What One Can Achieve in 10 Years

I knew that Van Gogh had tried different professions like art dealer, lay minister, school teacher and book seller before settling on becoming an artist at the age of 27. What I did fail to realize, however, is that he only spent 10 years on being one including two years of learning how to draw.

Here is one of his drawings dating back to 1877 that was done before his studies:



And this one was executed during the first year of his learning in 1880.



As one critic commented: 'As you can see in the drawing of the carpenter, he [Van Gogh] struggled with problems of proportion and placement of forms. By 1882, however - two years later - in his Woman Mouring, Van Gogh had overcome his difficulties with drawing and increased the expressive quality of his work.'



More drawings and other works could be found here http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Drawing/