Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853 and died in 1890, at the age of 37.Although he had done many sketches and drawings from an early age, hewas a full-time artist for only ten years—the last ten years of his life. His ten-year career as an artist started out by anchoring to several things. He soughtthe tutelage of his renowned cousin Anton Mauve. He chose heroes fromthe art world he wanted to emulate, including Millet and Rembrandt. Heresolved to become competent in drawing before proceeding to painting.He decided to find some way to infuse his art with action and emotion.By the autumn of 1880, he had done what he could by himself. Hehad read assiduously on perspective and anatomy and studied drawingfrom borrowed books. He copied from the etchings and prints of otherartists which he had bought earlier or from ones sent to him by Theo.Of course, he now had no income and no money to pay rent, never mindbuying the materials—paper etc.—to do his work. Theo gave him financialsupport and sent him supplies, and Vincent, as ever, lived only on thebarest necessities, even more frugally than when he was a lay preacher.But he knew he had finally found his true profession and his trajectory. InSeptember, 1880, he wrote Theo:I cannot tell you how happy I am that I have taken up drawing again.I had been thinking about it for a long time, but always consideredit impossible & beyond my capabilities. But now, though I continueto be conscious of my failings & of my depressing dependence on agreat many things, now I have recovered my peace of mind & myenergy increases by the day . . . For me the object is to learn to drawwell, to gain control of my pencil, my charcoal or my brush. Once Ihave achieved that I shall be able to do good work almost anywhereand the Borinage is as picturesque as old Venice, as Arabia or Brittany,Normandy. (NYGS, Letter 136, 24 September, 1880.)Van Gogh always needed to find the support of other artists and notjust those of his own generation. He greatly respected the opinion of AntonMauve who was a leading artist in his day, as well as a cousin by marriage.He contacted Mauve and arranged for art lessons in The Hague. Van Goghlearned drawing and water coloring from Mauve. In a letter to Theo, hedescribed his dedication to this work:Drawing becomes more and more a passion with me, and it is a passionjust like that of a sailor for the sea. Mauve has now shown me a newway to make something, that is, how to paint water colours. Well, I amquite absorbed in this now and sit daubing and washing out again; inshort, I am trying to find a way. (NYGS. Letter 170, 7 January, 1882.)