It was during one of these psychotic episodes that he cut off a large part of his left ear. Van Gogh was known to struggle with mental illness including depression, hallucinations, nightmares, and other psychotic episodes. Though van Gogh is now known as one of the most famous painters in art history, he was not actually famous for his work while he was alive. Court Artist Tried to Warn Henry VIII Not to Marry Anne of Cleves.Every Curator’s Dream? 2000-Year-Old Mummy Shroud Discovered at the National Museum of Scotland.
He was known for including many shades of yellow throughout his later paintings. As he expanded his still life work, he eventually started painting specific items in repetition, such as broad fields, sunflowers, and self-portraits. Most of these paintings were still lifes and landscapes, though he eventually developed his own style of impressionism in his oil paintings that he applied to all his pieces. He began working on paintings to trade and sell locally while being supported financially by his brother Theo. As he traveled for his work, he became exceptionally depressed, which led him to turn to religion for comfort and work as a Belgian missionary for several years.įailing to find comfort in his missionary work, van Gogh returned home to his family and took his art a step further. As an art dealer, he would try to sell his own pieces or trade them for others, bringing some mild local attention to his work. As a child, he began drawing at an early age, a hobby that led to him taking up the job of art dealer as a teenager. Van Gogh was born in the Netherlands in 1853 to a relatively well-to-do family. ( National Galleries of Scotland ) The Tragic History of Vincent van Gogh Senior Conservator Lesley Stevenson views Head of a Peasant Woman alongside an X-ray image of the hidden Vincent van Gogh self-portrait. So what does the portrait look like, how exactly was it found, and what does it mean in relation to his other works? Conservators search endlessly for these hidden paintings, a known habit of the famed artist, especially when he was low on money. This discovery, while incredible, isn’t the first of van Gogh’s secret paintings to be discovered, and it may not be the last.
The painting, discovered using X-ray technology, is painted on the back of another of van Gogh’s famous impressionist paintings, Head of a Peasant Woman. According to the National Galleries of Scotland, a previously hidden self-portrait of van Gogh has been discovered. Vincent van Gogh, one of the most famous figures in 19th-century Western art history, is still surprising us.