Vincent van Gogh - Painter

The Pieta by Vincent Van Gogh Scott 1247 (2003) March 30th is the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh. In 2003, the Vatican Post Office issued a stamp to honor his work and pictured his painting The Pieta, calling it a work of refined sensitivity and deep religious feeling. Vatican Notes editor Thomas Crimando gave a summary of Vincent Van Gogh: Vincent Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in Groot-Zundert in North Brabant in the Netherlands, the son of a Dutch Protestant pastor. In 1876, a religious crisis impelled him to study theology in Amsterdam, He began ministry as a lay preacher in 1878, but his failure in this led him to decide to become a painter in 1881. Throughout his life, he suffered from psychological problems which are reflected in his art. In 1886 he moved to Paris to live with his brother Theo; there he met Gauguin and became influenced by the work of the Impressionists. However, he developed his own artistic style that featured luminosity and creative energy and had a profound influence on the Post-Impressionist movement. In 1888 he left Paris for southern France; at the end of that year, he became insane and was admitted to the mental hospital of Saint Remy. After his discharge, he had a relapse and received treatment from a physician in Auvers-sur-Oise, where he committed suicide in 1890. His art is a dramatic expression of the growing contrast between the inner and the outer worlds, between spirituality and objective reality; it should also be considered as the first indication of the crisis that brought pure expression to art, independently of any representative role. From Vatican Notes Volume 52, No. 3, November 2003, page 27