Major Mike | Today in History 07/27 (Vincent van Gogh)

Self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh in 1889 (© De Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images)

(1890) Brilliant and tortured artist turns gun on himself

Vincent van Gogh, 37, a Dutch-born artist living in France, shoots himself once in the chest. He’ll live for two days before dying in the company of his beloved brother Theo. He dies broke and unknown, but will later come to be considered one of history’s greatest artists.

Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. His suicide at 37 followed years of mental illness and poverty.

Lived: Mar 30, 1853 – Jul 29, 1890 (age 37)
Height: 5′ 7″
Siblings: Theo van Gogh (Brother) · Wil van Gogh (Sister) · Elisabeth Huberta Du Quesne-van Gogh (Sister) · Anna Cornelia van Gogh (Sister) · Cornelis Vincent van Gogh (Brother)
Periods: Post-Impressionism · Divisionism
Education: Willem II College (1866 – 1868) · Royal Academy of Fine Arts · Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts
Parents: Theodorus van Gogh (Father) · Anna Carbentus van Gogh (Mother)
Highlights
1857: His brother Theo was born on 1 May 1857.

1886: In February 1886 he wrote to Theo that he could only remember eating six hot meals since the previous May.

1886: Van Gogh moved to Paris in March 1886 where he shared Theo’s rue Laval apartment in Montmartre, and studied at Fernand Cormon’s studio.

1888: The Flowering Orchards (also the Orchards in Blossom) are among the first groups of work completed after Van Gogh’s arrival in Arles in February 1888.

1890: In May 1890 Van Gogh left the clinic in Saint-Rémy to move nearer to both Dr Paul Gachet in Auvers-sur-Oise and to Theo.

1890: Between 1885 and his death in 1890, Van Gogh appears to have been building an oeuvre, a collection that reflected his personal vision, and could be commercially successful.

Vincent van Gogh in 1873, when he worked at the Goupil & Cie’s gallery in The Hague.
wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

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(1890) Brilliant and tortured artist turns gun on himself.
Also on this day,

1794 | ‘Incorruptible’ Robespierre arrested in Paris

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1996 | Centennial Olympic Park celebrations shattered by pipe bomb

A pipe bomb detonates after midnight at an outdoor music venue in Atlanta during the Summer Olympic Games, and although crowds had been mostly evacuated from the area, the explosion kills two and injures 111 others. A religious extremist, Eric Rudolph, will be convicted of committing the attack.

Today in History ^07/27/17

Officials inspect the scene of the explosion at the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta on July 27, 1996 (© Eric Draper/AP)

(1996) Centennial Olympic Park celebrations shattered by pipe bomb

A pipe bomb detonates after midnight at an outdoor music venue in Atlanta during the Summer Olympic Games, and although crowds had been mostly evacuated from the area, the explosion kills two and injures 111 others. A religious extremist, Eric Rudolph, will be convicted of committing the attack.

The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a domestic terrorist pipe bombing attack on the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 27 during the 1996 Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed 1 person and injured 111 others; another person later died of a heart attack. It was the first of four bombings committed by Eric Robert Rudolph. Security guard Richard Jewell discovered the bomb before detonation and cleared most of the spectators out of the park. Rudolph, a carpenter and handyman, had detonated three pipe bombs inside a U.S. military ALICE Pack. Motivated by what he considered to be the government's sanctioning of "abortion on demand," Rudolph wanted to force the cancellation of the Olympics.