Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was a famous Dutch painter of the late 19th century. Though born in Holland, he lived most of his life in France and was particularly associated with Provence. He lived in the Parisian neighbourhood of Montmartre for a period of time. Van Gogh suffered from intense mental illness, including bipolar disorder and bouts of anxiety. Although largely unknown at the time of his death, he went on to be regarded as one of the greatest painters of all time.

Early life
Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853.

At an young age, he was sent to France by his brother Theo to gain experience by possibly meeting other painters of his time. He eventually ended up alone. He gained a reputation among the locals of Auvers-sur-Oise as a madman and drunkard. He tried to sell his paintings to buy drinks, but without success. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)

Works
Van Gogh painted a portrait of himself. In 1909, it was kept in the Galerie d'Art de Parisiennes. (COMIC: Gallery) In another one of van Gogh's self-portraits, Vincent had a bandage on one of his ears. Ace once found another version of this same painting in the TARDIS, but with the bandage on the other ear. (PROSE: Echo)

At some point, Vincent met the Doctor and painted a portrait of him. As the Sixth Doctor had the painting in his possession, the painting could not have depicted any incarnation past his sixth. (COMIC: Changes)

Meeting the Doctor
Van Gogh met the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond in 1890. He commented on Amy's beauty and accepted her offer to share a bottle of wine. They were interrupted by locals. A young girl had been found dead. When the Doctor, van Gogh and Amy tried to help her, the girl's mother blamed Vincent for her death and drove him away by throwing stones. Vincent allowed the Doctor and Amy to stay in his home, which was cluttered with paintings he thought worthless. Later, when Amy was attacked by the Krafayis, a seemingly invisible creature, Vincent could see it, allowing him to save Amy and the Doctor.

With some persuasion from Amy and the Doctor, Vincent agreed to help them stop the Krafayis from killing again. However, before they left for the church, Vincent broke down, weeping that like everyone else, Amy and the Doctor would leave and he would be forgotten and alone. When the Doctor tried to empathise, Vincent grew angry and ordered him out. After calming down, Vincent again agreed to help the Doctor, saying that if Amy could soldier on, so could he. As the three of them walked, he told her he could tell she was heartbroken, though she could not.

When they reached the church, he began to paint, despite interruptions from the Doctor. After several hours he spotted the creature in one of the church's windows.

When the Krafayis charged on the three, Vincent tried to ward off the creature with his easel. However, it impaled itself on it.

Before the Doctor and Amy left, Vincent admitted that without them, his life would take a downwards turn. The Doctor took Vincent to 2010 to a van Gogh exhibit. Dr Black called him the greatest artist of all time, a man who turned the sorrows of life into the most beautiful art the world had ever seen. Black's description of him as not only the greatest artist but also one of the greatest men of all time reduced Vincent to tears. He thanked Dr Black, who for a moment suspected whom he had just met. Returned to his own time, Vincent thanked the Doctor and unsuccessfully proposed marriage to Amy. He said that he had a new found respect for life. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)

Final months
Soon afterwards, however, Vincent came under the care of Dr Gachet as his fears were realised: his mental health deteriorated further. In his last year he was affected by the transmission of the warning signal of Stonehenge about the Pandorica and was plagued with visions of the Doctor's TARDIS exploding. He painted the subject in The Pandorica Opens, which after thousands of years, ended up in River Song's possession. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)

After returning Vincent to his own time, the Doctor and Amy went back to the exhibit in 2010. They found that, despite their efforts, Vincent still had killed himself at the age of 37. Amy was distraught at having failed to change Vincent's life, but the Doctor assured her that they had made some difference. They saw that the Sunflowers, inspired by Amy in 1890, had been changed and dedicated "for Amy".

According to Dr Black, "Those final months of his life were probably the most astonishing artistic outpouring in history."

Later that same year, in 1890, Vincent shot himself, at the age of 37. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)

Legacy
Dr Black considered Vincent van Gogh the greatest artist of all time, and though worthless in his lifetime, Vincent's works were priceless valuables some time following his death. An entire exhibit was devoted to him at the Musée d'Orsay, (TV: Vincent and the Doctor) which ran between 17 March and 29 August 2010. (TV: The Lodger)

Harry Sullivan attended another exhibition of van Gogh's work, and met a young woman named Samantha there. Sullivan was later linked to the van Gogh Appreciation Society (a front for the European Anarchist Revolution) and its leader, Zbigniew Brodsky. (PROSE: Harry Sullivan's War)

Some of Vincent's works were displayed in the Paloma Centre, one of the largest collections of art in the universe, which spanned an entire continent. At some point after the 32nd century, the Eleventh Doctor came to the Paloma Centre in search of The Pandorica Opens, afterwards finding that it wasn't there but in his own TARDIS. (PROSE: The War of Art)

Josiah W. Dogbolter had a van Gogh in his art collection. (AUDIO: The Maltese Penguin) On his travels, the Monk, a renegade Time Lord, acquired two paintings by van Gogh which had been lost to history. (AUDIO: The Resurrection of Mars)

Peri Brown was able to identify his works. (COMIC: Changes) Amy Pond had a favourite. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)

Behind the scenes
According to The Brilliant Book 2012, a book that contains non-narrative based information, in an alternate universe where all of history happened at once, van Gogh was available on social-networking sites. Cleopatra was a fan of his.