A Look At Vincent Van Gogh's Love Affair

Sometime in early 1882, while living in The Hague, Vincent van Gogh met Sien Hoornik, a sex worker whom he wished to become his model. Hoornik was pregnant at the time she met van Gogh. The two became intimate following van Gogh's doomed attempt to court Kee Von-Stricker, with van Gogh inviting Hoornik and her young daughter to live with him. With Hoornik as a model, van Gogh produced some of his finest drawings, most notably "Sorrow." However, as noted by VincentVanGogh.com, his relationship with Hoornik became a point of contention between van Gogh and his family. 

"I am reconciled to her past and she is reconciled to my past. If my family were to cast me out because I had seduced a woman, I would feel like a scoundrel if I had really done such a thing, but if I should be thwarted because I remain loyal to a woman to whom I've promised loyalty, I should despise my family," van Gogh explained in a letter to Theo. "Not everyone is suited to being a painter's wife – she's willing, she learns as each day goes by ... I would like to marry her without further ado."

As word of his living arrangements spread — and moral outrage with it — van Gogh found himself estranged from his supporters and family, losing both their patronage and financial backing, per Artnet News. Struggling once more to support himself, van Gogh's loyalty to Hoornik eventually waned. The artist left The Hague for the picturesque province of Drenthe and never saw his former muse again.

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