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My favorite Van Gogh fact: when he found out that Theo named him son Vincent after him, Van Gogh was so happy to share a name with his nephew that he spent the next few days not eating or drinking; just painting. And the gift that he gave his new nephew was (My personal favorite painting) Almond Blossom

“I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.” - Vincent Van Gogh

One thing I want to counter is the idea that Van Gogh turned his suffering into beauty. He did his most famous paintings while he was recovering in the mental hospital. His best work came from healing, not suffering.

The thought of him wanting to protect a kid who bullied and tormented him for a long time makes me cry.

I think him covering for children who may have accidentally shot him is a more realistic version, and very touching and true to his character. It’s seriously sad that he never saw his art prosper the way it has now in his lifetime.

One of the best Doctor Who episodes is the one where the Doctor brings Vincent to a modern day museum so he can see and hear people loving his art.

Jo Bonger, his sister-in-law, deserves tons of credit for making him so famous. She upheld his legacy by devotedly promoting his artwork and translating he and Theo's letters. Without her work, he might've faded into obscurity.

Van Gogh - "Puffalo Pill ?" Rene - "you yeed your last haw partner! "

Love how varied your content topic is. ranging from art history, biblical works, government conspiracies, etc. The only link between topics is the macabre and the mysterious

I don’t know if you’ve heard of it but there’s a movie called “Loving Vincent” that was animated entirely in the style of his art. It takes place after his death and goes over real letters he wrote. The main character of the movie who is fictional tries to piece together Vincent’s death by talking to the people in his life and comes to the conclusion that he was probably killed by some teenager

I'm glad he had Theo in his life. He sounds like an amazing brother that actually loved him and accepted him for who he was, as unconventional as his personality would've been at the time.

I’m so glad that this theory was presented to us in art class, it really helped me change my view from “tortured soul” to “a struggling man with a good heart”.

hearing about his aversion to self-harm also makes me think he wasn’t responsible for cutting off his own ear

This just makes the episode of Dr. Who where they bring him to see his paintings in museums and see how much he's adored so much more bittersweet

As someone who has just a minimal knowledge of Vincent, I am most struck by the fact that he was living with a family who had no problem with him painting their young daughter. Whatever his personal demons, he didn't seem to be considered a threat to others; rather, was selflessly willing to bear shame and ridicule to protect those around him. What a beautiful picture of a gracious, loving generous soul. His life was, by far, his most beautiful painting.

The fact that he thought so little of himself if truly heartbreaking

That quote that Van Gogh ascribe to himself, 'I'll never amount to anything,' made me cry. If only he was alive to see and hear just how beloved he is in the painting spheres, and art in general!

I enjoy your content a lot! Quick correction though: Vincent Van Gogh was the oldest of six siblings. Theo was his younger brother, which added to his depression and shame; he felt that, as the oldest sibling, he shouldn't be relying on his younger brother.

About 7 years ago, I was in elementary school and I picked up a book titled "How They Choked". It was a big yellow book with illustrations and stories of unfortunate situations. One of these stories was that of Vincent Van Gogh. It went on to state that some boys (likely accidentally or mischievously) shot at Van Gogh, striking his stomach. This was the story I have always believed and never gave suicide much thought, glad to see it's catching on.

I love how you don't talk about Van Gogh as the crazy artist, i think that the more important fact about his personality is rather his inner strenght than his problems

Man, if this is true, then Vincent might have been one of the nicest and most tragic people to walk this planet. I legit hope, that if there's some kind of afterlife, then, that Vincent was able to see that his work is now loved by millions around the world, and that he has inspired countless people to follow in his footsteps as an artist!

I gotta say, as someone with chronic vertigo and epilepsy, they truly can be hell, let alone during a time when they hardly understood it.

I gotta say, as someone who has struggled with self love, it's nice to hear, that he made it out of that dark hole, only to end, in selflessness. That's beauty.

This story makes me cry. Van Gogh really comes off as this humble, meek fellow. That he is now one of the more famous artists in the world is like a funny kind of chiding. His relationship with his brother does make me feel a little better, but it still stings to know what became of him.

Van Gogh makes me cry. My favorite painting of all time is 'Starry Night', and it's because he painted it from his hospital room window after he willingly checked himself in for mental help. As an artist who struggles with a mental illness, it's comforting to see that even though Van Gogh was deeply troubled, he still had the courage to ask for help, and receiving help did not take away his creativity and the beauty and joy he still could see in the world. The stigma of mental health issues is so big, especially with the idea that an artist should NOT seek help because suffering creates the best art, and Van Gogh is my personal hero because he DID seek help and he STILL kept creating. The idea that Van Gogh asked for help is the motivation that helped me ask for help too, and I'm doing much better and still creating works. I have so many feelings about this one man and he gives me so much joy still.

Van Gogh is my favorite artist, how he struggled immensely with mental health and him still making art is extremely inspiring to me so I’m super excited about this

Another cool fact about Van Gogh: some of his works were inspired by Japanese woodblock arts (Ukiyo-e). One of his less known works: “Almond blossoms” were a gift to his nephew but were based off of Japanese art (most likely Sakura trees). Its actually my favorite painting of his (and that’s probably hot water to say when his best work is Starry Night). because it really shows this kind and soft side of Vincent the most. Also that makes him history’s first recorded weeaboo and I Stan that.

I think regardless of the circumstances, one thing is clear: His death was, and is, a tragedy because he never got to experience the fame and success that would eventually blow up after he died, even though during his final days on this planet, they were about to. One saying describes it best, "Nobody cares until you're dead."

Since Gogh covered for him, I think it was an accident. I think Renee was teasing Gogh with the revolver like "Haha I have a gun now, wanna try calling me Pill again?" and then accidentally fired. Gogh was a kind soul but I don't think he'd try to cover for someone who actively attempted to murder him. And while they teased and argued with each other often, I think Gogh just saw it as kids being kids, I don't think he had any real animosity towards them. If I were in his shoes and I truly hated the kids, I'd avoid the property entirely. The real villains here are the parents giving a 16 year old boy a live firearm to play with.

Anybody interested in van Gogh should def watch the movie "loving vincent" it covers the mysterious circumstances of his death and every single frame was handpainted in van Gogh's style by 100+ artists

this would make a great emotional period piece, where when he shoots him, Vincent comes tells the boys what they should do and how he'll take the blame, even the foreshadowing of the ear being cut off being his friend's fault would make for great storytelling. What better way to appreciate an artist than to make his life into art.

Friendly reminder that, regardless of what ended his life, Van Gogh’s illness was not the cause of his genius, it ruined his career. If you are in need of help, please seek it. Thank you, Wendigoon for this beautiful video about my (and many many many others) favorite artist.

I always found the evidence overwhleming that he did not commit suicide, but was in fact killed, and then covered for those kids. Its hard to imagine how and why the narrative caught on in the modern day that he took his own life.

such a unique part of history that we’re not taught in schools but would have made my top art history tier list

I can't begin to explain how many kids I work with with behavioral problems and depression, self-harm. One thing that you notice is how they generally have a lot of compassion for others and not themselves. They would rather be hurting or in trouble than others they care about or even admire fall as they feel they are worth less as a person than others. Vincent really needed to learn self love

Sad that Vincent is often written off as “crazy”, that being the explanation people have for his untimely death. Nonetheless, he was an artist ahead of his time and his name will always be a household one.

i heard about the theory of van gogh's death on unsolved and immediately agreed with it. as someone with severe depression/other mental illnesses, i can absolutely see why he would prefer to lie to save those boys skins, especially if he knew he was going to die anyway because there wasnt much access to medical care out there, and even more so if it was an accident

as a former art student (french), it was generally accepted that a bunch of kids did it and he covered for them. it's also taught that the painting in the field was not his last one. i thought it was common knowledge but maybe there's a language barrier here. what i think is that since he had such a low opinion of himself he didn't even try to get justice, even his bully was more important than his life - he just accepted his fate. i don't think it's a beautiful thing necessarily but a misguided, noble act. it's sad, but at least he didn't die alone and people honored him, and despite his illnesses he did great things, even if he never saw it himself. also it's kinda pronounced van gock but it's way on the back of the tongue. xD

I remember the very first time I saw one of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings it was Starry Starry Night and I was in second grade instantly fell in love with his paintings especially Starry Starry Night. It's tragic to know that he did not get the recognition he deserved while he was alive. he was a brilliant painter

The endings of wendigoon videos always have a me tearing up. He just has such a nice way of making even the most mundane of conclusions beautiful and truly implicated in our own life stories.

My favorite Van Gogh piece is "Almond Blossom;" it was a gift to celebrate the birth of Theo's son, Vincent. I've read part of a letter Vincent wrote to his brother and it made me so happy to see that, despite the hardships he endured throughout his life, he had at least one person that he loved, and who loved him back.

I want to take a second to say that we all deserve a Theo in our lives, he was an amazing brother who truly cared so much for Vincent. I hope everyone can find a person to be Theo for them. You deserve to be loved as much as you love someone else.

What I find very fascinating and just amazing about Van Gogh is that he made all of his paining in only 10 years. He started paining when he was around 27. That means, as Wendigoon said in his video, that he painted a new painting every 36 hours. Which is, wow. As a person who learns art and paining it's just incredible. It's sad that he never lived to see how people appreciate his art now. But I love that he never gave up paining, that no matter what he was doing that to the very end

When I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, my doctor tried to soften the blow by telling me of famous figures that either had been diagnosed with or were presumed to have had the same disease. Tesla, Lincoln, Florence Nightingale, Hemingway - and, of course, Van Gogh. I was fifteen and in a psych ward, so there wasn't much out there that comforted me, but when the doc gave me a book with Van Gogh's paintings, I actually did feel a little better. I got the chance to see an exhibit of his paintings a few years ago and I remember feeling, even if he wasn't actually bipolar, some part of him had to have understood what it was like. I highly recommend seeing his paintings in person. They're much smaller than you might assume, but that only increased the impact of all the colors and shapes. You can still smell the paint and see all the bumps and ridges and layers that make up each picture.

A gentle soul, even in his death. Makes you wonder what those kids ended up like, having to bear the burden of killing a man who wouldn't give them up when he had every reason to. Great video, as always!

I truly hope, somehow, people like Vincent, get to know how important they've become after their timely demise.

As a Dutch person I really appreciate you pointing out the way Van Gogh's name is commonly pronounced is incorrect. I think it makes sense to pronounce it in a way that's comfortable to you, so imo it's fine to say Van Go, but it's still really nice to hear you acknowledge why you say it that way. Thanks for making this video, I've been following you for a while now and it's really cool to see you cover this topic.

Vincent’s story, as a man, a believer, and one who struggled with mental health and alcoholism, just trying trying to be a good person and better himself. The thought of him putting himself and his reputation through great physical pain, and more mental hardships to save his friend and go to a mental asylum and then literally on his death bed trying to potentially literally save the life of his killer, a boy who was always mean to the man, for other reason than he was a good man. It’s a hell of a thing and something everyone should strive to be kind and caring and this poor man

I hope, regardless of what really happened to him, he found peace.

My guitar teacher actually told me that she learned this while in France, and seeing this now showing up is kinda cool! Love you videos man, good job!

I'm so glad you made this video! I watched "loving Vincent" which talks a bit about this but having a complete recounting in a brilliant style, as you always do, is wonderful. Thank you

Found your channel like 2 days ago and I love it, I love that you cover a lot of different topics like things ranging from biblical and philosophical stuff to good old fashion horror like the mandela catalogue and SCP's (I love your SCP videos btw I hope you do more in the future)

I recommend that you should do an Edgar Allan Poe video, I think that alot of us would enjoy more videos similar to this one in style, Wendi. Your content is so well written and done. I'm so happy to watch your channel bloom in this day and age :D

There's also an interesting theory that Van Gogh was colorblind. A lot of his paintings have really bright, saturated colors, and could look rather unrealistic (e.g. sunflowers with bright red centers, trees with green trunks and branches, *orange* wheat fields, etc.) An artist ran the paintings through a filter to show what a color-blind person would have seen, and the colors appear more muted and realistic. Van Gogh was possibly unaware that his color choices looked different to the average person

I love Vincent Van Gogh, he's one of my favorite artist. And to think he was this selfless makes me respect him all the more.

It makes me so sad to think that his OWN mother threw his artwork away. I cherish any art my kids do. I hope that Vincent never knew his mother did this. 💔😞

Might be a bit cliché but that episode of Doctor Who when The Doctor takes Vincent to the art gallery in the future just so Vincent could see how loved he became over time. Utterly perfect ending for the episode. Tragedy and beauty all in one

The fact that Vincent was understanding and forgiving enough to cover for the kids who had been messing with him for so long is really sweet

When you were talking about Vincent’s actions “as he lay dying” it made me think of the book As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. If you haven’t read it-it’s right up your alley. If you enjoy it, PLEASE do a video on it. It’s such a beautiful but forgotten piece of macabre history.

Well, I did it. I finally watched every video that you have public since the guntuber tier list 9/5/2020. Bummed I didn't catch that it was your two year anniversary as a KZfaqr! Regardless, thank you. Thank you for being you and creating the content that many of us didn't know we needed. And now you've released an exposé on my favorite classical artist of all time.

What I find the most endearing out of this isn't that Vincent might have lied in his final hours to protect a teen from having his life ruined, no, what I find the most endearing out of this is that the town people seemed to at least believe that to be the case and respected his wish. They didn't hurt the kids in revenge nor did they try to get them arrested. They just accepted it and respected the poor man's kindness.

Recently went to an exhibit of his. His paintings particularly inspired my sister. What a tragically beautiful thing he did in his final hours. I wouldn't expect anything less of Van Gogh :'(

Man I love your story telling or just talking really, you do it in such a way that lets really imagine what it's like

I rarely ever comment on videos unless I genuinely mean what I'm saying, and I want you to know that I genuinely mean it when I say you are one of my favourite creators on this platform. The way you manage to take things I already find interesting and add your own personality and humour to it is amazing. Like, I could so easily just Google what you talk about in your videos and read it myself but I always stick around and watch the video start to finish. No one does it like Wendigoon, keep it up man, much love!

I'm just happy to know, that Vincent Van Gogh passed with his brother beside him. Everyone deserves to be loved and cared for by someone.

It's a shame how many great artists only got the recognition they deserve long after they passed.

I’ve always thought the same thing. He was protecting the kid who shot him. Also, I read somewhere that he had just had Theo order him art supplies. But it’s all about keeping the narrative alive that the tortured artist killed himself.

if you think this is crazy, I took a music history gen ed in college and my teacher mentioned in passing the oddities of Mozart's death and his unfinished symphony. I'm not a huge classical music guy, but damn.., the conspiracy behind Mozart's final symphony and eventual death is insane and it eventually led me down a big rabbit hole of stuff. My other favorite is the mystery behind Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony. At the time Symphonies typically had "themes" which were basically just stories that represent what the music means (for example, Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' had a theme surrounding the four seasons, each piece represented a different season. Each part of the symphony had a theme, like running water, babbling brooks, thunderstorms, snow storms, etc.). Well anyway, in Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony, he said there was a theme, but he wouldn't say what it was. Later he even gave a list of hints to what the theme could be. There's a bunch of different stuff in the same vein that is interesting. Another crazy conspiracy is the fact that many famous Composers seem to die in the making of, or directly after making their 9th symphony.

Recently went to the immersive experience for his works and was overcome by emotion the entire time, seeing the world through the eyes of someone who has been gone for so long, and lived and died so tragically, but still saw the beauty in the world, was so profound. Excited for this video!

I really hope you dont take this the wrong way because I love all the very interesting topics you cover in your videos. But your voice is so soothing and relaxing it puts me right to sleep. I can always turn on your videos if I have insomnia. And then I have to go back and rewatch the video later because I missed whatever you were talking about and I thought it was super interesting lol

Just found your channel now I'm binge watching you! Love your content

I like to think that Renee shot vincent by accident, not even seeing vincent, and apologised profusely to him. Vincent didn't want the kid to get in trouble so helped Renee hide his own art supplies and the gun and then headed home (hence why it took so long for vincent to return home)

(Edit: Typos/grammar) I agree with the chili on the paintbrush. Early this year, my wife brought home two puppies after one of ours died in an accident. They were actually siblings of our deceased dog (from the next litter) and were the last two of the litter from my wife's friend. About 3 months in, these two started chewing up the corners of the drywall in our 150 year old house. We gave them all sorts of stuff to chew on, but they kept trying to eat the drywall. I decided to coat the spots they were chewing in pepper spray, thinking that the dogs would hate the burning feeling and stay away from it. In fact, it was exactly the opposite. These little shits ate MORE of the drywall because they seemed to love the taste/burn of the pepper spray. We couldn't believe it so we decided to run a little test by spraying 2 small bones with pepper spray and leave 2 without it. After an hour, the two spicy bones were gone and the regular two were untouched. One of the dogs even picked up an unsprayed bone and dropped it over the baby gate we had (to keep our disabled son separated from the dogs) and sat there whining and howling. So I grabbed the bone, put pepper spray on it, and the dogs started arguing over who got the spicy bone. It was the most bizarre thing I'd ever seen. By this point, we were out of pepper spray but had some extra spicy hot sauce (pretty close to being as painful as pepper spray) that I dropped onto the other bones. Both were gone in about 30 minutes. Once they had eaten both sets of bones and the rest of the "spicy drywall," they stopped chewing on the drywall. We had a good laugh about it and figured that, even though the plan went 180° from what was intended, we got the dogs to stop chewing up the drywall because it wasn't spicy enough. I think the best part of this is that these two dogs would be perfect to train as attack dogs because they are totally immune to pepper spray. If someone were to pepper spray them for some reason, they would probably get excited and start begging for more 😆

van gogh is my absolute favorite artist. my favorite painting of his is “cafe at night”. as an aspiring artist with severe mental illness, i can empathize with a lot of struggles he had. van gogh was such a kind and genuine soul. i love him and his work so much, it’s hard to put into words. i wish his story was more common instead of just his painting

honestly thank you for making this video, the info in this was so captivating and interesting that it led me down a rabbit hole and i am now writing my senior graduation research paper on him!

Van Gogh is the first artist where I had genuine emotion seeing his work in real life. The beauty of his paintings and the tragedy of his life are so powerful that it honestly overwhelmed me. I kind of hope that he knew deep down he would be appreciated. And that his passing was not that "tragic" as the official version make it sounds. It was tragic that he passed but it would be more of the picture I have of him if that's indeed how his life ended.

Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists, especially in terms of mental illnesses that I can resonate with as I deal with my own demons. However, I'll always love his 'Sunflowers' and 'Irises' series, and of course, his magnum opus, Starry Night. It's a shame that he thought his paintings were of little or no worth when obviously we know him all over the place now. Fun fact: It was due to his art-dealer brother, Theo, and his sister-in-law, Jo, that his paintings became as popular as they did. In fact, the paintings 'Almond Blossoms' were made to celebrate the birth of his nephew, who Theo named after him, Vincent. For anyone interested in a movie that emulates his style, check out the film 'Loving Vincent', where it's entirely hand-painted.

Van Gogh’s work is what made me love art. Especially Starry Night, which i still have on the wall behind my setup. I hope this idea of how he really died is true, as it is a really beautiful picture to paint of his last moments. And it also made me tear up at the end.

I listen to you very often. I love your story telling. I even put you on to fall asleep to. So how have I never seen this video before? Or the one on Tokyo rose?

Can’t wait for this earful!

Man. If I had a nickle for every famous person who had a mysterious gun related death by a hotel that was deemed a suicide over a hundred years ago, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice. (Merriwether Lewis)

"As a painter, I will never amount to anything important. I am absolutely sure of it." Fuck man, that line almost made me shed a tear. Rip Van Gogh and what a great man-- I truly hope he can see how greatly his works have touched the world from heaven 🙏🏼😢💔

I love this. It gives the beauty of his character the same fame and recognition that the beauty of his paintings got. Both should be remembered as such. Thank you, Mr. Di'goon.

There is a beautiful movie about his death called "Loving Vincent", every single frame was painted by hand to recreate his paintings, I truly recomend it to anyone interested.

I binge watched the hell out of Doctor Who in my teenage years, and the only episode that truly moved me to tears beyond comprehension was the one with Vincent Van Gogh. Ever since that episode, no matter how historically inaccurate or dramatized it was, I have adored this misunderstood man and his work and his brain.

Man I love your content. Mad respect to you

Hi dad, So I live in the UK, in a county called Kent to be particular. A few months ago my new neighbours told me about this wooded area local to us called ‘Dering Wood’, A.K.A ‘Screaming Woods’, which is close to a small village called Pluckley. Now I’d tell you everything I know but it think the mystery of the woods itself is more interesting to unravel as you read into it. I never knew I’ve been living so close to an infamous location and what intrigues me more is that is closing in on Halloween season. I’d love it if you had a look at this because if anyone were to find out more, it would be you. Love the work! Many thanks, Son.

The story of Vincent’s ear isn’t a sword nor was it given to a lover. Vincent cut off the lobe of his ear (NOT the entire thing) during a fight with his long time friend and artist partner Paul Gauguin (definitely look into his time with Vincent it’s very interesting.) Gauguin as it was recorded wasn’t very nice to Vincent, but Vincent admired him greatly. Their dynamic was always strange to me. Anyways, it’s theorized that he did this in a bout of dementia during a mental break, and there’s no actual evidence of him gifting it to a prostitute afterwards like it’s said he did. Vincent would check himself into the Saint Remy de Provence mental institute afterwards. I loved the video but as a Van Gogh nerd I had to clarify this :)

I love that you put “Skull with cigarette” for the thumbnail Such an unknown painting, yet one of his most intriguing P.S. As an art historian, thank you for this video

Great video wendi! You’re the best! Keep it up my friend ❤️

love that u shared this loved this video so much

Dude, I think that it is so awesome that you covered his death and the oddity of it all. As an Art Education and Art History double major, Van Gogh has always been one of my favorite artists. His short time on Earth yielded so much future influence and he will be remembered as long as mankind is around. Fun fact, his sister in law, Jo Van Gogh (Theo's wife), was left with nearly all of his artwork after both men died. She ultimately planned an exhibition in Germany which pretty much started his ascent to fame. If she did not decide to show his art, he would have made little to no impact on the world as we know it.

I just want to say (as a native Dutch speaker) - technically you're not mispronouncing Van Gogh's name, for it's his translated name, a common practice in Europe His name being translated simply shows how importanted he was throughout the world and I think the least we can do is not expect non-Dutch speakers to try to use our harsh G sounds. Often in European history important figures are given translated names for other languages to use, either a different way of pronouncing it (Like Van Gogh) or a different name all together (Like how the founding father of the Netherlands is given a Dutch name in our history eventhough the man in question didn't speak a word Dutch) It saddens me to see so many Americans shaming themselves for "mispronouncing" names while Europeans have done it for years Especially with uncommon sounds, I myself still have words I cannot correctly pronounce in English even if I try really hard - it's an accent and people shouldn't feel bad about it! Just wanted to get that off my chest lol Loved the video too! You always make such interesting videos and I loved that you tackled this case, it always interested me :)

Hey man I really appreciate the quality videos you put out, they’re in a league of their own. Totally off topic, but what is your skin care routine? Your skin is perfect dude

I only have time to listen to you on weekends when I'm on my long drive. PLEASE make more audio book style videos so that those of us who are driving can picture the image thank you!!!!

You took your life, as lovers often do But I could've told you, Vincent This world was never meant for One as beautiful as you...

I swear im giving Wendigoon the most watchtime because i watch his videos at night, and i fall asleep to every one of them (ergo, i watch all the ads fully as well) xD. And i watch each video for like 5 times, cause i start watching from where i fell asleep the previous night. And we all know and love the hour long videos we get from Wendigoon. Thus amounting to hours and hours of watchtime hihi I look forward to falling asleep to this video as well. Keep up the good work, Wendigoon

I wrote a paper on him for a french class, I had to write the whole thing in french, and this always......seemed off to me when I was researching his death. It's honestly very good to see Wendidude making a video on this which answered a lot of my lingering questions.

Hey there Mr. Goon, I first wanna say that I absolutely love your content and I can’t get enough of it! But I am also curious. I just rewatched your old video on The Lighthouse, and I really wanna know if you’ve seen the film Eraserhead(1977), and I wanna know your thoughts on it if you have. It’s my favorite “horror” film at the moment and it’s absolutely right down your alley!