Vincent van Gogh's boarding school in Zevenbergen is included in a historic walk through the village and you can follow along at Van Gogh Europe. Find out more soon!
Vincent van Gogh was sent by his parents to Jan Provily's boarding school in Zevenbergen in 1864 as an 11-year-old boy. His mother found the dealings with the children at the elementary school in Zundert too rough. The building on Zandweg in Zevenbergen had been commissioned by Jan Provily. It taught a small group of students from wealthy Dutch Reformed families in the area. When Vincent attended boarding school, there were only 18 other students. Vincent, the youngest in the school, found his stay in Zevenbergen "nonsensical. In 1876 he wrote to his brother Theo the following recollection of the moment his father took him away by carriage to boarding school:
"It was an autumn day and I was standing on the doorstep of Mr. Provily's school checking the carriage in which Dad and Moe were driving home. That yellow cart could be seen in the distance on the long road, wet after the rain, with thin trees on either side, running through the meadows. The gray sky above everything, reflected in the puddles."
Vincent left boarding school as early as August 1866. Why exactly is not known. Afterwards he went to the Rijks HBS in Tilburg. Provily died in 1875. His grave is in the cemetery of Zevenbergen opposite the water tower.
At Stationsstraat 16 (in Van Gogh's time Zandweg 40A) stands the former boarding school. Next to the building - now a residential house - stands an audio column. The column is part of a network of audio columns in West Brabant, which was realized by the West Brabant Region (RWB). The pillars are connected by a bicycle route.
That column in Zevenbergen tells of the two years the world-famous artist spent in this place.
