I guess we could ask this question about many famous painters. Many do not become famous until after they are dead. But let’s concentrate on Vincent Van Gogh. If their paintings are so tremendous and hang in museums around the world, why did he have problems selling his paintings when they live?
First, let’s consider that Vincent did not begin to paint until about ten years before his premature death in 1890. When he painted, people did not like his job. He didn’t like many of his own paintings and threw many.
Besides, he was not a very pleasant person to get along. That was probably because he didn’t like it too much. The only people who seem to like them were other artists, such as Gauguin, Monet and Toulouse-Lautrec.
It seems that Van Gogh caused a different way of seeing art, seeing the paintings as feelings, instead of trying to paint exactly what you see. Van Gogh painted with emotion; He used impressive colors in his works, his paintings were mysterious, in a sense.
And maybe the public was not ready for works like this. That is why he supposedly sold only one painting in his life. His work was really not appreciated.
Besides, nobody knew a lot about Vincent. His brother Theo was an art merchant and showed his art to sell. Out of that, few saw Vincent’s work of art.
That seemed to distress Van Gogh significantly and probably affected his early death of a gunshot wound. He suffered most of his life. He had a younger brother named Vincent, who died when he was a baby. Perhaps the second Vincent suffered a lot of anguish for being a “replacement Vincent.”
Vincent Van Gogh never married, although he had relationships, one with his widower cousin. But his closest relative was always his younger brother Theo, who did a lot on the path of financial support to help his brother leave.
But other artists enjoyed their works and began using their ideas. Vincent’s closest friends, if he had any, were painters and his brother Theo.
In addition, there is Vincent’s story by cutting his ear. There are many discrepancies about history, but the persistent seems to be that Vincent was unstable, which probably made many feel uncomfortable when dealing with him.
In the last years of his life, Van Gogh spent time in a mental asylum. It was there that he created what would later be his most famous paintings, including “The Starry Night”, perhaps the most recognized. Vincent painted 100 jobs during his time in asylum.
Anyway, how was Van Gogh famous? Much of that is due to his sister -in -law, called Jo. Vincent’s brother, Theo, died only a few months after Vincent did it, and Theo’s wife inherited Vincent’s works, not to mention Vincent’s letters to Theo. She made her call to promote Vincent’s work of art, which was acclaimed immediately throughout Europe.
So it is really through the efforts of Jo Van Gogh that Vincent became the very admired artist he did.