Sydney’s Corner: All About Vincent Van Gogh

Today you will learn about Vincent Van Gogh, his paintings, and the Vincent Van Gogh Museum.

The Van Gogh Museum started after he died. The person who started it was his brother’s wife. She started it because she really liked his paintings. The Van Gogh museum holds most of his paintings.  If you bring kids to the museum, there is a scavenger hunt.  I liked it.  I think you should get the scavenger hunt sheet if you go there. If you complete it you get a prize.

Next you will learn about his life.  Van Gogh was born at Zundert, Netherlands.  Vincent Van Gogh was very sad and poor.  Finally something caught his eye.  Painting!  He was much more happy after he sold his first painting which was towards the end of his life.  He got sick many times and went to the hospital.  When he was 37 he killed himself in a wheat field by getting shot.

His brother Theo was very helpful, because he helped support Vincent by giving him money. Van Gogh wrote over 800 letters to his friends and brother Theo. His brother Theo died 6 months after Van Gogh died.

My favorite paintings are his “Bedroom” and “Starry Night Over the Rhone.”   I like them because they are very pretty.  The “Bedroom” is colorful and “Starry Night” has a lot of texture.  Did you know that the stars in “Starry Night Over the Rhone” are in the exact place as the real stars?

In ten years Vincent painted 900 paintings. Now that’s a lot. Van Gogh’s most famous painting is “Starry Night Over the Rhone.”

Facts about Van Gogh that you did not know

•  Vincent had in older brother who died at birth also named Vincent Van Gogh
• Van Gogh sold one painting in his lifetime
• Van Gogh was born in 1853
• Van Gogh tried eating paint
• Van Gogh lived to the age of 37 when he died
• Did you know this Van Gogh cut off his left earlobe not the entire ear, which is what most people think
• Vincent Van Gogh did over 30 self portraits

Now you know all about Vincent Van Gogh