1888, Van Gogh created landscapes using a gridded "perspective frame" and three of those works were shown at the annual exhibition of the [[Société des Artistes Indépendants]]. In April, he was visited by the American artist [[Dodge MacKnight]], who was living nearby at [[Fontvieille, Bouches-du-Rhône|Fontvieille]].{{sfnp|Pickvance|1986|loc= 129}}{{sfnp|Pomerans|1997|loc= 348}} 

On 1 May 1888, Van Gogh signed a lease for four rooms at 2 Place Lamartine, Arles, which he later painted in ''[[The Yellow House]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vincent van Gogh - The Yellow House (The Street) |url=https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0032v1962 |access-date=15 March 2024 |website=Van Gogh Museum |language=en}}</ref>  The rooms cost 15 [[French franc|francs]] per month, unfurnished; they had been uninhabited for months.{{sfnp|Nemeczek|1999|loc=59–61}} Because the Yellow House had to be furnished before he could fully move in, Van Gogh moved from the Hôtel Carrel to the Café de la Gare on 7 May 1888.{{sfnp|Gayford|2006|loc=16}} He had befriended the Yellow House's proprietors, Joseph and [[L'Arlésienne (painting)|Marie Ginoux]], and was able to use it as a studio.{{sfnp|Callow|1990|loc=219}} Van Gogh wanted a gallery to display his work and started a series of paintings that eventually included ''[[Van Gogh's Chair]]'' (1888), ''[[Bedroom in Arles]]'' (1888), ''[[The Night Café]]'' (1888), ''[[Café Terrace at Night]]'' (September 1888), ''[[Starry Night Over the Rhone]]'' (1888), and ''[[Sunflowers (series of paintings)|Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers]]'' (1888), all intended for the [[décoration for the Yellow House|decoration for the Yellow House]].{{sfnp|Pickvance|1984|loc= 175–176}}

Van Gogh wrote that with ''The Night Café'' he tried "to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime".{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 266}} When he visited [[Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer]] in June, he gave lessons to a Zouave second lieutenant – [[Portrait of Paul-Eugène Milliet#The Lover: Paul-Eugène Milliet|Paul-Eugène Milliet]]{{sfnp|Pomerans|1997|loc= 356, 360}} – and painted [[Saintes-Maries (Van Gogh series)|boats on the sea and the village]].{{refn|[http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0028V1962 "Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 1888"]. Permanent Collection. Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 23 February 2016.}} MacKnight introduced Van Gogh to [[Eugène Boch]], a Belgian painter who sometimes stayed in Fontvieille, and the two exchanged visits in July.{{sfnp|Pomerans|1997|loc= 356, 360}}

<gallery widths="165" heights="165" class="center">
File:De zaaier - s0029V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg|alt=A man sowing seeds in front of a giant sun going down near a large tree|''The Sower with Setting Sun'', {{circa}}1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
File:Vissersboten op het strand van Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer - s0028V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg|alt=On the edge of the sea four boats on the water in the distance; closer, four boats are on the dry sand on the beach|''Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries'', {{circa}}June 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
File:Vincent van Gogh - De slaapkamer - Google Art Project.jpg|alt=A small room with paintings on the wall, two chairs, a single bed and a table|''[[Bedroom in Arles]]'', {{circa}}1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
File:Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) - The Old Mill (1888).jpg|alt=A large building under a clear sky with a landscape in the background and two people in the near distance|''The Old Mill'', {{circa}}1888. [[Albright–Knox Art Gallery]], [[Buffalo, New York]]
</gallery>

====Gauguin's visit (1888)====
{{See also|Sunflowers (Van Gogh series)}} 
[[File:Paul Gauguin - Vincent van Gogh painting sunflowers - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[Paul Gauguin]], ''[[The Painter of Sunflowers]]: Portrait of Vincent van Gogh'', 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam|alt=A seated red-bearded man wearing a brown coat, facing to the left, with a paintbrush in his right hand, is painting a picture of large sunflowers.]]

When Gauguin agreed to visit Arles in 1888, Van Gogh hoped for friendship and to realise his idea of an artists' collective. Van Gogh prepared for Gauguin's arrival by painting four versions of ''[[Sunflowers (Van Gogh series)|Sunflowers]]'' in one week.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sunflowers |url=https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/59202 |access-date=22 October 2022 |website=philamuseum.org |language=en}}</ref> "In the hope of living in a studio of our own with Gauguin," he wrote in a letter to Theo, "I'd like to do a decoration for the studio. ''Nothing but large Sunflowers''."<ref>{{Cite web |title=666 (670, 526): To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 21 or Wednesday, 22 August 1888. - Vincent van Gogh Letters |url=https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let666/letter.html |access-date=22 October 2022 |website=vangoghletters.org}}</ref> 

When Boch visited again, Van Gogh painted a portrait of him, as well as the study ''The Poet Against a Starry Sky''.{{refn|{{harvp|Hulsker|1980|loc= 356}}; {{harvp|Pickvance|1984|loc= 168–169, 206.}}}}{{efn|group=note| Boch's sister [[Anna Boch|Anna]] (1848–1936), also an artist, purchased ''[[The Red Vineyard]]'' in 1890.{{refn|{{harvp|Hulsker|1980|loc= 356}}; {{harvp|Pickvance|1984|loc= 168–169, 206.}}}}}}

In preparation for Gauguin's visit, Van Gogh bought two beds on advice from the station's postal supervisor [[The Roulin Family (Van Gogh series)|Joseph Roulin]], whose portrait he painted. On 17 September, he spent his first night in the still sparsely furnished Yellow House.{{refn|{{harvp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let677/letter.html Letter 677] |ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh. Arles, Sunday, 9 September 1888}}; Letter 681 Vincent to Theo van Gogh. Arles, Sunday, 16 September 1888; {{harvp|Gayford |2006|loc= 18}}; {{harvp|Nemeczek|1999|loc=61.}}}} When Gauguin consented to work and live in Arles with him, Van Gogh started to work on the ''[[Décoration for the Yellow House]]'', probably the most ambitious effort he ever undertook.{{sfnp|Dorn |1990}} He completed two chair paintings: ''Van Gogh's Chair'' and ''Gauguin's Chair.''{{sfnp|Pickvance |1984|loc  =234–235}}

After much pleading from Van Gogh, Gauguin arrived in Arles on 23 October and, in November, the two painted together. Gauguin depicted Van Gogh in his ''[[The Painter of Sunflowers]]''; Van Gogh painted pictures from memory, following Gauguin's suggestion. Among these "imaginative" paintings is ''[[Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles)|Memory of the Garden at Etten]]''.{{sfnp|Hulsker|1980|loc= 374–376}}{{efn|group=note|{{harvp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let719/letter.html Letter 719]|ps= &nbsp;Vincent to Theo van Gogh. Arles, Sunday, 11 or Monday, 12 November 1888:{{paragraph break}}I've been working on two canvases&nbsp;... A reminiscence of our garden at Etten with cabbages, cypresses, dahlias and figures&nbsp;... Gauguin gives me courage to imagine, and the things of the imagination do indeed take on a more mysterious character.{{paragraph break}}}}}} Their first joint outdoor venture was at the [[Alyscamps]], when they produced the pendants ''[[Les Alyscamps]]''.{{sfnp|Gayford|2006|loc=61}} The single painting Gauguin completed during his visit was his portrait of Van Gogh.{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 411}}

Van Gogh and Gauguin visited [[Montpellier]] in December 1888, where they saw works by [[Gustave Courbet|Courbet]] and [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]] in the [[Musée Fabre]].{{sfnp|Pickvance|1984|loc= 195}} Their relationship began to deteriorate; Van Gogh admired Gauguin and wanted to be treated as his equal, but Gauguin was arrogant and domineering, which frustrated Van Gogh. They often quarrelled; Van Gogh increasingly feared that Gauguin was going to desert him, and the situation, which Van Gogh described as one of "excessive tension", rapidly headed towards crisis point.{{sfnp|Gayford |2006|loc= 274–277}}

<gallery class=center widths="165px" heights="165px">
File:Le café de nuit (The Night Café) by Vincent van Gogh.jpeg|''[[The Night Café]]'', 1888. [[Yale University Art Gallery]], New Haven, Connecticut|alt=A billiard table in the centre of a room of a cafe surrounded by tables. Patrons are seated at several tables, and a man dressed in white stands behind the billiard table.
File:Vincent Willem van Gogh - Cafe Terrace at Night (Yorck).jpg|''[[Café Terrace at Night]]'', 1888. [[Kröller-Müller Museum]], [[Otterlo]]|alt=The outdoor terrace of a cafe with several tables filled with patrons. People are walking along the street under a starry sky.
File:red vineyards.jpg|''[[The Red Vineyard]]'', November 1888. [[Pushkin Museum]], Moscow. Sold to [[Anna Boch]], 1890|alt=A vineyard with many people working picking fruit, while a very large and bright sun shines in the sky.
File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 138.jpg|''Van Gogh's Chair'', 1888. [[National Gallery]], London|alt=A single, simple, yellow, wooden and straw, armless, empty chair, with a pipe and tobacco on the seat, in an empty room with tiles on the floor.
File:Vincent van Gogh - De stoel van Gauguin - Google Art Project.jpg|''Paul Gauguin's Armchair'', 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam|alt=An armchair with a cushion seat; there are two books and a lit candle on the seat. A lit lamp is on the wall. 
</gallery>

====Hospital in Arles (December 1888)====
{{See also|Hospital in Arles}}
[[File:Le Forum Républicain (Arles) - 30 December 1888 - Vincent van Gogh ear incident.jpg|thumb|Local newspaper report dated 30 December 1888 recording Van Gogh's self-mutilation{{sfnp|Hulsker|1980|loc= 380–382}}|alt=photograph of a partial 19th-century newspaper story about a self-mutilation]]
[[File:Felix Rey portrait & sketch.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of Doctor Rey]]'', January 1889, [[Pushkin Museum]]; note written by Dr Rey for novelist [[Irving Stone]] with sketches of the damage to Van Gogh's ear]]

The exact sequence that led to the mutilation of Van Gogh's ear is not known. Gauguin said, fifteen years later, that the night followed several instances of physically threatening behaviour.{{sfnp|McQuillan|1989|loc=66}} Their relationship was complex and Theo may have owed money to Gauguin, who suspected the brothers were exploiting him financially.{{sfnp|Druick|Zegers|2001|loc= 266}} It seems likely that Vincent realised that Gauguin was planning to leave.{{sfnp|Druick|Zegers|2001|loc= 266}} The following days saw heavy rain, leading to the two men being shut in the Yellow House.{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 290}} Gauguin recalled that Van Gogh followed him after he left for a walk and "rushed towards me, an open razor in his hand".{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 290}} This account is uncorroborated;{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 1}} Gauguin was almost certainly absent from the Yellow House that night, most likely staying in a hotel.{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 290}}

After an altercation on the evening of 23 December 1888,<ref name="berkeley" /> Van Gogh returned to his room where he seemingly heard [[auditory hallucination|voices]] and either wholly or in part severed his left ear with a razor{{efn|group=note|Theo and his wife, Gachet and his son, and Signac, who saw van Gogh after the bandages were removed, maintained that only the [[earlobe]] had been removed.{{sfnp| Rewald|1978|loc= 243–248}} According to Doiteau and Leroy, the diagonal cut removed the lobe and probably a little more.{{sfnp|Doiteau|Leroy|1928}} The policeman and Rey both claimed van Gogh severed the entire [[auricle (anatomy)|outer ear]];{{sfnp| Rewald|1978|loc= 243–248}} Rey repeated his account in 1930, writing a note for novelist [[Irving Stone]] and including a sketch of the line of the incision.<ref name="artnews">{{cite web|url=https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-how-one-art-history-teacher-solved-two-of-the-biggest-mysteries-about-van-gogh|title=How One Art History Teacher Solved Two of the Biggest Mysteries about Van Gogh|last=Cain|first=Abigail|date=26 July 2016|website=artsy.net|access-date=21 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221224047/https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-how-one-art-history-teacher-solved-two-of-the-biggest-mysteries-about-van-gogh|archive-date=21 February 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}} causing severe bleeding.{{sfnp| Rewald|1978|loc= 243–248}} He bandaged the wound, wrapped the ear in paper and delivered the package to a woman at a brothel Van Gogh and Gauguin both frequented.{{sfnp| Rewald|1978|loc= 243–248}} Van Gogh was found unconscious the next morning by a policeman and taken to the hospital,{{sfnp|Sund|2002|loc= 235}}{{sfnp|Gayford|2006|loc=277}} where he was treated by Félix Rey, a young doctor still in training. The ear was brought to the hospital, but Rey did not attempt to reattach it as too much time had passed.{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 290}} Van Gogh researcher and art historian Bernadette Murphy discovered the true identity of the woman named Gabrielle Berlatier,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bailey |first1=Martin |title=Living with Vincent van Gogh: The Homes & Landscapes That Shaped the Artist |date=2020 |publisher=Quarto Publishing Group |isbn=9780711240193 |page=139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zx2XDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA139 |access-date=30 May 2024}}</ref> who died in Arles at the age of 80 in 1952. Her descendants still lived (as of 2020) just outside Arles. Gabrielle, known in her youth as "Gaby", was a 17-year-old cleaning girl at the brothel and other local establishments at the time Van Gogh presented her with his ear.<ref name="berkeley">{{Cite web|url=https://news.lib.berkeley.edu/van-Gogh-ear|title=What actually happened to Vincent van Gogh's ear? Here are 3 things you should know.|website=UC Berkeley Library News|access-date=6 September 2020|archive-date=26 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026061425/https://news.lib.berkeley.edu/van-Gogh-ear|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgMBRQLhgFE|title=BBC The Mystery of Van Goghs Ear|date=2 January 2017 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=6 September 2020|archive-date=6 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200906063851/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgMBRQLhgFE|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/historian-bernadette-murphy-on-digging-into-the-van-gogh-ear-mystery/article30915559/|title=Historian Bernadette Murphy on digging into the Van Gogh ear mystery|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=14 July 2016|access-date=6 September 2020|archive-date=30 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030165223/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/historian-bernadette-murphy-on-digging-into-the-van-gogh-ear-mystery/article30915559/|url-status=live|last1=Adams|first1=James}}</ref>

Van Gogh had no recollection of the event, suggesting that he may have suffered an acute mental breakdown.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc=707–708}} The hospital diagnosis was "acute mania with generalised delirium",{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 249}} and within a few days, the local police ordered that he be placed in hospital care.{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/documentation.html Concordance, lists, bibliography: Documentation]}}{{sfnp|Sund|2002|loc= 237}} Gauguin immediately notified Theo, who, on 24 December, had proposed marriage to his old friend [[Andries Bonger]]'s sister Johanna.{{sfnp| Rewald|1986|loc= 37}} That evening, Theo rushed to the station to board a night train to Arles. He arrived on Christmas Day and comforted Vincent, who seemed to be semi-lucid. That evening, he left Arles for the return trip to Paris.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 704–705}}

During the first days of his treatment, Van Gogh repeatedly and unsuccessfully asked for Gauguin, who asked a policeman attending the case to "be kind enough, Monsieur, to awaken this man with great care, and if he asks for me tell him I have left for Paris; the sight of me might prove fatal for him."{{sfnp|Gayford|2006|loc=284}} Gauguin fled Arles, never to see Van Gogh again. They continued to correspond, and in 1890, Gauguin proposed they form a studio in Antwerp. Meanwhile, other visitors to the hospital included Marie Ginoux and Roulin.{{sfnp|Pickvance |1986|loc=62}}

Despite a pessimistic diagnosis, Van Gogh recovered and returned to the Yellow House on 7 January 1889.{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 713}} He spent the following month between hospital and home, suffering from hallucinations and [[delusion]]s of poisoning.{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 298–300}} In March, the police closed his house after a petition by 30 townspeople (including the Ginoux family) who described him as ''le fou roux'' "the redheaded madman";{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/documentation.html Concordance, lists, bibliography: Documentation]}} Van Gogh returned to the hospital. Paul Signac visited him twice in March;{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 300}} in April, Van Gogh moved into rooms owned by Rey after floods damaged paintings in his own home.{{refn|{{harvp|Pickvance|1986|loc= 239–242}}; {{harvp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 265–273.}}}} Two months later, he left Arles and voluntarily entered an asylum in [[Saint-Rémy-de-Provence]]. Around this time, he wrote, "Sometimes moods of indescribable anguish, sometimes moments when the veil of time and fatality of circumstances seemed to be torn apart for an instant."{{sfnp|Hughes|1990|loc= 145}}

Van Gogh gave his 1889 ''[[Portrait of Doctor Rey]]'' to Rey. The doctor was not fond of the painting and used it to repair a chicken coop, then gave it away.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/gun-used-by-vincent-van-gogh-to-kill-himself-goes-on-display-1.2719415|title=Gun used by Vincent van Gogh to kill himself goes on display|last=Cluskey|first=Peter|date=12 July 2016|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=22 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023053859/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/gun-used-by-vincent-van-gogh-to-kill-himself-goes-on-display-1.2719415|archive-date=23 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2016, the portrait was housed at the [[Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts]] and estimated to be worth over $50&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vangoghstudio.com/portrait-of-doctor-felix-rey/|title=Portrait of Doctor Felix Rey Oil Painting Reproduction, 1889|website=van gogh studio|language=nl-NL|access-date=22 October 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023061312/http://www.vangoghstudio.com/portrait-of-doctor-felix-rey/|archive-date=23 October 2016}}</ref>

<gallery widths="165px" heights="165px" class="center">
File:Van Gogh - Selbstbildnis mit verbundenem Ohr und Pfeife.jpeg|alt=A portrait of Vincent van Gogh from the right; he is smoking a pipe, wearing a winter hat. His ear is bandaged and he has no beard.|''Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe'', 1889, private collection
File:Van Gogh - Garten des Hospitals in Arles1.jpeg|alt=A courtyard garden of a large building with tree and fountain.|''The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles'', 1889, Oskar Reinhart Collection "[[Am Römerholz]]", [[Winterthur]], Switzerland
File:Vincent van Gogh - Self-portrait with bandaged ear (1889, Courtauld Institute).jpg|alt=A portrait of Vincent van Gogh from the right; he is wearing a winter hat, his ear is bandaged and he has no beard.|''Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear'', 1889, [[Courtauld Institute of Art]], London
File:Ward in the Hospital in Arles.jpg|alt=A large room of a large building with hospital beds and several people gathered around a wood-burning stove; nuns and others are in the background.|''Ward in the Hospital in Arles'', 1889, Oskar Reinhart Collection "Am Römerholz", Winterthur, Switzerland
</gallery>
{{Clear}}

====Saint-Rémy (May 1889&nbsp;– May 1890)====
{{Main|Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy (Van Gogh series)}}
[[File:VanGogh-starry night ballance1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt= A landscape in which the starry night sky takes up two-thirds of the picture. In the left foreground a dark pointed cypress tree extends from the bottom to the top of the picture. To the left, village houses and a church with a tall steeple are clustered at the foot of a mountain range. The sky is deep blue. In the upper right is a yellow crescent moon surrounded by a halo of light. There are many bright stars large and small, each surrounded by swirling halos. Across the centre of the sky the Milky Way is represented as a double swirling vortex.|''[[The Starry Night]]'', June 1889. [[Museum of Modern Art]], New York]]

Van Gogh entered the [[Monastery of Saint-Paul de Mausole|Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum]] on 8 May 1889, accompanied by his caregiver, Frédéric Salles, a Protestant clergyman. Saint-Paul was a former monastery in Saint-Rémy, located less than {{convert|30|km|mi}} from Arles, and it was run by a former naval doctor, [[Théophile Peyron]]. Van Gogh had two cells with barred windows, one of which he used as a studio.{{sfnp|Callow|1990|loc=246}} The clinic and [[Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy (Van Gogh series)#The garden|its garden]] became the main subjects of his paintings. He made several studies of the hospital's interiors, such as ''Vestibule of the Asylum'' and ''Saint-Rémy (September 1889)'', and its gardens, such as ''[[Lilacs (painting)|Lilacs]]'' (May 1889). Some of his works from this time are characterised by swirls, such as ''[[The Starry Night]]''. He was allowed short supervised walks, during which time he painted [[Cupressus|cypresses]] and olive trees, including ''[[Valley with Ploughman Seen from Above]]'', [[Olive Trees (Van Gogh series)|''Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background 1889'']], ''[[Cypresses (Metropolitan Museum of Art)|Cypresses 1889]]'', ''Cornfield with Cypresses'' (1889), ''Country road in Provence by Night'' (1890). In September 1889, he produced two further versions of ''Bedroom in Arles'' and [[The Gardener (painting)|''The Gardener'']].{{sfnp|Pickvance|1984|loc= 102–103}}

Limited access to life outside the clinic resulted in a shortage of subject matter. Van Gogh instead worked on [[Copies by Vincent van Gogh|interpretations of other artist's paintings]], such as [[Jean-François Millet|Millet]]'s ''[[The Sower (Millet)|The Sower]]'' and ''Noonday Rest'', and variations on his own earlier work. Van Gogh was an admirer of the [[Realism (visual art)|Realism]] of [[Jules Breton]], [[Gustave Courbet]] and Millet,{{sfnp|van Uitert|van Tilborgh|van Heugten|1990|loc=23}} and he compared his copies to a musician's interpreting [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]].{{sfnp|Pickvance|1986|loc= 154–157}}

His ''[[Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré)]]'' (1890) was painted after an [[engraving]] by [[Gustave Doré]] (1832–1883). Tralbaut suggests that the face of the prisoner in the centre of the painting looking towards the viewer is Van Gogh himself;{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 286}} [[Jan Hulsker]] discounts this.{{sfnp|Hulsker|1990|loc=434}}

Between February and April 1890, Van Gogh suffered a severe relapse. Depressed and unable to bring himself to write, he was still able to paint and draw a little during this time,{{sfnp|Hulsker|1990|loc= 440}} and he later wrote to Theo that he had made a few small canvases "from memory&nbsp;... [[Houses at Auvers#"Reminisces of the North"|reminisces of the North]]".{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let863/letter.html letter 863]|ps= . Theo van Gogh to Vincent, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Tuesday, 29 April 1890.}} Among these was ''Two Peasant Women Digging in a Snow-Covered Field at Sunset''. Hulsker believes that this small group of paintings formed the nucleus of many drawings and study sheets depicting landscapes and figures that Van Gogh worked on during this time. He comments that this short period was the only time that Van Gogh's illness had a significant effect on his work.{{sfnp|Hulsker|1990|loc= 390, 404}} Van Gogh asked his mother and his brother to send him drawings and rough work he had done in the early 1880s so he could work on new paintings from his old sketches.{{sfnp| Rewald|1978|loc= 326–329}} Belonging to this period is ''[[At Eternity's Gate|Sorrowing Old Man ("At Eternity's Gate")]]'', a colour study Hulsker describes as "another unmistakable remembrance of times long past".{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 820}}{{refn|{{harvp|Hulsker|1990|loc= 390, 404}}; {{harvp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 287.}}}} His late paintings show an artist at the height of his abilities, according to the art critic [[Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes]], "longing for concision and grace".{{sfnp|Hughes|1990|loc= 144}}

After the birth of his nephew, Van Gogh wrote, "I started right away to make a picture for him, to hang in their bedroom, branches of [[Almond Blossoms|white almond blossom]] against a blue sky."{{sfnp|Tralbaut|1981|loc= 293}}

<gallery widths="165px" heights="165px" class="center">
File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 037.jpg|alt=In an indoor prison yard a large group of men walk in a circle, one behind the other. The face of the prisoner in the centre of the painting and looking toward the viewer looks like van Gogh.|''[[Prisoners' Round (after Gustave Doré)]]'', 1890. Pushkin Museum, Moscow
File:Vincent van Gogh - The Sower - c. 17-28 June 1888.jpg|alt=A man is scattering seeds in a ploughed field. The figure is represented as small and is set in the upper right and walking out of the picture. He carries a bag of seed over one shoulder. The ploughed soil is grey; behind it rises a standing crop and, in the left distance, a farmhouse. In the centre of the horizon is a giant yellow rising sun with emanating yellow rays. A path leads into the picture, and birds are swooping down.|''The Sower'' (after [[Jean-François Millet]]), 1888. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
File:Van Gogh - Zwei grabende Bäuerinnen auf schneebedecktem Feld.jpeg|alt=Two women are digging in a snowy field, covered in white, houses off in the distance, while the sun rises.|''[[Copies by Vincent van Gogh|Two Peasant Women Digging in a Snow-Covered Field at Sunset]]'' (after [[Jean-François Millet]]), 1890. [[Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection]], Zurich, Switzerland
File:Van Gogh - Trauernder alter Mann.jpeg|''[[At Eternity's Gate|Sorrowing Old Man ('At Eternity's Gate')]]'', 1890. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo{{sfnp|Naifeh|Smith|2011|loc= 820}}|alt=A painting of an old man who sits on a chair with his head in his hands.
</gallery>

====1890 Exhibitions and recognition====

{{See also|Vincent van Gogh's display at Les XX, 1890}}

[[Albert Aurier]] praised his work in the ''[[Mercure de France]]'' in January 1890 and described him as "a genius".{{sfnp|Pickvance|1986|loc=Appendix III, 310–315|ps = . Aurier's original 1890 review in French with parallel English translation.}} In February, Van Gogh painted five versions of ''[[L'Arlésienne (painting)|L'Arlésienne]] (Madame Ginoux)'', based on a charcoal sketch Gauguin had produced when she sat for both artists in November 1888.{{sfnp|Pickvance|1986|loc=175–177}}{{efn|group=note|The version intended for Ginoux is lost. It was an attempt to deliver this painting to her in Arles that precipitated his February relapse.{{sfnp|Hulsker|1990|loc= 440}}}} Also in February, Van Gogh was invited by ''[[Les XX]]'', a society of [[avant-garde]] painters in Brussels, to participate in [[Vincent van Gogh's display at Les XX, 1890|their annual exhibition]]. At the opening dinner a ''Les XX'' member, [[Henry de Groux]], insulted Van Gogh's work. Toulouse-Lautrec demanded satisfaction, and Signac declared he would continue to fight for Van Gogh's honour if Lautrec surrendered. De Groux apologised for the slight and left the group.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=The London |date=7 June 2021 |title=Essay {{!}} The Madman and the Dwarf: Van Gogh and Lautrec by Jeffrey Meyers |url=https://thelondonmagazine.org/essay-the-madman-and-the-dwarf-van-gogh-and-lautrec-by-jeffrey-meyer/ |access-date=4 October 2024 |website=The London Magazine |language=en-GB}}</ref>

From 20 March to 27 April 1890, Van Gogh was included in the sixth exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in the Pavillon de la Ville de Paris on the Champs-Elysées. Van Gogh exhibited ten paintings.<ref>{{Cite web|title=854 (855, 626): To Theo van Gogh. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Wednesday, 12 February 1890. – Vincent van Gogh Letters|url=http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let854/letter.html|access-date=29 April 2021|website=vangoghletters.org|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506085123/http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let854/letter.html|url-status=live}}</ref> While the exhibition was on display with the Artistes Indépendants in Paris, [[Claude Monet]] said that Van Gogh's work was the best in the show.{{sfnp|Rewald|1978|loc= 346–347, 348–350}}

====Auvers-sur-Oise (May–July 1890)====
{{See also|Houses at Auvers|Auvers size 30 canvases|Double-squares and Squares}}
[[File:Vincent van Gogh - Les Vessenots à Auvers (1890).jpg|thumb|left|''Les Vessenots à Auvers'', 1890. [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]], Madrid, painted weeks before the artist's death]]

In May 1890, Van Gogh left the clinic in Saint-Rémy to move nearer to both [[Paul Gachet|Dr Paul Gachet]] in the Paris suburb of [[Auvers-sur-Oise]] and to Theo. Gachet was an amateur painter and had treated several other artists – [[Camille Pissarro]] had recommended him. Van Gogh's first impression was that Gachet was "iller than I am, it seemed to me, or let's say just as much."{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/RM20/letter.html Letter RM20]|ps= . Vincent to Theo and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Auvers-sur-Oise, Saturday, 24 May 1890.}}

The painter [[Charles-François Daubigny|Charles Daubigny]] moved to Auvers in 1861 and in turn drew other artists there, including [[Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot|Camille Corot]] and [[Honoré Daumier]]. In July 1890, Van Gogh completed two paintings of ''[[Daubigny's Garden]]'', one of which is likely his final work.{{sfnp|Pickvance|1986|loc= 270–271}}

[[File:Vincent van Gogh - The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise, View from the Chevet - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[The Church at Auvers]]'', 1890. Musée d'Orsay, Paris]]
During his last weeks at Saint-Rémy, his thoughts returned to "[[Houses at Auvers#"Reminisces of the North"|memories of the North]]",{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let863/letter.html letter 863]|ps= . Theo van Gogh to Vincent, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Tuesday, 29 April 1890.}} and several of the approximately 70 oils, painted during as many days in Auvers-sur-Oise, are reminiscent of northern scenes.{{sfnp|Rosenblum|1975 |loc= 98–100}} In June 1890, he painted several portraits of his doctor, including ''[[Portrait of Dr. Gachet|Portrait of Dr Gachet]]'', and his only [[etching]]. In each the emphasis is on Gachet's melancholic disposition.{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 640}} There are other paintings which are probably unfinished, including ''[[Farms near Auvers (Van Gogh)|Thatched Cottages by a Hill]].''{{sfnp|Pickvance|1986|loc= 270–271}}

In July, Van Gogh wrote that he had become absorbed "in the immense plain against the hills, boundless as the sea, delicate yellow".{{sfnp|Edwards|1989|loc=115}} He had first become captivated by the fields in May, when the wheat was young and green. In July, he described to Theo "vast fields of wheat under turbulent skies".{{sfnp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let898/letter.html Letter 898]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Auvers-sur-Oise, on or about Thursday, 10 July 1890.}}

He wrote that they represented his "sadness and extreme loneliness" and that the "canvases will tell you what I cannot say in words, that is, how healthy and invigorating I find the countryside".{{refn|{{harvp|Van Gogh|2009|loc=[http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let898/letter.html Letter 898]|ps= . Vincent to Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Auvers-sur-Oise, on or about Thursday, 10 July 1890}}; {{harvp|Rosenblum|1975 |loc= 100.}}}} ''[[Wheatfield with Crows]]'', although not his last oil work, is from July 1890 and Hulsker discusses it as being associated with "melancholy and extreme loneliness".{{sfnp|Hulsker|1990|loc=478–479}} Hulsker identifies seven oil paintings from Auvers that follow the completion of ''Wheatfield with Crows''.{{sfnp|Hulsker|1990|loc=472–480}} Hulsker also expressed concern about the number of paintings attributed to Van Gogh from the period.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 July 1997 |title=At least 45 van Goghs may well be fakes: The Art Newspaper investigates |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/1997/07/01/at-least-45-van-goghs-may-well-be-fakes-the-art-newspaper-investigates |access-date=7 March 2024 |website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events |quote=Citing van Gogh’s period in Auvers-sur-Oise, he pointed out that “the number of paintings attributed to van Gogh far exceeds the amount of work he could have done in the 70 days he stayed there before his death.” Mr Hulsker catalogues 76 oil paintings from Auvers, which represents just over one a day.}}</ref>

===Death===
{{Main|Death of Vincent van Gogh|Auberge Ravoux|Vincent van Gogh's health}}
[[File:Vincent-van-gogh-echo-pontoisien-august7-1890.jpg|thumb|Article on Van Gogh's death from ''L'Écho Pontoisien'', 7 August 1890|alt=Photograph of a 19th-century newspaper announcement of someone's death]]

On 27 July 1890 (Sunday), aged 37, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a [[revolver]].{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 342–343}} The shooting may have taken place in the wheat field in which he had been painting, or in a local barn.{{sfnp|Walther|Metzger|1994|loc= 669}} The bullet was deflected by a rib and passed through his chest without doing apparent damage to internal organs – possibly stopped by his spine. He was able to walk back to the [[Auberge Ravoux]], where he was attended to by two doctors. One of them, Dr Gachet, had served as a war surgeon in the 1870 [[Franco-Prussian War]] and had extensive knowledge of gunshots. Vincent was possibly attended to during the night by Dr Gachet's son Paul Louis Gachet and the innkeeper, Arthur Ravoux. The following morning, Theo rushed to his brother's side, finding him in good spirits but within hours Vincent's health began to fail, suffering from an infection resulting from the wound. He died in the early hours of Tuesday, 29 July. According to Theo, Vincent's last words were: "The sadness will last forever".{{refn|{{harvp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 342–343}}; {{harvp|Hulsker|1980|loc=480–483.}}}}<ref>[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5703399s "La misère ne finira jamais", Études, 1947, p. 9] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122024925/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5703399s |date=22 November 2016 }}, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Philosophie, histoire, sciences de l'homme, D-33939</ref><ref>"La tristesse durera toujours", François-Bernard Michel, ''La face humaine de Vincent Van Gogh'', Grasset, 3 November 1999, {{ISBN|978-2-246-58959-4}}</ref><ref name="TvGletter">{{cite web |first1= Theodorus |last1= van Gogh |title= Letter from Theo van Gogh to Elisabeth van Gogh Paris, 5 August 1890 |publisher= Webexhibits.org |access-date= 28 April 2015 |url= http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/21/etc-Theo-Lies.htm |quote= he said, "La tristesse durera toujours" [The sadness will last forever] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110624060011/http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/21/etc-Theo-Lies.htm |archive-date= 24 June 2011 |url-status= live }}</ref>

[[File:Graves of Vincent and Théodore Van Gogh.jpg|thumb|Vincent and Theo's graves at [[Auvers-sur-Oise]] Cemetery|alt=Two graves and two gravestones side by side; heading behind a bed of green leaves, bearing the remains of Vincent and Theo van Gogh, where they lie in the cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise. The stone to the left bears the inscription: ''Ici Repose Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)'' and the stone to the right reads: ''Ici Repose Theodore van Gogh (1857–1891)'']]
Van Gogh was buried on 30 July, in the municipal cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise. The funeral was attended by Theo van Gogh, [[Andries Bonger]], [[Charles Laval]], [[Lucien Pissarro]], Émile Bernard, Julien Tanguy and Paul Gachet, among twenty family members, friends and locals. Theo suffered from [[syphilis]], and his health began to decline further after his brother's death. Weak and unable to come to terms with Vincent's absence, he died on 25 January 1891 at [[Den Dolder]] and was buried in Utrecht.{{refn|{{harvp|Hayden|2003|loc=152}}; {{harvp|Van der Veen|Knapp|2010|loc=260–264.}}}} In 1914, [[Johanna van Gogh-Bonger]] had Theo's body [[exhumation|exhumed]] and moved from Utrecht to be re-buried alongside Vincent's at Auvers-sur-Oise.{{sfnp|Sweetman|1990|loc= 367}}

There have been numerous debates as to the nature of [[Vincent van Gogh's health|Van Gogh's illness]] and its effect on his work, and many [[retrospective diagnosis|retrospective diagnoses]] have been proposed. The consensus is that Van Gogh had an episodic condition with periods of normal functioning.{{sfnp|Arnold|2004}} Perry was the first to suggest [[bipolar disorder]] in 1947,{{sfnp|Perry|1947}} and this has been supported by the psychiatrists Hemphill and Blumer.{{sfnp|Hemphill|1961}}{{sfnp|Blumer|2002}} Biochemist Wilfred Arnold has countered that the symptoms are more consistent with [[acute intermittent porphyria]], noting that the popular link between bipolar disorder and creativity might be spurious.{{sfnp|Arnold|2004}} [[Temporal lobe epilepsy]] with bouts of depression has also been suggested.{{sfnp|Blumer|2002}} Whatever the diagnosis, his condition was likely worsened by malnutrition, overwork, insomnia and alcohol.{{sfnp|Blumer|2002}}