Fascinating Facts about Vincent van Gogh

Despite dozens of biographies, thousands of articles, and millions of visitors to his museum in Amsterdam, there is still a good amount unknown about the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Though his life began rather calmly in the countryside of southern Netherlands, it ended in tragedy at the young age of 37 with a self-induced gunshot to the abdomen. During his life, Van Gogh produced some of the most revolutionary works of art the world has ever known, leaving in his wake his thoughts, desires, and anxieties in the forms of paintings, sketches, and letters. Sure, many will know him as the artist missing an ear (more on that later), but how many are aware that Van Gogh would, during times of severe mental distress, eat from his tubes of paint while living in France? Below, AD runs through nine facts about the genius from Zundert, Netherlands, that may shock even the most ardent fans of his work.

1. Theodorus van Gogh and Anna Carbentus van Gogh gave birth to their first child on March 30, 1852. They named him Vincent Willem van Gogh after his grandfathers on both sides of the family (as was the strict tradition at the time). However, the child was stillborn and buried soon after. Exactly one year later, on March 30, 1853, the couple gave birth to another child. His name? Vincent Willem van Gogh.

2. Vincent van Gogh was only an artist for the last decade of his life (he died in 1890). Before painting pictures that would adorn the walls of the most celebrated museums, Van Gogh tried (and failed) at three other careers. First, Van Gogh attempted to make a go in the family trade as an art dealer. His uncle, also named Vincent, was part owner of Goupil & Cie (Cie short for Vincent), which was among the most successful galleries in Europe. After failing miserably (mainly due to his short temper), Van Gogh tried his hand as a school teacher in London. From there, he turned to the church, hoping to follow in his father's footsteps as a preacher. But when he couldn't pass the required examinations, Van Gogh moved to the coal mining fields in Belgium to be a preacher (a location that didn't have strict requirements due to the fact that no one willingly went to such a dreary environment). Even there, however, the locals drove him out due to his irascible and erratic nature. Finally, in a letter to his brother Theo written in late the summer of 1880, Van Gogh announced himself an artist. He spent the next few years traveling through Belgium, Holland, and France in pursuit of his vision.

3. While Vincent certainly wasn't living a life of luxe, he wasn't the poor struggling artist some might have perceived. Theo, who worked as a successful art dealer at Goupil & Cie, paid Vincent a stipend three times per month, and it's estimated (through the many letters exchanged between siblings) that the younger brother spent just under fifteen percent of his annual income on his brother. The funds went toward art supplies, books, rent, medical costs, food expenses, other carnal pleasures (an activity both brothers partook in), and other things.

4. Of all of Van Gogh's work, his paintings of sunflowers are perhaps the most famous. Indeed, his Sunflowers (1888) is among the most visited paintings at the National Gallery in London. Yet, over the span of a few years, Van Gogh would create dozens of paintings and sketches of sunflowers, the reason being that the plant was, to him, quite sacred. Much like Van Gogh's career as an artist, the sunflower is a late bloomer, commonly blossoming during the late summer and early fall months. What's more, the sunflower plays an important role in Dutch Protestantism. In its text, the sunflower follows the arc of the sun throughout the day, much in the same way people should always follow the direction of God throughout their lifetime.

5. Van Gogh was a voracious reader who had a real passion for literature. Throughout his many letters to friends and family, the artist would often quote some of his most beloved authors including Emile Zola, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens, and William Shakespeare. "But my God, how beautiful Shakespeare is, who else is as mysterious as he is; his language and method are like a brush trembling with excitement and ecstasy," he wrote in a letter to Theo.

6. Though Van Gogh apparently had some mental illnesses (including bipolar disorder), this didn't prevent him from mastering foreign languages. In fact, Van Gogh could speak three languages fluently, including French, English, and his native tongue, Dutch. He learned French and English during his time working for the Parisian and London branches of Goupil & Cie.

7. Try as he might, Vincent didn't have much luck with women. His first serious relationship was with an older woman, a prostitute named Sien Hoornik. Together with Sien, Van Gogh lived in a small apartment in the Hague with her young child and aging mother. Of course, news of the relationship (and the women's career) was met with much anger and grief in the pious Van Gogh household.

8. Van Gogh wasn't the only family member with artistic talent. His older cousin (on his mother's side) Anton Mauve was a big success throughout Europe. Mauve was revolutionary with his color selection, a trait later seen in his younger cousin. At one point the two were close; Mauve even allowed Van Gogh to come stay with him at his studio in Holland for several weeks in 1881. Yet, over time, their relationship completely fell apart, much of it due to the news that Van Gogh was living with a prostitute.

9. Vincent considered himself a failure as an artist and a burden to his family (particularly to Theo, who supported him financially). Van Gogh was written about once during his lifetime in a journal yet was relatively unrecognized as an artist (more often than not he was mocked, especially by locals who lived in whatever town he was currently residing in). As such, the first Van Gogh "exhibition" occurred at his funeral on July 30, 1890 (one day after his death), when his brother and friends (including the artist Émile Bernard) hung his recent paintings on the wall next to his coffin prior to the burial.