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Arts feature

Where Van Gogh learned to paint

William Cook reports from the sooty Belgian netherworld near Mons that made an artist of Van Gogh

14 February 2015

9:00 AM

14 February 2015

9:00 AM

In December 1878 Vincent Van Gogh arrived in the Borinage, a bleak coal- mining district near Mons. He was 25 years old. He’d failed to become an art dealer. He’d failed to become a schoolteacher. Drawing was just a hobby — an artistic career was the last thing on his mind.

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Van Gogh in the Borinage – The Birth of an Artist is at Beaux-Arts Mons, until 17 May.

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