Vincent Van Gogh Research Paper

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Pages: 4

Many different sources have given accounts of what Van Gogh's personality was like. His sister Elisabeth claimed that Vincent was a very solemn and emotional man who would almost always prefer to be alone. She also said that Vincent van Gogh would prefer to spend time with flowers, birds, and insects over spending time with his family. Elisabeth said that, in school, Vincent excelled academically but was also a bit of an outsider. Since he had an obscure fashion sense and bizarre eating habits, several of his peers judged him which further ostracized him from others. Around the year 1866, Van Gogh attended a high school in Tilburg where, apparently, he showed no interest in art. It wasn't until Vincent van Gogh was about twenty-seven that he realized his true passion …show more content…
When Van Gogh was born, doctors found that he had a lesion in his brain that was likely exasperated throughout his life by his heavy consumption of absinthe, leading to the seizures. He also ate very poorly and lost most of his teeth in his thirties which led to gastric issues. Van Gogh was known to consume an abundance of alcohol and caffeine, sleep very little, and work too hard which all may have played a role in the onset of his manic episodes. In the early 1880's, Van Gogh fell in love with his widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker, who rejected his romantic advances. Van Gogh's parents strongly disapproved of his pursuit of his cousin and his choice in career, so they lost respect for their own son. Afterwards, Van Gogh became involved with a woman named Sien Hoornik. Sien was once a prostitute and Van Gogh turned her into his muse. He would incorporate this woman into some of his art pieces. Van Gogh's family also disapproved of his relationship with this woman, so their romance was short-lived. His next relationship happened while he was in the Netherlands with his neighbor named Margot