In Nuenen, he would pay off the drawing and children, dedicated to him birds' nests in the subject and numerous sketches of weavers at home. In the fall of 1884, Margot Begemann, year after year is a neighbor girl older than himself, often accompanied by the artist in his painting forays ten. She fell in love reciprocatedthough in and with less enthusiasm. They decided to marry, but the idea was rejected by both families. Accordingly, Margot took an overdose of strychnine. She was saved when Van Gogh was immediately taken to a nearby hospital. On 26 March 1885, his father died of a heart attack, and the artist grieved deeply the loss.  For the first time in Paris was interested in his work. This spring, concluded that in general as his first major work, The Potato Eaters (Dutch: De Aardappeleters viewed). In August, his work for the first time in the windows of the paint dealer, Leurs, The Hague issued. He was forced himself to one of his models young peasant who became pregnant the month of accused September. Therefore forbade the Catholic priest of the parish of modeling for him. During 1885 several groups of still life painting.

 Skull with burning cigarette (1885), oil on canvas, Van Gogh MuseumFrom this time, Still Life with straw hat and pipe, and still life with a bottle of land and the shoes are considered by critics and writers for their technical expertise. Both are characterized by a touch sweet and caring and well-shaded colors. During his two years in Nuenen, he completed numerous drawings and watercolors and oil paintings of nearly 200th However, his palette was mostly black earth, dark and above all, showed no signs of color development of life, that his later, better known work characterized. When she complained that Theo was not enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, Theo said that it is too dark and not in line with the current style of bright Impressionist paintings was.  In November 1885 he moved to Antwerp and rented a small room abov e the shop of a dealer of paint on the road (Long Beeldekensstraat) Fig He had little money and ate little, rather spend the money to his brother Theo sent the painting materials and models . The bread, coffee and snuff was his basic consumption. In February 1886 he wrote to Theo saying that he could not remember eating six hot meals since May of last year. Your teeth become loose, causing him great pain. During his stay in Antwerp was dedicated to the study of color theory and spent some time looking for work in museums, in particular the work of Peter Paul Rubens, gaining encouragement to broaden its range of Carmine cobalt and emerald green. He bought a number of Japanese woodblock prints Ukiyo-e in the port area and has his own style in the lower part of their paintings.While in Antwerp, Van Gogh began to drink too much absinthe. The patient was by Dr. Cavenaile whose practice was in the vicinity of the port area, handled [64], possibly of syphilis, the goal of alum irrigations and sitz baths by Van Gogh was in one of his notebooks.Despite his rejection of the university, he was influenced the entrance examinations to universities in the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and in January 1886, he enrolled in painting and drawing. For most of February he was ill and exhausted by overwork, poor diet and excessive use of snuff.