in 1886 he went to paris to join his brother theo, who was the manager of goupil's gallery. in paris, van gogh studied with cormon. he also met pissarro, monet, and gauguin. this helped the colors of his paintings lighten and be painted in short strokes from the paintbrush. his nervous temper made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day made him very unhealthy. he decided to go south to arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. gauguin did join him, but it did not help. near the end of 1888, gauguin left arles. van gogh followed him with an open razor, but was stopped by gauguin. instead, he cut his own ear lobe off. after that, van gogh began to get fits of madness and was sent to the asylum in saint-remy for medical treatment. he painted over 1,000 portraits.