Chronology

1853 Vincent van Gogh is born on 30 March in the small village of Groot-Zundert, Holland to Theodorus van Gogh  and Anna Cornelia née Carbentus.

1864 Vincent begins schooling in Zevenbergen .

1867 Secondary school at Zevenbergen.

1869 After finishing his schooling, Vincent moves to The Hague, where he joins Goupil & Cie, art dealers from Paris with a branch established in The Hague by his uncle Vincent (Uncle "Cent"). Vincent makes frequent visits to the museums of The Hague.

1872 Correspondence with Theo begins.

1873 Vincent moves to the London office of Goupil & Cie in May He visits the museums and galleries and expands his knowledge of art. Vincent stays in a boarding house run by Mrs. Ursula Loyer. For decades it's been thought that Vincent was in love with Mrs. Loyer's, daughter, Eugenie. Recent evidence, however, suggests that Vincent was, in fact, in love with Caroline Haanebeek--a friend of the Van Gogh family living back in The Netherlands. Vincent's feelings are unreciprocated.



1874 Vincent is getting interested in his position at Goupil & Cie and eventually transferred to the Paris branch. By the end of the year, however, he returns to London.

1875 Vincent's performance at Goupil & Cie deteriorates while, at the same time, his devotion to his bible studies reach an obsessive level.



1876 After his dismissal from Goupil & Cie in January Van Gogh moves to England, where he works as a teacher and assists the Revd Thomas Slade-Jones in his ministry. Van Gogh preaches his first sermon in November, then travels to Holland to spend Christmas with his family.

1877 Vincent leaves England and takes a temporary job in a bookshop in Dordrecht. As with his Goupil & Cie position, Vincent shows little interest and behaves abrasively towards his colleagues and clients. Vincent then pursues religious studies in Amsterdam.



1878 Vincent's formal religious studies come to an end, but, determined to pursue a religious vocation, Vincent travels to the Borinage, a coal-mining district in Belgium, where he starts working as a minister?s assistsnt.

 
1879 Relieved of his ministerial duties by Synodal Committee, which judges him devoted but ill-suited to preaching, Van Gogh despairs of his future.

1880 A turning point in Vincent's life. Vincent abandons his religious pursuits and devotes himself to painting the miners and poverty-stricken weavers. Also he is copies some figural works by Jean-Francois Millet. Theo begins to financially support Vincent, a situation that would continue until the end of Vincent's life. Later in the year, Vincent undertakes some formal studies of anatomy and perspective at the Academy in Brussels.

1881 Vincent visits Theo in Etten and, later in the year, has his advances rejected by his cousin Cornelia Adriana Vos-Stricker (known as Kee). Vincent is devastated by this rejection, but throughout the period also follows his artistic pursuits. Tackles Dutch landscape; works with the visiting Van Rappard; and continuescopy works from Bargue and Millet. He spends time with the painter, Anton Mauve (1838-1888) who first introduces Vincent to watercolours. The situation with Kee causes Vincent's mental state to once again deteriorate and his relationship with his father also begins to crumble.



1882 Vincent meets Clasina Maria Hoornik (known as Sien) and they move in together. Sien is a prostitute with a five year old daughter and is pregnant with another child. While continuing his studies and painting with some acquaintances (painters Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch and George Hendrik Breitner), Vincent's physical state again deteriorates and he is hospitalized for three weeks for gonorrhoea. Upon his release Vincent begins to experiment with oils in autumn and spends much time painting nature as well as using Sien and her newborn child as models.



1883 After more than a year together, Vincent ends his relationship with Sien  in September and pursues a life devoted exclusively to his work. He goes to Drenthe in northern Holland and paints the bleak landscape as well as the peasant workers. Later in the year, Vincent moves to Nuenen to stay with his parents. He will spend the next two years there. He sets up a small studio to work and continues to rely on Theo for support.



1884 While continuing with his work, Vincent begins a relationship with a neighbour's daughter, Margot Begemann, which ends when she attempts suicide. Vincent is extremely distressed as this relationship ends, but continues his work and strikes up a friendship with Anton C. Kerssemakers (1846-1926), a tanner and art enthusiast. They spend much time together, discussing art and visiting museums.



1885 Death of his father in March. Vincent continues with his work and, in early spring, paints what many consider to be his first great work, The Potato Eaters. Vincent expands his experiments to include a greater variety of colours and discovers Japanese woodcuts.



1886 Works at Antwerp Academy in January and February. Moves to Paris in March, where he lives with Theo. Theo introduces him to impressionism. Examines the Neo-Impressionism of George Seurat his disciples at the last Impressionists exhibition and the Salon des Independants. Works in the studio of Fernand Cormon, where he meets Louis Anquetin, Emile Bernard, John Russell and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. Frequents Julien Tanguy?s art supplies shop in Montmartre, a painterà hangout where Van Gogh meets Charles Angrand and Paul Signac. Paints floral still lives and Montmartre views.

1887 Throughout the year, Vincent continues his work in Paris. He frequents cafes with other painters and argues about art with Bernard and Gauguin. Often paints with Anquetin and Bernard thereafter. Over the course of the year, Vincent experiments with some different styles, including japonisme and pointillism.Organizes the exhibition of his and his friend recent paintings held at the Grand-Bouillon-Restaurant du Chalet in November.

1888 Vincent leaves Paris in February and moves to Arles in the south. Begins painting the flowering Provence landscapes. He  eventually moves into the "Yellow House", a dwelling he has rented where he will paint, and from which he hopes to establish an artists' community. Paints a number of seaside landscapes (in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer) as well as many of his most famous portraits (including his series of the postman, Joseph Roulin, and his family). Gauguin arrives in October and moves in with Vincent in his "Yellow House". Competitivness and personal differenses cause tensions that flare on 23 December when Vincent is supposed to have attacked Gauguin with a razor. Immediately after the failed attack, Vincent loses all reason and cuts off his left earlobe. He then wraps it in newspaper and presents it to a prostitute at the local brothel he frequented. He is then hospitalized and shortly afterward Theo arrives from Paris to make arrangements for Vincent's care.Gauguin retreats to Paris.

1889 Vincent begins to improve in the new year and leaves the hospital in Arles on 7 January. During the early part of the year, Vincent's mental state fluctuates wildly. At times he is completely calm and coherent; at others he suffers from hallucinations and delusions. Vincent continues to work sporadically from his "Yellow House", but the increasing frequency of his mental breakdowns prompt him, with Theo's help, to enter the Saint Paul-de-Mausole mental asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The year progresses with varying recoveries and lapses in Vincent's mental state. When able, Vincent continues his paintings of landscapes (his famous series of olive groves and cypresses) from the asylum, but is forced to stop when his attacks (in which he tries to poison himself by swallowing his own paints) return. Since these attacks often occur while Vincent is outdoors, he confines himself indoors and begins to do a series paintings based on the works of other artists he admires (specifically Millet and Delacroix). Vincent begins to work out of doors once again, but the year concludes with one of his worst attacks, in which he again tries to poison himself, and he is once more incapacitated.

1890 In January , Van Gogh Red Vineyards purchased by Anna Boch. On 31 January Theo's son is born who they name Vincent Willem. Vincent suffers a severe collapse shortly thereafter. It's decided that Vincent should move closer to Theo and be put under the care of Dr. Paul Gachet. Vincent takes a drastic turn for the better during the course of this move and arrives in Paris looking fit and well (in fact, even more fit than his brother who had been suffering from ill health for years). In May Vincent moves to Auvers-sur-Oise, just northwest of Paris and, while under the care of Dr. Gachet, begins to paint with incredible energy, producing more than 80 paintings in the last two months. June: Vincent continues to produce some of his best work and his mental and physical health improve drastically. Dr. Gachet feels that Vincent has made a complete recovery, and Vincent spends a great deal of time with Theo, Jo and his new nephew. July: As conditions for Vincent improved, they took a turn for the worse for Theo, who was experiencing financial difficulties and who was troubled at his new son's ill health. Vincent visits Theo on 6 July and is devastated at the state of Theo's condition. Vincent continues to work in the weeks to follow, but his mental state finally plummets, perhaps owing to his regarding himself as a burden to Theo and his family and for being responsible for their poor financial state and troubles. On 27 July Vincent goes for a walk and shoots himself in the chest with a pistol. He manages to stagger home late in the evening, but tells no one of his condition. The wounded Vincent is eventually found in his lodgings and a doctor is summoned. The bullet cannot be removed and Theo is called for. Vincent dies early the next morning on 29 July.