How did Van Gogh and Gauguin meet?

They met in Paris in 1887 through mutual connections in the avant-garde art scene. Both were radicals in their different ways — Van Gogh pursuing emotional intensity through color and brushwork, Gauguin moving toward primitivism and symbolic flattening. They admired each other's work from the start, though the admiration was never uncomplicated.

What was the Yellow House arrangement?

Van Gogh dreamed of creating an artists' colony in Arles — a community of painters working together, sharing ideas and costs. He rented the Yellow House and prepared it specifically for Gauguin's arrival, painting Sunflowers to decorate Gauguin's room. Gauguin arrived in October 1888. They lived and worked together for nine weeks.

Why did the arrangement collapse?

The personalities were incompatible under close quarters. Gauguin was organized, cold, and dominant; Van Gogh was chaotic, emotionally volatile, and deeply needy of affirmation. They argued about painting — Gauguin thought Van Gogh should work from imagination more, Van Gogh believed in direct observation. The arguments escalated. Gauguin wrote to Theo that he was thinking of leaving.

What happened on the night of the breakdown?

December 23, 1888. The precise sequence is disputed. Van Gogh either confronted Gauguin with a razor or threatened him, depending on the account. Gauguin left the house. Van Gogh then severed part of his own ear. He was found the next morning. Gauguin left Arles immediately and never saw Van Gogh again.

Did they correspond after the incident?

Briefly. There was some exchange of letters, mostly civil but distant. Gauguin eventually said Van Gogh was "a great painter and a lunatic" — a statement that tells you everything about how Gauguin processed the relationship. Van Gogh never stopped respecting Gauguin's work, even after the rupture.