... coal-mining district in Belgium. Vincent took his work so seriously that he went without food and other necessities so he could give more to the poor. The missionary society objected to Vincent's behavior and fired him in 1879. Heartsick, van Gogh struggled to keep going socially and financially, yet he was always rejected by other people, and felt lost and forsaken. In 1880, at age 27, he became obsessed with art. The intensity he had for religion, he now focused on art. His early drawings were crude but strong and full of feeling: "It is a hard and a difficult struggle to learn to draw well... I have worked like a slave ....". His first paintings had been still lifes and scenes of peasants at work. "That which fills my head and heart must be expressed in drawings and in pictures...I'm in a rage of work." In 1881, he ...

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