VINCENT VAN GOGH
1853-1890, NetherlandsVincent Van Gogh is considered one of the greatest post-Impressionist painters in Western art, despite being active only during the final decade of is life. His oil paintings spanned landscapes, still lifes, self-portraits and portraits and feature expressive, dramatic brushwork and bold colours.
Early Years
Vincent Van Gogh was not the first Vincent to be born into the Van Gogh family—a son had been stillborn exactly a year before. Born in 1853, Vincent Van Gogh was the son of Anna and Theodorus; his father was a Protestant minister. Aged 16, Van Gogh started work at the international art dealer Goupil & Cie—a job that took him to Brussels, London and Paris. Following this, he became a teacher at private schools in England, then worked at a bookshop in Dordrecht, tried to study theology but wasn’t disciplined enough, then became a lay preacher. Van Gogh wrote regularly to his brother Theo and often included sketches and drawings; Theo advised him to concentrate on art.
Vincent Van Gogh: Artworks
Vincent Van Gogh took painting lessons from the artist Anton Mauve, who was his cousin-in-law. He practised his drawing via a commission from an uncle: 12 views of The Hague. Moving in with his parents, he painted the peasants who lived in the area, notably in the dark oil work, The Potato Eaters (1885). He studied art in Brussels, The Hague and Antwerp, but eventually ran away to Paris, staying with his brother Theo, by now manager of Goupil.
At this point Van Gogh met painters including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Emile Bernard, and as his brush strokes became shorter, his colour palette became brighter—for example, in 1886’s The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry. Significantly, he also became friendly with Paul Gauguin.
Tiring of Paris, Van Gogh headed south to Arles and was inspired by the landscape, colours and light, allowing his style to become more expressive and his palette more saturated. This was a very productive period for Van Gogh—notably in “The Yellow House”—and works created at this time include some of his most well-known: for example, The Harvest (1888) Sunflowers (1889). He persuaded Paul Gaugin to stay at The Yellow House but their relationship was volatile.
Even when admitted to an asylum in 1889, Van Gogh continued to paint, creating around 150 works including Irises (1889), The Starry Night (1889), inspired by the view from his bedroom window, and Almond Blossom (1890), which he gave to his brother Theo and wife Jo to mark the birth of their first child.
Troubled by mental health issues, Vincent Van Gogh died by suicide in 1890.
Vincent Van Gogh: Select Exhibitions
Select Solo Exhibitions
- Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow, Philadelphia Museum of Art (2026)
- Grand Van Gogh Exhibition: Part One, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, Fukushima (2026)
- Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, National Gallery, London (2024)
- Van Gogh’s Bedrooms, Art Institute of Chicago (2016)
- Van Gogh: The Adventure of Becoming an Artist, National Art Centre, Tokyo (2010).
Select Group Exhibitions
- Café Society: Art and Sociability in Belle Époque Paris, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund (2026)
- From Picasso to Van Gogh: Painting Stories from Abstraction to Impressionism. Masterpieces from the Toledo Museum of Art Museo Santa Caterina, Treviso (2025)
- Post-Impressionism: Beyond Appearances, Louvre Abu Dhabi (2024)
- Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (2011)
- Masterpieces from Paris: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond. Post-Impressionism from the Musée d’Orsay, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2009)
Further Reading
- The Vincent Van Gogh Museum
- VincentVanGogh.org
- Vincent Van Gogh’s fascination with yellow (The New York Times, 2026)
- Van Gogh Museum Instagram
Vincent Van Gogh FAQs
Why did Van Gogh cut off his ear?
When Vincent Van Gogh was living with Paul Gauguin in The Yellow House in Arles, despite both artists producing some of their most admired paintings, there was an ongoing tension between them. Van Gogh’s mental health was also troubled. One evening just before Christmas 1888, Gauguin threatened to leave and the pair had a massive argument in which Van Gogh threatened his fellow artist with a razor. Later that night he cut off his own ear, wrapped it up and gave it to a prostitute. The next morning, the police took him to hospital.
Who were Vincent Van Gogh’s lovers?
During his early career, Van Gogh fell in love with his cousin, Kee Vos, much to the disapproval of his parents—and also to Vos, who was a widow and wanted nothing to do with him. In 1882 he met former prostitute Sien Hoornik, who became his model as well as his lover. She had a young daughter and was pregnant, and Van Gogh felt sorry for her, but once again his family did not approve. Aged 30, Van Gogh moved back in with his parents and began a relationship with their mentally unstable neighbour, Margot Begemann. This time not only his parents but also Begemann’s sisters opposed the pairing, which drove Begemann to attempt to take her own life. She survived, but their relationship did not. Moving to Paris in 1886, 32-year-old Van Gogh fell in love with Agostina Segatori, a restaurant-owner. Once again, the relationship did not last, but he painted her several times in 1887. In In the Café: Agostina Segatori in Le Tambourin, she is pictured with a beer.
What is the most expensive Van Gogh painting ever sold?
While the 1987 sale of Sunflowers (1889) made headlines at the time because the £24 million paid was three times more than any artwork had ever fetched at auction, the record price was set at Christie’s in New York City in 2022 when Orchard with Cypresses (1888) sold for $117 million.
How did Vincent Van Gogh become famous after his death?
Although his work was exhibited in Paris and Brussels during the final two years of his life, Van Gogh did not have a very high profile by the time he died in 1890. After his death, his brother Theo wanted to draw attention to Van Gogh’s work but six months later, Theo died too. Theo’s widow, Jo Van Gogh-Bonger, is the reason the world knows so much about Vincent Van Gogh. She sold some of his paintings, loaned other work to exhibitions and—perhaps most significantly—published his letters to Theo, so his life story became known, too.
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