Gogh's Timeline
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Written by Peter Imialek
1853 (birth) - Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30 in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands, to Anna Cornelia Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh, a ministor of the Dutch Reformed Church.
1857 (age 4) - Theodorus, Gogh's brother, is born on May 1st.
1860 (age 7) - Gogh attends the Zundert village school.
1861 (age 8) - Gogh and his sister Anna are taught at home by a governess.
1864 (age 11) - Gogh goes away to the elementary boarding school of Jan Provily in Zevenbergen.
1866 (age 13) - Gogh begins to attend the middle school Willem II Colege in Tiburg.
1868 (age 15) - Gogh leaves school prematurely and returns home.
1869 (age 16) - Gogh obtains a position with the art dealer Goupil & Cie in The Hague through his uncle Vincent.
1873 (age 20) - Goupil transfers Gogh to London in June, where he begins to earn more than his father. Gogh falls in love with his landlady's daughter, Eugénie Loyer, who rejects him when he declares his affection. Gogh then becomes increasingly isolated and religious.
1876 (age 23) - From England, Gogh is sent to Paris on business. After growing resentful at how art was treated as a commodity and manifesting his views and feelings to customers, it was agreed on April 1st that his employment should be terminated. Gogh returns to England to do voluntary work.
1877 (age 24) - Gogh's family finances his trip to Amsterdam in an effort to support his wish to become a pastor. He lives with his uncle Jan van Gogh.
1878 (age 25) - Gogh spends the year preparing himself with the help of his uncle Johannes Stricker for the theology entrance exam. He fails the exam, however, and leaves his uncle Jan's house in 1878. He then studies, but fails, a three-month course at the Protestant missionary school.
1879 (age 26) - Gogh is given a temporary post as a missionary in the village of Petit Wasmes. He loses the post the same year for living in squalor. After returning home and arguing with his father, who wanted to commit him to an insane asylum, Gogh moves to Cuesmes. There he begins to draw the people and surrounding areas.
1880 (age 27) - Gogh's brother Theo convinces him to seriously take up art. Gogh goes to to Brussels and studies with the prominent Dutch artist Willem Roelofs, who persuades Gogh to attend the Royal Academy of Art.
1881 (age 28) - Moving back in with his parents in Etten, Gogh continues drawing and spends a lot of time with his widowed cousin Kee Vos-Stricker. He proposes to her, but she flatly refuses him with the words: "No, never, never" (niet, nooit, nimmer).
Despite this refusal, Gogh does not give up and follows Kee home to Amsterdam to speak with her father, his uncle Stricker. Her parents, however, tell him that "his persistence is disgusting". Gogh then returns home and quarrels violently with his father. He leaves for The Hague shortly before the year ends.
1882 (age 29) - Gogh lives with an alcoholic prostitute, Sien (Clasina Maria Hoornik), and her two children.
1883 (age 30) - In June Gogh spends three weeks in hospital treating his gonorrhoea. In the autumn, he abandons Sien and her two children and travels to Nuenen to live with his parents. 20 years later Sien will commit suicide by drowning herself in the river Scheldt.
1884 (age 31) - A neighbour's daughter, Margot Bergemenn, 10 years old than Gogh, falls in love with him. They agree to marry, but the marriage is opposed by both families. Margot attempts suicide, but fails.
1885 (age 32) - On March 26, Gogh's father dies of a stroke. In spring Gogh paints what is today considered his first major work, The Potato Eaters. Gogh moves to Antwerp in November. During his two years in Neunen Gogh completed nearly 200 oil paintings.
1886 (age 33) - Gogh moves in with his brother in Paris to study and work at Fernand Cormon's studio. He meets Emile Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, John Peter Russell and Paul Gaugin.
1888 (age 35) - Feeling worn out, Gogh leaves Paris for Arles. He finished over 200 paintings during his two years in Paris. In OCtober Gaugin joins Gogh in Arles and they work together. Shortly afterwards, however, they begin to quarrel violently about art. Their quarrels reach a climax when Gogh cuts off a part of his own left ear lobe with a razor.
1889 (age 36) - Gogh commits himself to the mental hospital of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in a former monastery in Saint Rémy de Provence. While there he paints, amongst other paintings, The Starry Night.
1890 (age 37) - Gogh checks out of the mental hospital and moves to Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. In a state of deep depression, he manages to finish another 70 old paintings before shooting himself in the chest on July 27th. He dies two days later in bed and his last words to his brother are: "La tristesse durera toujours" (the sadness will last forever).