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阅读理解
Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853．
The son of a pastor(牧师), brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence． Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness（过分热心的）．
He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty． The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885)． In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints．
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery． In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists． His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health． He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art． Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results． Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave Arles． Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off． Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment．
