Who 7 world famous artists dreamed of before they took up the brush: Van Gogh, Gauguin, etc

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The seven heroes of the story are known for being artists. They received honor and fame precisely because of their talent for painting on canvas. But few people know that all of them did not initially strive to be painters. Lawyers, musicians, doctors, priests … Who did the famous artists really want to become, before they came to this profession? And how great did not become what they were going to, but still became great.

1. Van Gogh wanted to become a priest

Currently, Van Gogh is known as one of the greatest post-impressionist painters, although he did not plan to become an artist. Vincent Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in the city of Zundert in the south of the Netherlands into a pastor's family. At the age of 16, he became an apprentice in the Hague branch of art dealers Goupil and Co., whose partner was his uncle. The job did not bring him satisfaction, and Van Gogh quit.

Striving to serve humanity, he conceived of becoming a priest and took up theology. In the end, he also abandoned this idea in order to move to Brussels and study as an evangelist. During his studies, he fell out with mentors when he decided to challenge the orthodox doctrinal approach. Then he left to do missionary work for the poor people of Borinage, a coal-mining region in southwestern Belgium. There, in the winter of 1880, he experienced the first great spiritual crisis in his life. Living among the poor, he gave up all his worldly goods. And, no matter how outrageous it may seem, after such an act, Van Gogh was dismissed by the church authorities for too literal interpretation of Christian doctrine. Only in 1880, at the age of 27, he decided to become an artist.

2. Henri Matisse could become a lawyer

Henri Matisse was born on December 31, 1869 and grew up in the small industrial town of Boen-en-Vermandois in northern France. His family worked in the grain business. In his youth, Matisse was a clerk, and then from 1887 to 1889 he studied at the Faculty of Law in Paris. Returning to work at a law firm in Saint-Quentin, he began attending morning drawing classes. At the age of 21, Matisse was in the hospital due to an operation (appendicitis). It was at this time that my mother brought Matisse an album of paints, and he began to paint. Despite the indignation of his father because of the unfulfilled profession of a lawyer, Matisse decided to become an artist and entered the Quentin de la Tour school of painting.

3. Wassily Kandinsky could become a successful lawyer

Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow on December 4, 1866 into a musical family. When the boy was 5 years old, his parents divorced, and the boy moved to Odessa to live with his aunt. There he entered the gymnasium, where he successfully mastered the piano and cello. Kandinsky's early works demonstrate an excellent sense of color and an understanding that "each color has its own mysterious life." But, having obvious talent, the young Kandinsky followed his family's desire to become a lawyer and entered Moscow University in 1886, from which he graduated with honors. However, two fateful events influenced his abrupt career change in 1896: a visit to an exhibition of French Impressionists in Moscow (he was especially struck by Claude Monet's "Haystack"), and then - Wagner's opera Lohengrin, seen at the Bolshoi Theater, which inspired the future artist with their decorations.

4. Maurice de Vlaminck wanted to become a professional cyclist and musician

Maurice de Vlaminck is a famous French artist who was one of the founders of Fauvism. He was born on April 4, 1876 in Paris to a family of musicians. Before becoming an artist, Vlaminck wanted to become a professional cyclist. However, the marriage made its own adjustments: in 1894, Vlaminck married and became a father with many children. During this period, he gave up cycling and taught music until 1911 in order to secure a stable income.

But his creative career began at the age of 23 after a chance meeting with the artist Andre Derain, who became his lifelong friend. Vlaminck was mostly self-taught. Between 1888 and 1893, he took private lessons from several academic artists. When, in 1906, a major art dealer of that period, Ambroise Vollard, acquired the entire collection of Vlaminck's paintings, the artist was finally able to devote himself entirely to painting. Maurice de Vlaminck often said that his career as an artist saved him and his family from living in poverty.

5. Aimo Katayainen was in charge of the rehabilitation clinic

Aimo Katayainen was born in Valkeala, Finland in 1948. Before becoming an artist, Katayanen built a successful career as a financier and even worked as an employee of a clinic for the rehabilitation of people with alcohol addiction. Drawing was just a hobby for him. But later, when his works began to be successfully sold, Katayanen devoted himself entirely to painting. He began his professional career as an artist in 1965. Aimo Katayainen is currently one of the most influential contemporary "naive art" artists in Europe.

6. Paul Gauguin successfully worked as a broker

Paul Gauguin was a successful banking specialist and stock broker. As for the past hero of the story, drawing for Gauguin was just a hobby that he did in his free time. However, later his work began to attract the attention of the Impressionists. And then Gauguin began to treat painting as a professional occupation (by this time he was already 25 years old). Gauguin became one of the brightest masters of the art world, called himself a "savage" and claimed that the blood of the Incas flows in him.

7. Anna Mary Moses became an artist at only 67 years old

Anna Moses, also known as Grandma Moses, is widely known for her nostalgic paintings depicting rural American life.

For decades, Grandma Moses was engaged in farming with her husband and led a rural life, which she later demonstrated in bright colors on her canvases. She began to study art only at the age of 67 and … by a happy coincidence! In 1938, her work was discovered by an art collector from New York. Completely self-taught, Moses soon became famous for her images of country life and, by the way, was a very prolific artist (in 30 years she managed to write more than 1,500 works!).