1) Van Gogh when was trying as a missionary tried to become like the workers which worked in the mine. This was a new idea at the time and didnt go well with the church or the miners who thought that he was mocking them.
Yeah, in the Borinage. He wanted to live the life of an ascetic as an example to the others. He left his relatively comfortable lodgings at Wasmes and gave all his respectable clothes away. He moved into a shack, took to wearing an old army jacket and a cap. He also stopped using soap and actually succeeded (according to one witness) in looking dirtier than the miners. (This was possible because in the old mining communities the coal dust in the air coated everything above ground, so that cleanliness could only be maintained if everything and everybody was washed every day.)
He wasn't always seemingly a maniac, though. He also had his heroic moments. He took care of the sick whenever he could and after a pit accident, he unhesitatingly tore up his linen to make dressings for the injured.
Still, the Wasmes Chapter of the Union of Protestant Churches thought Vincent was WAY too eccentric and dismissed him. (Though they said it was mostly due to Van Gogh's deficiency as a speaker). It was heart-breaking for Vincent. He had failed as an art dealer, as a romantic, and now an evangelist.
Even so, Van Gogh still stayed in the Borinage for more than a year despite the dismissal. He truly admired the hard-working people, he felt they were as close to Christ as you could get.
I don't think Van Gogh was ever bored - he was fascinated with a wide variety of painters - but the new infusion of Japanese art certainly added to his painting interests and you're right, it became a favorite theme of his to draw inspiration from.
I'll have to read up on exactly why Van Gogh was so mesmerized by Japanese art and how he incorporated it in his art and his reasons for doing so, if there's anything to be said about it.
At some points in his life, yes. He was very religious-minded, but also passionate and saw life differently from most people. After the first heartbreak he had, he was drawn towards prostitutes because they wouldn't deny him some, uh, lovin', despite his very homely appearance.
"But one type of woman there was who dealt in love and who would not reject him; to her, the outcast, despised prostitute, he resorted and of her he spoke much to Theo, quoting Jesus on Mary Magdalene and reminding him of all the pictures with Magdalene themes. He declared that virginity of soul and impurity of body were not incompatible; these "great lovers" proved it; perhaps he too would prove it."
Of course this led to a bitter series of fights between him and his conservative father, who obviously saw it as something else entirely.
Not a bad comparison to make with Michelangelo, yeah. They were both men of passion. But I think the difference is with Michelangelo, his own passion was always evident in everything he did, with Van Gogh he was a volcano waiting to happen, holding the passion inside him until he could release it, either in conversation or on his own paintings.
Van Gogh WAS difficult to talk if you were a stranger or a person he didn't feel like he could be himself with. His favorite brother was probably the only one he could truly feel liberated with in talking about the things that were truly on his mind, which is why Van Gogh wrote over 600 letters to Theo during his lifetime. Usually he was very reserved with people, including his father.
As for Paul Gauguin, Van Gogh initially saw him as a heroic, rugged figure and admired him greatly, which got their friendship off to a good start. Van Gogh wanted to impress Gauguin with his paintings.
But they were still two very different artists. Gauguin, despite his liking for primitive and exotic subjects, was still at heart a Classicist, and very calculating in his approach to painting and drawn to the use of cool and controlled line.
Van Gogh, on the other hand, as you can tell by his paintings, was a Romantic in his devotion to spontaneity, feeling and color.
I think arguments, whiel they lived together, were bound to happen. Van Gogh had also become rather disillusioned with Paul Gauguin as a "heroic figure" (for example, Gauguin had a way with women, hint hint... which is funny how Van Gogh would be offended by that, considering his history... but his attitude with women/prostitutes must have changed by this time) and also had dropped the deferential attitude he had with Gauguin, which probably didn't please the latter much.
Van Gogh was also headed for a breakdown, I think, at this point. He became kind of obsessed with Gauguin as a companion to draw inspiration from, despite the lack of faith he had in Gauguin's direction.
And then there's the part where they usually got drunk together, and Van Gogh began to become more violent when he was drunk with Gauguin (he once threw a glass of absinthe at him, but Gauguin dodged it).
With all that, really, I don't really blame Gauguin one bit for leaving Van Gogh. To top it all off, Gauguin once (according to his accounts) woke up in bed at night and found Vincent standing over him. Paul asked "What's the matter, Vincent?" and Vincent just went wordlessly back to his own bed and a deep sleep.
If it had been me, I'd be gone too!
This is all, of course, if Gauguin's own accounts are to be believed. Who knows for sure.
Yeah, he died TWO days later. Must have been horrible.