Van Gogh, Vincent

(1853-1890)

   Vincent Van Gogh attended the Training School for Evangelists in Brussels from August to November 1878. He failed to secure the requisite certification to preach the Gospel, and he departed on his own for the coalfields of the Bori-nage, where he ultimately obtained an appointment teaching, giving Bible readings, and visiting the sick. He lived in abject poverty. Dismissed in July 1879, Van Gogh spent months in bitter disillusionment until he resumed his prior avocation of drawing. Resolved now to make art his vocation, he returned to Brussels in October 1880 where he resided at rue du Midi 72 while sketching and painting. He departed in April 1881 for the Netherlands. His postimpressionist paintings were exhibited in the salons of Les XX in 1890 and 1891. In February 1890, Van Gogh sold his painting Vignes rouges (Red vineyards) to Anna Bock of Brussels.

   Van Gogh's uncle Hendrik Vincent—"Uncle Hein" as Van Gogh called him in his letters—was an art dealer who moved his business from Rotterdam to Brussels.