Vincent van Gogh: an educated genius. Because it requires linking with several historical perspectives, art history is not a self-referential discipline. It was the writings of Giorgio Vasari (an Italian sixteenth - century painter, architect and writer) that led to a formal change in the way of treating the discipline. Differently from the previous writings on art (e.g. Pausanias' 'Periegesis', written in the second century A.D. and Cennino Cennini's 'Il libro dell'arte', written in the fourteenth century), Vasari did not only write about artworks, but also about the artist who had produced it. His books "Vite de' pił eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori" (Florence, 1568) set a turning point in the way of writing about art and artists: the audience must not contemplate an artwork just by itself, but in relation to the environment in which it was created, and to the mind that devised it. Therefore, according to a modern art history framework, we need to investigate the education and cultural background of the artist in order to talk about them in a suitable way. Vincent van Gogh is the paradigm of the 'modern artist'. 1 Exhibitions of his artworks draw crowds from all over the world; reproductions of his work are put onto any kind of merchandise; his life has been the subject of books, documentaries, and movies. His art is recognised as part of the general knowledge. It was the beginning of the 20th century when Julius Meier-Graefe, a German art historian, made him famous. Meier-Graefe was a supporter of Expressionism, and he tried to draw a background for the movement. Using van Gogh as a predecessor for that kind of style, determined the birth of the myth: Vincent van Gogh became a genius. Vincent decided to become a painter at a late stage of his life. Once he had learned everything he could about art, he would develop the innovative style he is renowned for, though still recalling his predecessors from the Barbizon school and remaining faithful to realism. His art was aimed to express the truth but, at the same time, he was not afraid to show his own feelings, through a whirling brushwork, bright colours and distortion. 2 Unlike other artists, he did not follow the academic path to becoming an artist. He tried many other occupations before focusing on painting, but with little success. First, he worked as an art dealer in The Hague and in London (1870- 1873); then he became a preacher and moved to the poorest area of Belgium, the mining region of the Borinage (1880). He had always been interested in art and was used to do many drawings and sketches, but it was only in 1881 (at the age of 28) that he started practicing painting with the purpose of earning a living from it. He tried to attend many academic art schools, but since he was not happy with that kind of learning environment, he taught himself all the theories and techniques an artist could need in that time. As he wrote in a letter to his brother Theo, 'It constantly remains a source of disappointment to me that my drawings are not yet what I want them to be. The difficulties are indeed numerous and great, and cannot be overcome at once. '3. From this line, we can understand how hard he was devoting himself to his studies in order to improve his drawing style. In order to achieve a higher level of confidence in drawing, he practiced a lot, making copies of famous works of the artists that inspired him. He did have talent, but it took patience and years of practice to improve his skills. A turning point in his style was his stay in Paris (1886).4 What made him lighten his dark palette (coming from the gloomy colours and smoky atmosphere of the miners in the Borinage) was being in contact with the Impressionists and with the Neo- and Post-Impressionists. In Paris, he had the chance to discuss on art matters with many great modern artists, like Paul Gauguin. The new science-based art techniques applied by the neo-impressionist painters Seurat and Signac, also influenced his work. However, other factors took part in the accomplishment of his style. It was after the experience in the Borinage (1880), which had led him to a deep spiritual crisis, that Vincent sought consolation in literature. He loved reading every literary genre ('... I have a more or less irresistible passion for books and the constant desire to improve myself, to study, if you like, just as I have a need to eat bread'5). He read the diaries of the great painters he admired e.g. Delacroix's; he studied scientific treatises on art like Blanc's and Chevreul's; he studied the Bible and read poetry, philosophy books, and works by writers such as Zola, Michielet, Hugo, Shakespeare, Dickens, and Aeschylus. It was thanks to his love for reading that he could build the cultural background for his painting. Moreover, the link between literature and painting was ever-present to him.6 As the artist himself puts it: 'There is something of Rembrandt in Shakespeare, something of Correggio or of Del Sarto in Michelet and something of Delacroix in Victor Hugo'; and then 'One man wrote or said it in a book, another in a painting'.7 To conclude, even though van Gogh was not famous when he was alive, from the turn of the twentieth century onwards he was considered to be one of the most influential and renowned contemporary artists. He was painted as an inspirational example and thus was highly mythicized. The myth of the mad-genius cannot be eradicated, since he was the one who set the archetype of what is now considered both a 'tormented genius' and 'artistic persona'.8 Nonetheless, it is important to remember that he was not a born genius, and self-education and literature were crucial to the constitution of his style. Bibliography Aurier, Albert, 'The Isolated ones', Mercure de France, January 1890. De Micheli, Mario, Le Avanguardie Artistiche del Novecento, Milano (Feltrinelli) 1988. F. Pabst and E. van Uitert, A Literary Life, with a List of Books and Periodicals Read by Van Gogh, The Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam 1987. Pollock, Griselda, 'Artists, Mythologies and Media - Genius, Madness and Art History', Screen, 21 (1980) 3, pp. 56-97. VINCENT VAN GOGH- THE LETTERS, edited by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten, Nienke Bakker, the Van Gogh Museum in association with the Huygens Institute. ( october 2012(. 1 Pollock, 'Artists, Mythologies and Media - Genius, Madness and Art History', in Screen, 1980, p. 60. 2 Aurier, 'The Isolated ones', in Mercure de France, January 1890. 3 Vincent van Gogh, letter to his brother Theo van Gogh, The Hague, 11 March 1883. 4 De Micheli,1988, pp. 22-35. 5 Vincent van Gogh, letter to Theo van Gogh, Cuesmes, 22 or 24 June 1880. 6 Pabst, van Uitert,1987, pp. 68-84. 7 Op. cit. (note 5). 8 Op. cit. (note 1, p.64).