Van Gogh's family in his art

Memory of the Garden at Etten
Artist	Vincent van Gogh
Year	1888
Medium	Oil on canvas
Location	The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia (F496)

Van Gogh's family in his art is a group of works that Vincent van Gogh made for or about Van Gogh family members. In 1881 Vincent drew a portrait of his grandfather, also named Vincent van Gogh, and his sister Wil. While living in Nuenen, Vincent memorialized his father in Still Life with Bible following his death in 1885. There he also made many paintings and drawings in 1884 and 1885 of his parent's vicarage, its garden and the church. At the height of his career in Arles he made Portrait of the Artist's Mother, Memory of the Garden at Etten of his mother and sister and Novel Reader, which is thought to be of his sister, Wil.

While van Gogh was at the Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Remy, he made several paintings as gifts for his mother and sister, and the painting Almond Blossoms for his brother Theo and his wife Johanna to celebrate the birth of their son whom they named Vincent.

Vincent van Gogh's grandfather (born 1789) was also named Vincent van Gogh. According to the artist's first biographer, his sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh, the grandfather was a pastor, and the son of Johanna van der Vin of Malines and Johannes van Gogh. Johanna van Gogh writes that Johannes "was at first a gold-wire drawer like his father, but he later became a Bible teacher and a clerk in the Cloister Church at The Hague." She describes him as an intellectual, duty-bound man who was awarded prizes and testimonials for his distinguished work. A family legacy, from his great-uncle—a sculptor and a lifelong bachelor—allowed Vincent van Gogh (the elder) to study divinity at the University of Leiden. After successfully completing his studies and having become established at the parsonage of Benschop, he married E. H. Vrydag in 1810. They remained married until Elisabeth's death on 7 March 1857; the Reverend Vincent van Gogh lived until 1874.

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