The Curse of Van Gogh's Life

And the ever present struggle to fit in.

I thought I knew the most important events in van Gogh's life. As it turns out, I know nothing!

The man couldn’t get anything right, and it’s almost as if life itself had a unique plan for him: To make him suffer as much as possible.

Vincent was deeply troubled. He was the proverbial “black sheep” of the respectable Van Gogh family.

His uncle was an art dealer with the famous art house, Goupil and Cie. He got Vincent and his brother Theo jobs as art dealers in their late teens. The company fired Vincent for very poor salesmanship after only a few years. He then tried to become a lay preacher, as his father was. He, too, lost this job for giving away church property to the poor. It seemed to him, that he didn’t fit, period.

By the time he first began painting at age 27, his family were, by and large, disgusted with him. His only support was his younger brother Theo.