Looking at Gorky’s art and reflecting on his life story, one cannot help but wonder: was he a born genius, destined for greatness, or did a series of heartbreaking circumstances turn an otherwise ordinary man into an extraordinary talent? It’s a question we will never know the answer to, but we can try to piece together the transformation from Vosdanig, the farm boy from Khorgom to Arshile, the internationally-renowned American artist.

Born in a little village outside of Van to a reconstituted family who lost many loved ones in the Hamidian Massacres of 1894-96, Vosdanig father left for America early on to escape the Ottoman military draft. With his mother and sisters, young Vosdanig spent his days roaming around the fields of his idyllic land. Many of his paintings later in life were directly inspired by the scenery of his adolescence. When the Genocide began, his family fled east, to what became the Republic of Armenia. Meeting the fate of hundreds of thousands of genocide refugees at that time, his mother succumbed to hunger and died in his arms. Vosdanig, just a teenager, never recovered from the trauma (see The Artist and His Mother).

After relocating to America, he set out to recreate his identity, settling on the name “Arshile Gorky” and a background story that would evolve so constantly over the years, even he couldn’t keep up. Though he changed the most intimate features of himself—countries, cultures, names, age, and artistic styles—Gorky could never shake the darkness that hovered over him like a hidden tumor, chipping away at his soul; at about 44 years of age, he hanged himself outside his New England home.