Van Gogh had a number of uncles who were art dealers. So, when he left school in 1869, he joined a company called Goupil & Co. where one of his uncles' worked. However, in 1876, he lost his job. This is thought to have been because the company did not think that he was suitable for the commercial world of art due to his increasing interest in religion.

Van Gogh then moved to England where he worked as a school teacher. He taught in a Sunday school and would sometimes give religious sermons but was eager to become a full-time minister. To fulfil his ambition he went back home to the Netherlands in order to study for the exam needed to get into university. He passed the exam and took up theology, which is the study of beliefs and religion. However, van Gogh was still not happy. Because of this he became an evangelist in a poor village in Belgium. However, he was not re-appointed by the Evangelization Committee as they were concerned about him.

In 1881 van Gogh was still living in the poor village in Belgium. However, he started to become interested in art again rather than religion, as he met an artist who inspired him. Later that year he went back home to live with his parents, where his ambition was to become a professional artist. Van Gogh taught him self to paint, using pictures to help him.

However, Vincent fell out with his father so left home once again. He moved to The Hague where there were many Dutch painters and while he was there he was given some painting lessons. He went onto complete a number of paintings which he exhibited with a number of other artists. He painted a number of landscapes, portraits and is famous for his paintings of sunflowers.

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