Vincent van Gogh decided to become an artist in 1880. The decision followed a turbulent period in which he had tried careers in the art trade, teaching, theology and Protestant missionary work.
After church authorities dismissed him from his missionary post in Belgium, van Gogh returned to drawing seriously. His brother Theo encouraged him to pursue art and provided financial support. In 1880, Vincent moved to Brussels, where he studied independently and briefly enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts.
The year 1880 marks his deliberate commitment to art, not the beginning of every artistic activity. Van Gogh had drawn as a child and had worked for the art dealer Goupil & Cie years earlier. His professional painting career developed gradually: he received important instruction from Anton Mauve in late 1881 and produced many early works in the Netherlands before his later breakthroughs in Paris and Arles.