1853

On March 30 Vincent Willem van Gogh is born in Groot-Zundert, a town in the southern Netherlands.

1857

Theodorus van Gogh (Theo) is born.

1869

Vincent apprentices at Goupil et Cie, art dealers in The Hague.

1875

Vincent is transferred to Goupil's branch in Paris. The Reverend Theodorus van Gogh is transferred to a small congregation in Etten.

1876

Vincent is dismissed from Goupil and travels to England, where lie works as a teacher in Ramsgate and Isleworth.

1877

Vincent returns to the Netherlands and works in a bookstore in Dordrecht for four months. To prepare for the ministry, he moves to Amsterdam.

1878

Vincent goes to Brussels to take a course for evangelists. He volunteers for a mission in the Borinage, a coal mining district in Belgium.

1881

Vincent moves back into his parents' home in Etten and falls in love with his widowed cousin Kee Vos-Stricker.

1882

The Reverend Theodorus van Gogh moves to another parsonage in Nuenen. Vincent moves to The Hague to study art.

1882-83

Vincent lives in The Hague with Sien Hoornik and her children.

1883

Vincent works in Drenthe for four months.

1883-85

Vincent lives in his parents' home and then by himself in his studio in Nuenen.

1884

Vincent has an ill-fated romance with Margo Begemann.

1885

Vincent's father dies suddenly. Vincent moves to Antwerp to study art.

1886

Vincent attends the Antwerp Academy of Fine Art for two months and then moves to Paris to live with Theo.

1886-88

Vincent works at Corman's studio for several months. He meets many young artists in Paris, such as Emile Bernard and Paul Signac.

1888

Vincent moves to Arles, a town in the south of France, in February. Paul Gauguin comes to live with him in October. Theo becomes engaged to Johanna (Jo) Bonger. Vincent cuts off his earlobe and is sent to a hospital in Arles.

1889

Theo and Jo are married in April. Vincent admits himself to an insane asylum in St.-Rémy in May.

1890

Jo and Theo become parents of a son, Vincent Willem, in January. In May Vincent moves to Auvers-sur-Oise, not far from Paris. On July 27 Vincent shoots himself, and he dies on July 29, at the age of thirty-seven. In September Theo mounts a memorial exhibition of his brother's work in their apartment in Paris. Theo becomes both mentally and physically ill, and Jo takes him to a clinic in Holland.

1891

Theo dies at the age of thirty-four in a clinic in Holland.