Van Gogh

         I thought the story of Van Gogh was very interesting. He was not an only child, he had many siblings, but his favourite was his younger brother, Theo. I was surprised that Van Gogh had many jobs, ones that he did not care for and ones which Van Gogh was shattered when he was fired. Before learning about Van Gogh I thought he knew he wanted to be an artist from his childhood, but I was wrong. Van Gogh only wanted to be an artist when Theo suggested it to him after he was fired from being a lay preacher. Van Gogh was let go of being a lay preacher for taking the Christian teachings to literally. When Van Gogh's friend, Paul Gaugin, who was also an artist, came to visit him, things were going great until nine months later on December  23 1888, they got into a fight. I was shocked, because I thought that Van Gogh was very civilized, when he cut off his part off his own left ear out of frustration. I am glad that he knew he was ill and checked himself into a mental hospital. After about a year he checked out and moved closer to Theo. The next part of his life was very sad; he could not get a grip on life so in 1890 he went into a wheat field and shot himself in the chest. Two days later he died at the age of 37 with Theo at his side. The last thing he said was "the sadness will last forever," that very sentence brought tears to my eyes.

            The thing that made me feel even sadder was that Van Gogh made thousands of paintings but no one recognized his talent until after his death. I hope his name and paintings will live on forever. 

Christina