section: Estrangement from family
question: Which person introduced Van Gogh to the art of painting?
article: Sien (Van Gogh series)
candidates: In the summer of 1881, van Gogh fell in love with his recently widowed cousin, Kee Vos Stricker. He proposed marriage, but was rebuffed with an adamant "no, nay, never" (""nooit, neen, nimmer""). Undeterred, he nevertheless continued to press his attentions despite the increasing dismay and disapproval of his family which eventually led to his leaving the family home for a while to study drawing at The Hague with his cousin-in-law Anton Mauve. Mauve was a successful and noted artist, a leading member of the Hague School and a master colorist whose paintings found a ready market both home and abroad. He had married van Gogh's cousin, Ariëtte (Jet) Carbentus, in 1874 while she was still very young and he was already established and successful, and as such was lionised by the van Gogh family. At the time, he was busy with his massive "Fishing Boat on the Beach" that he was preparing for the next year's Salon, but he nevertheless found time for van Gogh to advise him on his drawings, inviting him to return in a few months time to review progress. After a last, humiliating, effort to win Kee over, an episode that put an end to his religious faith for ever, Van Gogh returned to his parents' home in Etten in late 1881. On Christmas Day that year he refused to attend church, provoking a violent quarrel with his father, a pastor, which resulted in his leaving home the very same day. He returned to The Hague and studied further under Mauve. Mauve helped him to establish a modest studio on the Schenkweg on the outer fringes of The Hague, lending him money to purchase furniture, and introduced him to the Pulchri Studio, The Hague's most important art society in which he himself played a major role. He also introduced Van Gogh to painting, first in oils and then with watercolor.