In this city Van Gogh discovered and indulged in new vices вЂ“ absinthe and brothels. Eventually his father decided to intervene, and visited Van Gogh.ДЄgain, it was time to move on. His antics also did not endear him to the church. Although he was liked by most, he was seen as a madman.

In solidarity with those he preached to, Van Gogh started sleeping on straw, eating sparingly and neglecting his ablutions. The scenes of poverty he encountered here inspired him to draw what he saw in order to share it with Theo. He finally found a flock to guide in Petit-Wasmes in the coal-mining district of Borinage in Belgium. This, combined with a rejected marriage proposal, inspired Van Gogh to turn to religion, and he started consuming the Bible almost obsessively.ДЄt the age of 23, Van Gogh decided to give up everything and become a missionary. He was more interested in the art itself, rather than the monetary value attached to it. Although he initially enjoyed what the English capitol had to offer, he soon became disillusioned with the commercialization of art. At the age of 19, Van Gogh was based in London. His work for the art dealership took him to many new places. Van Gogh was overjoyed by this, and started a correspondence with his brother that would eventually comprise more than 800 letters вЂ“ letters that to this day offer scintillating insights into Van GoghвЂ™s art and psyche. Eventually Theo would join the same company, but in a different city. In his later life he recalled the experience of his parents leaving him behind as they drove off in a yellow car вЂ“ yellow would come to represent ever-elusive happiness in his paintings.ДЄt the age of 16 Van Gogh was sent to apprentice with his uncle, a very successful art dealer. These explorations became less solitary with the arrival of his younger brother, Theo van Gogh, near identical in looks to Vincent, who would become his closest companion and confidant.ДЄt the age of 11, Van Gogh was harshly cut off from the world he knew and loved when he was sent to a boarding school about 30km away from his family. Van Gogh loved nature, and immersed himself in the Dutch countryside on long, solitary excursions. Every time he went to church, where his father was the minister, he would walk past a gravestone bearing his name вЂ“ is this perhaps the reason for his quiet introspection as a child? He was born exactly a year after a still-born brother, also named Vincent Willem Van Gogh. The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit, currently the hottest ticket in Chicago, delves into the mind of the artist, bringing his work to life вЂ“ but with truth often stranger than fiction, is it even possible to untangle the myths from the man?Д«orn into an upper-middle class family in a small town in the Dutch countryside in 1853, Vincent Willem Van Gogh had a strange cross to bear from a very young age. He has, in fact, become the art worldвЂ™s archetype of the вЂmisunderstood geniusвЂ™. ItвЂ™s hard to believe that, during his lifetime, Van GoghвЂ™s art was not appreciated. His art can be found in the most prestigious museums across the globe вЂ“ the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, MusГ©e dвЂ™Orsay in Paris, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Art Institute of Chicago, Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the National Gallery in London, Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam вЂ“ the list goes on.ДЇrom his vibrant sunflowers to his moody landscapes, introspective self-portraits, Starry Night (1889) and more, Van GoghвЂ™s art has become iconic. Today, anyone hearing the name Vincent van Gogh can conjure up one of the vivid paintings that have become his legacy.

Vgallery of van goghs work