To Justine, Emilie, Ysaline and Alfred
The Little Van Gogh
The Little Renoir
The Little Monet
The Little Degas
The Little Klimt
The Little Turner
The Little Bruegel
The Little Van Eyck
The Little Rubens
The Little Cézanne
The Little Waterloo
Marie-Antoinette
A History of Belgium for children
Before you start reading, take a sheet of paper and several pencils.
You will need them to do the exercises.
Whenever you see this pencil, it is your turn to play!
Vincent van Gogh was born on the 30th of March in 1853 in the village of Groot Zundert in Holland. His father, Theodorus, was a Protestant minister. Vincent was the eldest of six children. He had two brothers and three sisters. He was especially close to his younger brother Theo. At 16 Vincent left school and went to work for his uncle Cent who was an art dealer. Vincent visited many museums and admired the works of the great masters. After seven years he decided to move to the Borinage, a poor mining region in Belgium, to serve as a lay minister. The miners there did not have much money and their children had to work in the fields or the mines rather than go to school. Vincent taught them stories from the Bible.
When Vincent was 27 he decided to become an artist, but he didn’t know if he had any talent. He began by drawing in his sketchbook and making copies of famous paintings. His first paintings were of hard-working country people - miners, peasants, peat workers and artisans.
Peat Worker: someone who makes poor-quality fuel and fertilizer from peat moss.
See how Vincent’s art changed over ten years.