Editing Vincent van Gogh (section)

===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.}}