He was the son of a minister. He started to work at the young age of 16. He got this job from his uncle and joined as a trainee with an art dealership in The Hague. He went on to do stints in the firm’s London and Paris offices before he was fired in 1876. Afterwards, he worked briefly as a schoolteacher in England and he then worked at a bookstore in the Netherlands. In 1878, he went to the Borinage, a mining district in Belgium. Unfortunately, he failed the required entrance exam to begin his theological education, which was then followed by another failed attempt at gaining a religious education. He worked among the poor as a lay preacher. He gave away his belongings and slept on the floor, but after less than a year on the job, the organisation sponsoring him decided that he wasn’t fit to be a pastor and they dismissed him. Failure after failure, disappointment after disappointment. When it became clear that in spite of his fervour, he would not likely become a pastor, he was forced to face the facts. He was going to have to find another path. Still, he continued to try to force it. His next career choice was to become an artist.
Vincent van Gogh is one of the world’s greatest artists. Though he was unknown until after his death.
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