Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous and influential artists in history, known for paintings like The Starry Night and Sunflowers. However, during his lifetime, he struggled financially and sold only one painting. This leads many to wonder – was Van Gogh’s family wealthy? Did he come from money or did he live in poverty for much of his life?
Quick Facts on Van Gogh’s Background
Here are some key points about Van Gogh’s family and upbringing:
– He was born in 1853 in the Netherlands. His father was a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church. His mother came from a prosperous family involved in the art trade.
– He was one of six children, so resources were spread thin. However, his parents were able to provide a middle-class upbringing.
– His father’s profession as a pastor meant that the family regularly moved for new assignments. This disrupted any sense of stability or community.
– His parents were cultured and interested in art. They provided the children with some exposure to drawing and literature. However, they did not consider art a practical career path.
So in summary, Van Gogh came from a middle-class family that valued education and culture but watched finances closely. He was by no means born into great wealth.
Van Gogh’s Early Career Struggles
In his early adulthood, Van Gogh pursued a variety of vocations – none particularly lucrative:
| Age | Occupation |
|---|---|
| 16 | Apprentice art dealer |
| 19 | Theology student |
| 20 | School teacher |
| 27 | Bookstore clerk |
He was fired from job after job due to disagreements with authority figures and eccentric behavior. His early adulthood was characterized by increasing poverty and isolation from his family. This suggests that the Van Goghs did not have excessive wealth to support Vincent unconditionally. He had to make his own way and struggled to do so.
His Father’s Moderate Success
Vincent’s father, Theodorus van Gogh, achieved modest success as a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church. However, the family was dependent on the church for their income and housing. When Theodorus was transferred to progressively smaller parishes later in life, their standard of living declined.
At his peak in 1868, Theodorus was earning approximately 1,100 guilders annually. Adjusted for inflation, this would amount to just over $25,000 in 2023 dollars. Certainly a comfortable salary, but far from extravagant wealth.
So while Van Gogh’s father attained respectable success in his field, it did not translate to lavish riches for the family. Their income fluctuated based on Theodorus’ assignments.
No Inheritance for Vincent
There is no evidence that Vincent received any substantial inheritance from his parents or relatives that supported him financially.
In fact, after the death of his father in 1885, Vincent’s youngest brother Cor took over the management of his estate. Vincent and the other siblings had to submit claims for their portion of inheritance.
Given Vincent’s despondent letters at the time, it appears the inheritance was negligible in improving his circumstances. One also has to wonder if Vincent even received his full share, as his family disapproved of his bohemian lifestyle.
If the Van Goghs were truly a wealthy family, Vincent likely would have received an allowance or endowment following his father’s death. But this was clearly not the case.
Sporadic Support from His Brother
Theo van Gogh, Vincent’s younger brother, provided modest financial support throughout the artist’s career. Theo had some success as an art dealer and was able to send Vincent small amounts of money in his early years. He also provided shelter for Vincent at times when he was destitute.
However, Theo was not hugely successful until 1886, when he began dealing Impressionist artworks. So any support for Vincent prior to this was extremely limited.
Additionally, Vincent felt shame about relying on his brother’s charity and did not ask for excessive amounts. Theo had financial obligations of his own, including supporting his ex-prostitute wife and infant child.
Theo’s support gave Vincent the occasional chance to focus on art instead of selling his labor. But it was sporadic and not enough for Vincent to live comfortably.
Lack of Traditional Training
For most of history, pursuing art as a career required significant family wealth, connections, or patronage. The traditional path involved extensive training under a master artist, which only the affluent could access.
The fact that Vincent was largely self-taught and picked up techniques haphazardly through experience indicates he did not have the financial backing to support formal study. He learned by reading manuals, observing other artists, and teaching himself.
If Vincent had truly come from an extremely wealthy family, he likely would have had some of the best artistic training in the Netherlands and wider Europe. The fact that he went without this type of elite tutelage for most of his development indicates constrained financial resources.
Inability to Establish a Household
Throughout his adulthood, Vincent van Gogh was unable to establish anything close to a normal household or domestic life. He had no fixed address and drifted between cheap rented rooms, family members’ homes, and charitable institutions.
This was a man who was never able to marry, support children, own property, or even pay rent reliably. He was perpetually destitute and dependent on others.
For someone from such a reputedly “wealthy” family, this degree of homelessness and isolation is rather shocking. Certainly the Van Goghs could have provided some basic assistance in setting Vincent up comfortably if the means had existed.
Institutionalization for Poverty
Due to his dire poverty and unstable mental health, Vincent was institutionalized several times. This included an infamous period in the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy from 1889-1890.
The fact that hospitalization was the only option available indicates just how poor Vincent was. Wealthy families in that era were able to care for relatives with mental illness privately in the home.
Vincent was turned over to charitable public institutions – hardly an indication of excessive family resources.
Malnourishment and Poor Health
Throughout his adult life, Vincent suffered from malnutrition, dental issues, and overall poor health. This was a direct result of his poverty, inability to pay for food and medical treatment, and general self-neglect.
In wealthy families, heirs tended to be well-fed, attended by doctors, and able to focus on their health. Vincent’s letters instead are full of references to hunger, eating poorly, and feeling unwell.
His poverty also caused him to feel unable to pay for models and full art supplies. He chose his iconic subject matter of sunflowers and starry nights partly because they were free and easily accessible.
Good health and nutrition are some of the most obvious benefits that family money can provide. Vincent was clearly lacking in this regard for much of his life.
Inability to Travel Extensively
For most artists until the modern era, the ability to travel was crucial for exposure to new subjects, ideas, and techniques. But frequent travel requires substantial funds.
Vincent lamented in letters to Theo that he was unable to make trips to other regions of France, Italy, or even back home to the Netherlands. Besides cost, his poor health also made travel difficult.
He famously never left Europe, only traveling within France and the Netherlands. Unlike some of his other Impressionist peers, he did not make it to hotspots like Morocco, Egypt, or French colonies farther afield.
This relative lack of travel also suggests that Vincent did not have huge financial reserves from his family enabling him to go where he wished. He lived the majority of his life in southern France and the Netherlands out of necessity rather than choice.
Pawning Possessions to Survive
On multiple occasions when Vincent was utterly broke, he resorted to pawning off his possessions – clothes, art supplies, anything that could fetch a few francs.
Clearly this is not behavior of someone with family money to tide them over. Vincent was literally selling the shirt off his back just to afford food and rent at various low points.
For example, when he first moved Paris in 1886, Vincent had to pawn most of his possessions just to afford lodging for a few weeks while waiting for Theo’s money to arrive. Relying on and anxiously awaiting payment was a perpetual cycle.
A wealthy heir would certainly not have to resort to repeatedly pawning belongings in order to eat or keep a roof overhead. Vincent’s actions speak to his desperate financial state.
Pursuing “Peasant Paintings” for Profit
In the hopes of earning income from his art, Vincent sometimes tailored works specifically to appeal to mass markets and trends. For example, his famous “potato eaters” painting from 1885.
Vincent wrote to Theo explaining he was exploring peasant subjects because he felt they would prove more commercially successful than other styles:
“I am going to paint a picture of some night prowlers, of which I have already thought a lot. It seems to me that painters have a duty to try to put some cheerfulness and some consolation into things.”
This indicates Vincent’s precarious financial position if he felt compelled to abandon preferred subjects and styles. Chasing profit was necessary for survival, overriding his natural artistic instincts.
Late-Life Financial Support from His Brother
The one bright spot is that in the last year and a half of Vincent’s life, Theo was finally able to provide steadier support. Beginning around mid 1888, Theo sent Vincent about 150 francs per month.
While not a huge fortune, this finally allowed Vincent real stability. For the first and only time in adulthood, he could consistently afford supplies, rent, food, and a normal middle-class lifestyle.
So clearly any wealth the Van Goghs possessed was concentrated with Theo, not Vincent. Even when circumstances improved slightly in 1888-90, Vincent still did not achieve true wealth. But at least some constant comfort for a couple years.
Vincent’s Own Words on His Poverty
To conclude, we can let Vincent van Gogh speak for himself on his financial struggles, through his letters to Theo:
“What am I to say? Things are going badly for me…I am without money, that’s it.” (1882, age 29)
“In my life I’ve had to eat and swallow so much desolation.” (1884, age 31)
“Being unable to sell one’s work has its effect on an artist.” (1886, age 33)
Do these sound like the complaints of a man with vast family riches and privileges? Vincent knew poverty and misfortune intimately his entire adult life. Any support was too little, too late.
Conclusion
In summary, there is very little evidence that Vincent van Gogh came from real wealth or received significant financial support during his lifetime. While his family was reasonably well-educated and cultured, they contended with modest pastoral incomes, frequent relocations, and limited opportunities for stable careers in the arts.
Vincent struggled through a series of dead-end jobs before pursuing art seriously. Even during his prolific painting period, he grappled with severe poverty, malnutrition, and inability to formally study art or travel extensively. He relied on occasional handouts from his brother Theo, who was not hugely successful until helping to market the Impressionists late in Vincent’s life.
Vincent sold only one painting his entire life and could not support himself or his basic needs through his creative output. His biography is one of constant financial anxiety more than privilege. If the Van Goghs had substantial dynastic wealth, they did little to provide Vincent with comfort, security, or artistic patronage during his working years.
