Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Vincent van Gogh Explained: Life, Art, and Rise to Fame After Death

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

Few artists are as instantly recognizable as Vincent van Gogh.  In just a single decade of work, he created some of the most famous paintings in history, filled with bold color, swirling movement, and raw emotion.  Yet during his lifetime, he sold almost nothing and struggled with poverty and mental illness.  Today, his works hang in the world’s greatest museums and inspire millions. How did a little-known painter become one of the most influential artists of all time?  Learn more about van Gogh and his extraordinary legacy on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily Sponsors Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Mint Mobile Save 50% on Unlimited premium wireless plans starting at $15/month at MintMobile.com/EED Audible Listen to Project Hail Mary Audible.com/hailmary Fast Growing Trees Get 20% off your first purchase when using the code DAILY at checkout at fastgrowingtrees.com/daily Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/Ds7Rx7jvPJ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few artists' work are as instantly recognizable as Vincent Van Gogh. In just a single decade, he created some of the most famous paintings in history, filled with bold color, swirling movement, and raw emotion. Yet during his lifetime, he sold almost nothing and struggled with poverty and mental illness. Today, his works hang in the world's greatest museums and inspire millions. But how did a little-known painter become one of the most influential artists of all time? Learn more about Vincent Van Gogh in his extraordinary legacy on this. this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep only to have

your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow? Thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day or jumping ahead to tomorrow? That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens. Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension, nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind slow down in your body, relax. It's not about entertainment, it's about rest. And millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and finally fall asleep. If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing. You can listen

to nothing much happens wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. Before I begin, let me address something that I know many of you are going to make an issue out of, the pronunciation of the name of the subject of this episode. In the first, the United States, the common pronunciation is Van Gogh. In British English, the common pronunciation is Van Gogh. Neither of these pronunciations is correct in the original Dutch, however. In Dutch, it's pronounced Van Hoch. Given that I speak American English, as do most listeners of this show, I will use the American pronunciation Van Gogh for the rest of the episode. However, I do acknowledge that it is pronounced differently elsewhere, and my apologies go to my Dutch listener.

Vincent Villum Van Gogh was born in the Kraut-Zundit province of the Netherlands on March 30th, 1853. He was the oldest living child of his parents, Theodorus Van Gogh and Anna Cornelius Carbontas. His parents gave Vincent the same name as his elder brother who had died at birth the year before, continuing a family name from Van Gogh's grandfather. Vincent Van Gogh's father was a minister who worked at the Dutch Reformed Church. However, the family had many ties to the art world with Vincent's grandfather, and three of his six sons being art dealers and a fourth being a sculptor. Vincent's mother Anna came from a well-off family in the Hague.

Growing up, Van Gogh's family lived comfortably with a church-supplied house, two cooks, a maid, a gardener, and a horse-drawn carriage. As a child, Van Gogh was serious and thoughtful. Educated first by his mother and a governess, he later attended a village school from 1860 to 1864. In 1864, Vincent's family placed him in a boarding school. He did not welcome the change reportedly feeling abandoned and campaigned to return to home. His parents instead sent him to middle school in Tilburg in 1866, where he remained reportedly unhappy. As a child, Vincent became interested in art encouraged by his mother to draw. His early drawings were considered expressive, but lacked the intensity of his later work.

While in middle school, Vincent's art became more formal. At Tilburg, one of his teachers was Constant Cornelius Houseman's, a successful artist's. in Paris. Hausman's taught his artistic philosophy to his students. And part of Hausman's philosophy was to reject artistic technique and instead focus on capturing impressions of different things, typically using objects and nature as examples. However, despite learning this technique, Vincent paid little attention in class. His depression overshadowed the lessons that he was supposed to be learning. Vincent returned home from school in March of 1868. The following year, Vincent's uncle arranged a position for him with the art dealers, Goupil and C, in the Hague.

Van Gogh trained under the art dealers until 1873. Then he was transferred to a different branch in London. Van Gogh considered his life at this time to be very happy. He was 20 and had a successful job. And he also became infatuated with his landlady's daughter, Eugenie L'Eoyet. However, this happiness did not last. After he confessed his feelings to L'Oyei, she rejected him. Van Gogh isolated himself and became more passionate about religion.

As Van Gogh's mental health declined, his father and uncle moved him to Paris in 1875. The move made Van Gogh resent his profession, especially how art dealers had commodified art. His resentment grew, and his employers let him go. In 1876, Van Gogh decided to return to England. This time in England, he re-immersed himself in his faith and desired to become a pastor. After working as a minister's assistant, Van Gogh moved back to Amsterdam in either 1877 or 1878, and there he studied for the theology entrance exam at the University of Amsterdam, which he failed. He continued to do church-related positions until 1880.

This was not a good time for Van Gogh as he was ridiculed and dismissed by the church. His parents asked him to return home, and he did, and around this time, Van Gogh's father became increasingly worried and suggested that Vincent be committed to a lunatic asylum. When he returned home, Vincent's interest in art picked up. He had previously only made doodles, not serious art. However, Van Gogh became more interested by the people and scenes around him. He decided to record these scenes and drawings and ultimately committed himself to art. After making this choice, Van Gogh moved to Brussels in 1880 and began his career as a painter. Despite his hatred of formal art schools, Van Gogh attended the Academy Royale de Bozar.

There he studied the standard rules of modeling, perspective, and anatomy. In 1881, Van Gogh returned home for an extended period. During this time, he tried to sell some of his art, and he also reconnected with his second cousin, Anton Mavv, who was a successful artist. Mav gave Van Gogh advice to work with pastel colors, as well as charcoal, advice which Vincent adopted. Around this time, Van Gogh, pursued another one-sided love interest, his widowed cousin, Cornelia Key Vostricker. Because Key was seven years older and had a child, his declaration of love shocked everyone, including her. And Key refused him saying, no, nay, never.

Key continued to reject Van Gogh, despite his repeated attempts to see her. Her family also intervened, stating that his persistence with her had become disgusting. Van Gog did not cope well mentally with this rejection. He reportedly put his left hand into a lamp's flame, begging to see Key for as long as he could keep his hand in the fire. Van Gogh had little memory of doing this, and of course it didn't work. Despite his mental instability, Anton Mov continued to teach Vincent about art. Mawv introduced him to watercolor and later oil painting. He also lent Vincent money to set up his own studio. And soon after receiving the loan, Van Gog and Maw fell out over an argument likely about the

viability of drawing from plaster cas. Mav also reportedly disapproved of Van Gogh hiring people from the street as models. In June of 1882, Van Gogh spent a few weeks in the hospital after he suffered from gonorrhea. When he left the hospital, he started painting more in oils. He reportedly enjoyed spreading, layering, and scraping the medium on the canvas. Van Gogh then moved to Noon, a town in the Netherlands in 1883. While there, he primarily focused on art, creating numerous drawings and paintings. Van Gogh typically worked outdoors at a rapid pace, capturing cottages and weavers in his paintings and drawings. During this period, he also painted the Parsonage Garden at Noonan. Van Gogh spent two years in Noonan. During this time,

he painted many still lifes, watercolors, and drawings. He also completed almost 200 oil paintings. These works convey a more melancholic tone and use earthier colors than the vibrant work for which he later became known. After being accused of forcing himself upon a peasant model, Van Gogh moved to Antwerp. He lived in poverty and spent what little money he had on art supplies such as paints, brushes, and models. While living in Antwerp, Van Gogh studied the works of other artists, most notably Peter Paul Rubens. He focused on broadening his color palette to include more vibrant shades and also studied color theory. While expanding his artistic background, Van Gogh's personal life continued to decline. He had another health scare, likely syphilis this time, and needed to be hospitalized.

At the same time, he began drinking heavily. His teeth became loose and brittle, and he reportedly ate very little, surviving mostly on cigarettes. After his hospitalization, Van Gogh enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He struggled at the school and argued repeatedly with his instructor over their differing styles, and ultimately, the school expelled him. Van Gogh then moved back to Paris in 1886 and lived with his brother. In Paris, he studied art, befriended fellow artists, and mainly painted portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. He also adopted a brighter color palette and bolder style. After a few arguments, he ended up moving out of his brother's house, though they later made up. He stayed in Paris and adopted a new artistic style called

Pointalism. Pointalism is a painting technique in which small distinct dots of pure color are applied to patterns, so they visually blend together when viewed from a distance. In late 1887, Van Gogh finally exhibited his work in Paris with several art friends. Contemporaries praised his work as ahead of anything they've seen in Paris. By 1888, Van Gogh had grown tired of Paris and moved to the coastal city of Arles in southern France. Arles offered Van Gogh an interesting place to live, but in many ways it fueled his drinking. Van Gogh arrived in the city as an alcoholic. with poor lungs from smoking. Arles tempted him with many vices such as alcohol and brothels and

embraced a much more open atmosphere. During his time in Arles, Van Gogh's work took on a vibrant quality, using colors like yellow, mauve, and deep blues to capture the countryside. He made 200 paintings during this time, along with 100 watercolors and drawings. In 1888, Van Gogh began using the yellow house he lived in as a gallery. The house was meant to be his home, but it needed a renovation, and his art was meant to be displayed throughout the house for others to see. Also in 1888, the most famous thing that most people know about Van Gogh occurred. He lost his ear. The exact circumstances around how he lost his ear are unknown.

What we do know is that one of Van Gogh's friends, Paul Gogan, was visiting, and the two got into a heated argument, possibly over finances. It's believed that after Gogan left the Yellow House, Van Gogh may have heard voices in his head, leading him, to use a razor to cut his ear off. He then bandaged the wound, sent the unattached ear to a prostitute, and fell unconscious.

Reportedly, Vincent had no memory of this event. Van Gogh was hospitalized for his cut-off ear, where he was diagnosed with acute mania and generalized delirium. Throughout 1889, Van Gog spent his time between the hospital and his house, facing delusions and hallucinations. He eventually voluntarily put himself

into the San Paul de Mazol asylum, where his mood was said to dramatically fluctuate. While in the asylum, Van Gogh was often seen painting in the garden. Perhaps his most famous work, Starry Night, was painted during this period. As shown in Starry Night, one of the main artistic features of works from this period was his use of swirls. In early 1890, Vincent finally began to receive more praise from the art community. His work was praised by Albert Orier in a French magazine, and he was invited to a painter's expo called Le Vaughan in Brussels, where his work was presented.

He also saw his work displayed at the Society of Independent Artists. Van Gogh left the asylum in May of 1890. Upon leaving, he revisited and completed a few other paintings, including Wheatfield with Crows, a piece commonly associated by artists with feelings of depression and loneliness. On July 27, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh died by self-inflicted gunshot wound after years of depression, and mental illness. He was just 37 years old. Vincent Van Gogh clearly suffered from severe mental illness during his life. Even though he devoted himself to his art, he was mostly unknown,

sold only a few paintings, and lived in poverty. The dramatic rise in appreciation for his work was largely due to the efforts of his sister-in-law, Joanna, the widow of his brother Theo. After Theo's death, shortly after Vincent's, Joanna inherited hundreds of of paintings and letters and began carefully promoting his work. She organized exhibitions across Europe, loan paintings to galleries, and published Vincent's letters, which helped create the image of a passionate, misunderstood artist. At the same time, artistic taste began to shift in the early 20th century. Movement such as expressionism embraced intense color, emotional expression,

and visible brushwork, qualities that Van Gogh had pioneered. As younger artists and critics recognized the revolutionary nature of his style, his reputation grew rapidly. Paintings by Vincent Van Gogh have become some of the most valuable artwork ever sold at auction. Beginning in the mid-20th century, as modern art gained prestige and wealthy collectors competed for masterpieces, Van Gogh's rare works drove prices upward rapidly. The most famous example occurred in 1990, when his painting, Portrait of Dr. Gassay, sold at auction for $82.5 million. At the time, the highest price ever paid for a painting. Since then, other Van Gogh works have sold privately or at auction for well over $100 million, reflecting his status as one of the

most sought-after artists in the world. Today, Van Gogh has completed his transformation, from an obscure painter in poverty, into one of the most celebrated artists in all of history. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by Olivia Ash. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord.

This is where everything happens that's outside of the show. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read on the show. Go.