The Willow

26 March 1885

Death of his father

The artist's father, the minister Theodorus van Gogh, died of a heart attack.

August 1885

First public showing, in shop windows in The Hague

Van Gogh's work was publicly exhibited for the first time, in the shop windows of the dealer Leurs in The Hague.

February 1886

Moves to Paris to join his brother Theo

Van Gogh left Antwerp to join his brother Theo, an art dealer, in Paris. So began a very fruitful and eventful Paris period: he painted some two hundred and thirty pictures there, more than anywhere else.

April – May 1886

Cormon's studio: Bernard, Anquetin, Lautrec

At Fernand Cormon's studio Van Gogh joined the circle of the Australian John Russell, who painted his portrait, and met Émile Bernard, Louis Anquetin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who drew him in pastel. They met at Père Tanguy's paint shop, then the only place where Cézanne's paintings were shown.

late 1887

An exhibition at the Restaurant du Chalet

Vincent arranged an exhibition with Bernard, Anquetin and probably Toulouse-Lautrec at the Grand-Bouillon Restaurant du Chalet in Montmartre; Bernard wrote that it was ahead of anything else in Paris. There Van Gogh exchanged works with Gauguin, and visitors included Camille Pissarro, Signac and Seurat.

November 1887

Friendship with Paul Gauguin

Theo and Vincent befriended Paul Gauguin, who had just arrived in Paris.