Dutch Post-Impressionist Painter, 1853-1890 Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 ?C 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist. Some of his paintings are now among the world's best known, most popular and expensive works of art. Van Gogh spent his early adult life working for a firm of art dealers. After a brief spell as a teacher, he became a missionary worker in a very poor mining region. He did not embark upon a career as an artist until 1880. Initially, Van Gogh worked only with sombre colours, until he encountered Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism in Paris. He incorporated their brighter colours and style of painting into a uniquely recognizable style, which was fully developed during the time he spent at Arles, France. He produced more than 2,000 works, including around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches, during the last ten years of his life. Most of his best-known works were produced in the final two years of his life, during which time he cut off part of his left ear following a breakdown in his friendship with Paul Gauguin. After this he suffered recurrent bouts of mental illness, which led to his suicide. The central figure in Van Gogh's life was his brother Theo, who continually and selflessly provided financial support. Their lifelong friendship is documented in numerous letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards. Van Gogh is a pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism. He had an enormous influence on 20th century art, especially on the Fauves and German Expressionists.  Related Paintings of Vincent Van Gogh :. | Field with Poppies (nn04) | Farmhous in a Wheat Field (nn04) | Planting potatoes | Farmhouse in a wheat field | Orchard with Blossoming Apricot Trees (nn04)_ |
Related Artists:
Alessandro Botticelli
Florence ca.1445-1510 Italian painter and draughtsman. In his lifetime he was one of the most esteemed painters in Italy, enjoying the patronage of the leading families of Florence, in particular the Medici and their banking clients. He was summoned to take part in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, was highly commended by diplomatic agents to Ludovico Sforza in Milan and Isabella d'Este in Mantua and also received enthusiastic praise from the famous mathematician Luca Pacioli and the humanist poet Ugolino Verino. By the time of his death, however, Botticelli's reputation was already waning. He was overshadowed first by the advent of what Vasari called the maniera devota, a new style by Perugino, Francesco Francia and the young Raphael, whose new and humanly affective sentiment, infused atmospheric effects and sweet colourism took Italy by storm;
Grigoriy Soroka
(Russian, real surname Vasilyev. November 27 [O.S. November 15] 1823-April 22 [O.S. April 10] 1864) was a Russian painter, one of the most notable members of Venetsianov school. Soroka was born in Pokrovskoye village (Tver Guberniya), in the family of landowner Milyukov. In 1842-1847 he studied art from Alexey Venetsianov then he was returned to his owner. In 1850s-1860s he resided in his home village. He fell in love with his owners's daughter Lydia but was forcibly married to a serf woman. After the emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia, Soroka remained under the serfdom system. He made a formal complaint but it was rejected and he was flogged. Soroka's body was found in the baking room where he had hanged himself. His beloved Lydia poisoned herself soon after.
Nils Schillmark
Nils Schillmark (1745-1804)Aliases: Nils Schillmarch; Nils Schillmarck; Nils SkiellmarkProfessions: Portrait painter; Landscape painter; Painter. (b Skellefteå, northern Sweden, 1745; d 1804). Finnish painter of Swedish birth. The son of a crofter, he was apprenticed in Stockholm to Pehr Fjellström, an artist and military officer. It is possible that Schillmark also studied at the Swedish Royal Academy of Art. He accompanied Fjellström on journeys to Finland and eventually moved there in 1773, first staying in Viaborg, the fortress situated off the shore near Helsinki, and later moving to the mainland and settling in Helsinki. In 1777 he began to receive commissions for portraits, and from then on he spent most of his life as a travelling portrait painter. His sitters came from both the bourgeoisie and the landed gentry, but they were widely spread across southern and western Finland. Occasionally Schillmark also received other kinds of commissions, for example for an altarpiece for the old stone church in Hattula (in situ). From 1787 Schillmark lived permanently in the town of Loviisa, but he continued to tour the estates of the neighbouring countryside. His only landscape paintings to have been preserved are from this year and show the town of Heinola and its new residence for the governor of the Uusimaa and Häme districts. A few years later Schillmark produced a number of still-life paintings for this building. It is possible that he spent some time in Stockholm during this period.