Vincent was born in Zundert on March 30th 1853. His father, Theodorus, was the minister of the small village and his mother, whose father was the court’s binder, was Anna-Cornelia Carbentus. Two families of notables whose parents hold important office in Bréda and Amsterdam.
Vincent was born exactly one year after his parents' first child, who had come lifeless to the world. 
We can imagine his parents’ anxiety at his birth and during the first years of his life.
Vincent was a difficult, stubborn and withdrawn child.
At eleven years old, he leaves his native house for the small Protestant boarding school in Zevenberger then in Tilburg, where he won’t complete his secondary school course. Nevertheless, he will learn three languages. He goes back home and is not sent to school for a year and half.                                                                                                 
His uncle Cent has him hired as clerk in the La Haye gallery he had just sold to the Paris Goupil firm.
Vincent learns to be an art dealer, visits museums, gets interested in the new trends in painting. The gallery organizes important exhibits. For a child born in the country, the big city of La Haye is a delight. He adapts to the city, improves in his job where he is appreciated by both his boss and the customers. He travels to Paris, Brussels to search out pictures and takes advantage of it to visit museums...
He feels well and is going to regret his galery’s choice to move him to the London branch.
Even if London attracts him, he will regret to "leave so many friends".
It’s in London that his destiny changes radically....