10 curiosities about the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh

We delve into the figure of the Dutch painter, unanimously considered one of the greatest artists in history. From his dead brother to his use of a rare yellow pigment.

Although it is well known, it turns out to be a myth : Vincent Van Gogh did not sell just one painting in his entire life. The big question would be, in any case, how many he actually painted. Because the exceptional artist born in Zundert, in the Netherlands, in 1853, and reproduced and admired throughout the world , barely worked for a decade, given that his passion for canvases and brushes came to him when he was 27 years old (or 28, depending on the source), dying from a gunshot to the head, which is still not known whether it was suicide or not, in 1890, at the age of 37. In that time he had time to finish nearly 900 works .

Now we delve into those curiosities about both those paintings and his work, just as we did with Piet Mondrian .

1. Vincent, a name in honor of his deceased brother.

Vincent Van Gogh would not have been called Vincent if his older brother, the first Vincent Van Gogh, had not died as a baby. He was buried in the church in Zunder where his father, Theodorus Van Gogh (the same name later given to the artist's younger brother, Theo), became a Protestant pastor.

By chance, Van Gogh was born exactly one year after his late brother, on 30 March, and was therefore baptised with the same name. Later, Theodorus and his wife, Anna Cornelia, would have four more children: Cornelius, Elisabetha, Anna and Wilhelmina Jacoba. Unfortunately, the family's original house, on the main street of the town (Markt, 29) was demolished in 1903 .

2. Painting, a late vocation

Although his genius and technique are undeniable, inspiration came to Vincent Van Gogh at a much older age than his fellow geniuses such as Picasso. More specifically, he decided to pick up a paintbrush and finish his first work at the age of 27. Previously, he had only experimented with drawing in illustrations included in letters to his brother Theo.

3. The yellow pigment that we will not appreciate.

It is a pity, but nobody nowadays sees a Van Gogh painting exactly as it was painted. Especially those paintings that contain the colour yellow, such as his famous Sunflowers or The Bedroom in Arles . The artist lived through the era of the Industrial Revolution and at that time a new pigment called chrome yellow came to life.

Not only was this pigment toxic, it was also chemically unstable, which has caused many shades to disappear over the years and the paintings to darken and lose some of their luminosity. Koen Janssens, one of the leaders of the research into this paint that had lost its vibrancy, summed up: “Reversing this chemical reaction would probably cause further damage to the paintings.”

4. The only sale of his entire career

Although the myth that Van Gogh had not sold a single work in his entire career has spread over the years, it is certain that the famous Dutch artist did sell at least one painting. This was The Red Vineyard near Arles , which was painted by the artist in the year 1888 and was sold for the price of 400 francs to a Belgian painter named Anna Boch .

5. “Dirty and poorly dressed”

She lived for 122 years and 164 days. We are talking about Jeanne Louise Calment, the oldest known person in history. She was born in France in 1876, so Jeanne Louise Calment knew Vincent Van Gogh, since she was also in Arles at the time when the painter spent his famous season there in 1888.

When she was 12 or 13, she recalled, the Dutch genius would go to Jeanne’s uncle’s shop to buy various inks.

6. The disease he suffered from since birth.

Van Gogh was born with a brain dysfunction that marked his life from birth. The painter suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy which caused him to have seizures. The painter tried to soothe his pain with austenite, a drink that mixed with the treatment his doctor prescribed for his brain injury, digitalis, can cause people to see the world in a more yellow tone, historians point to it as one of the reasons why the painter used this color so much.

7. The mysteries of Van Gogh's life

There are many hypotheses and doubts surrounding the life of the Dutch artist. One of the most notable is the loss of his ear, which has been known to be automated after an argument in Arles, although later indications have emerged that the incident occurred in a brothel and that the ear was cut off with a sword by his colleague and painter Paul Gauguin. Apparently, Van Gogh then wrapped it in a handkerchief and gave it to a prostitute called Rachel.

Another of the great mysteries of Van Gogh's life was undoubtedly his death. All accounts point to it being a suicide at the age of 37 after the artist went into a deep depression, shooting himself in the head with a bullet. Although, as we wrote in this article, important clues have recently appeared that suggest it could have been a murder, and all thanks to some roots that appear in his work Tree Roots .

8. Its relationship with the physical theory of turbulence.

A recent study shows that three of his works in particular, The Starry Night, The Cypress and Star Path and The Wheat Field with Crows, created during his most psychotic period, accurately capture the physical theory of fluid turbulence and reproduce the laws described by the Russian physicist and mathematician Andrei Kolmogorov in 1941.

These hallucinatory works by the artist reflect the fingerprint of turbulence with such realism that they completely match Kolmogorov's mathematical model.

Manuel Torres – Member of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC)

9. Music inspired by the Dutch painter.

It is clear that anyone who is asked how the painter of Trigal con cuervos or Terraza de café por la noche influenced music will say that it was with the name of the popular San Sebastian band La oreja de Van Gogh, which made reference to the famous episode in which the painter cut off (or had his ear cut off).

But they are not the only group that he has inspired. In fact, one of the most famous rock bands in Serbia, founded in 1986, was called Van Gogh . And it is still active. It is also impossible not to mention here the American singer-songwriter Don McLean, who apart from his well-known anthem American Pie , has a song, entitled Vincent , inspired by Starry Night .

10. Monopoly

Just like Mondrian , Van Gogh also has his own board game. Although in this case it is a version of a much more well-known game: Monopoly. Obviously, the rules remain the same, although instead of buying properties, you acquire the Dutch painter's own works of art , the train stations of the places he passed through, and all of this using exclusive tokens such as a tube of paint or his famous bed.

Although it is only available in English and Dutch, if you want to get it, it is possible here.