Four Withered Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
Kingfisher by the Waterside by Vincent van Gogh
Scene of a Cottage with a Peasant Coming Back Home by Vincent van Gogh
The Potato Eaters by Vincent van Gogh
Apples by Vincent van Gogh
Autumn Landscape with Four Trees by Vincent van Gogh
Beer Tankards by Vincent van Gogh
Boulevard de Clichy by Vincent van Gogh
Breton Women and Chlidren by Vincent van Gogh
The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry by Vincent van Gogh
The Cottage by Vincent van Gogh
The Vicarage at Nuenen by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh

1853–1890 · Dutch

Van Gogh did not start painting until he was twenty-seven. Before that he tried being an art dealer (fired), a schoolteacher (quit), a bookshop assistant (quit), and a preacher in a Belgian mining town (dismissed for excessive zeal, which in this context meant giving away his clothes and sleeping on the floor). He had a pattern of total commitment followed by total collapse.

Key facts

Lived
1853–1890, Dutch[8]
Movement
[8]
Works held in
23 museums[1]

Biography

He taught himself to draw by copying prints and working through textbooks. His brother Theo, an art dealer in Paris, sent money every month for the rest of Vincent's life. Without Theo there are no paintings. The letters between them, over 600, are one of the most complete records of any artist's thinking. Van Gogh wrote about colour theory, composition, what he ate, what he read, how much he spent on paint. He was articulate and well-read and not, despite the popular version, simply mad.

He moved to Paris in 1886[8] and encountered Impressionism. The palette changed immediately: from the dark browns of his Dutch[8] period to the colours people actually associate with his work. He met Gauguin, Pissarro, Signac, Toulouse-Lautrec. He absorbed Pointillism and Japanese prints. Then he moved to Arles in the south of France, where the light was better and people were fewer.

The Arles period produced Sunflowers, The Bedroom, Starry Night Over the Rhone. The breakdown followed: the argument with Gauguin, the severed ear (he cut part of his left ear, not the whole thing), the asylum at Saint-Remy, and then Auvers-sur-Oise, where he painted seventy canvases in seventy days before dying from a gunshot wound at thirty-seven. He sold one painting during his lifetime, or possibly two. Theo died six months later.

Timeline

  1. 1853Born on 30 March in Groot-Zundert, the Netherlands, the eldest surviving child of a Protestant minister. His brother Theo, who would become his closest confidant and financial supporter, was born four years later.
  2. 1869Began working at 16 as a junior clerk at the Hague branch of Goupil and Cie, an international art dealership.
  3. 1879Worked as an evangelical preacher among coal miners in the Borinage, Belgium, aged 25. He was dismissed for excessive zeal after giving away his possessions.
  4. 1880Resolved to become an artist at 27, writing to Theo that he had found his true vocation. He moved to Brussels to begin formal training in drawing.
  5. 1885Painted The Potato Eaters in Nuenen, aged 32, his first large-scale composition depicting a peasant family sharing a simple meal under lamplight.
  6. 1886Arrived in Paris in February, aged 33. He encountered Impressionist painting, met Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, and his palette transformed from dark earth tones to colour.
  7. 1888Moved to Arles in Provence, aged 35, seeking stronger light. He produced over 200 paintings in fifteen months before severing part of his left ear on 23 December.
  8. 1889Admitted to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, aged 36. Despite recurring crises, he painted The Starry Night from his window.
  9. 1890Died on 29 July in Auvers-sur-Oise, aged 37, two days after shooting himself. In his decade-long career, he produced some 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings.

Notable Works

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Where to See Vincent van Gogh

20 museums worldwide.

Plan your visit →

  • Van Gogh Museum

    Amsterdam, Netherlands

    267 works

    Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum opened in 1973 around the family collection kept by Vincent's sister-in-law Jo Bonger and her son. Its 267 works include The Potato Eaters (1885), The Yellow House (1888) and Wheatfield with Crows (1890), tracing the full arc from Nuenen peasants to Auvers.

    Museum detailsMap

  • Kröller-Müller Museum

    Otterlo, Netherlands

    114 works

    Helene Kroller-Muller bought almost 300 Van Goghs between 1908 and 1929, when most collectors still thought him a curiosity. Her museum at Otterlo, opened 1938, now holds 114 works including Cafe Terrace at Night (1888). Second only to Amsterdam in scale, first in collector conviction.

    Museum detailsMap

  • Metropolitan Museum of Art

    New York City, United States

    25 works

    The Met's 25 Van Goghs were built through the Havemeyer and Annie Cohen bequests. Wheat Field with Cypresses (1889), painted during his Saint-Rémy year, and Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (1887) from his Paris period let visitors read the shift from Parisian brightness into the Provençal palette within a single room.

    Museum detailsMap

  • Musée d'Orsay

    Paris, France

    24 works
    Museum detailsMap

  • Rijksmuseum

    Rijksmuseum, Netherlands

    18 works
    Museum detailsMap

  • Art Institute of Chicago

    Chicago, United States

    14 works
    Museum detailsMap

Related Artists

Edouard Vuillard

Edouard Vuillard

1868–1940 · French

Georges Seurat

Georges Seurat

1859–1891 · French

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1864–1901 · French

Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin

1848–1903 · French

Maurice Denis

Maurice Denis

1870–1943 · French

Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian

1872–1944 · Dutch

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • Did vincent van gogh kill himself?
    Vincent van Gogh shot himself in the stomach with a revolver in a considered act of despair. This occurred in the wheat fields on the morning of Sunday, July 27th, almost ten years after he began his artistic journey.
  • How did vincent van gogh die?
    Vincent van Gogh died in 1890[8] at the age of 37.
  • How did vincent van gogh lose his ear?
    Vincent van Gogh sliced off his left ear with a razor. He was anxious, ill, and probably drunk at the time.
  • Is vincent van gogh dutch?
    Vincent van Gogh was Dutch[8]. The Van Gogh family name probably came from the small town of Gogh on the German frontier, but by the sixteenth century, they were established in Holland.
  • Is vincent van gogh french?
    Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch[8] painter, born in Holland.
  • Vincent van gogh art style and techniques?
    Vincent van Gogh strove to convey the strength of peasantry by unsophisticated means. Figures were awkwardly placed or obscured, their anatomies deformed, and their gestures exaggerated.
  • Was vincent van gogh a christian?
    There is evidence that Vincent van Gogh was Christian. He would read the Bible, copy texts, learn them by heart, and write religious compositions.
  • Was vincent van gogh crazy?
    Many have interpreted Vincent van Gogh's distorted forms and violent, contrasting colours as evidence of mental imbalance. He was described as a shy, awkward painter.
  • What is vincent van gogh famous for painting?
    Vincent van Gogh is famous for painting sunflowers. He created four sunflower paintings to welcome Gauguin to Arles, and to him, the flowers signified happiness.
  • When did vincent van gogh become famous?
    By 1914, Vincent van Gogh was one of the most famous artists in the world.
  • Where can i see vincent van gogh's sunflowers?
    Vincent van Gogh's works can be seen at Van Gogh Museum, Kröller-Müller Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and 2 other museums worldwide.
  • Who was vincent van gogh's brother?
    Vincent van Gogh's younger brother was Theo, an art dealer in Paris. Theo provided financial support to Vincent, allowing him to paint full-time.

Sources

Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Vincent van Gogh.

  1. [1] museum Toledo Museum of Art Used for: museum holdings.
  2. [2] museum Courtauld Gallery Used for: museum holdings.
  3. [3] museum Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts Used for: museum holdings.
  4. [4] museum Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp Used for: museum holdings.
  5. [5] museum Clark Art Institute Used for: museum holdings.
  6. [6] museum Städel Museum Used for: museum holdings.
  7. [7] wikidata Wikidata: Q5582 Used for: identifiers.
  8. [8] wikipedia Wikipedia: Vincent van Gogh Used for: biography, birth dates, death dates, identifiers, movement attribution, nationality.
  9. [9] book Susie Hodge, Art Used for: stylistic analysis.
  10. [10] book Susie Hodge, Artistic Circles Used for: biography.
  11. [11] book Beard, Lee, 1973- author, Butler, Adam, author; Van Cleave, Claire, author; Fortenberry, Diane, author; Stirling, Susan, author, Beard, Lee, 1973- author, Butler, Adam, author; Van Cleave, Claire, author; Fortenberry, Diane, author; Stirling, Susan, author - The Art Book_ New Edition, Mini Format Used for: stylistic analysis.
  12. [12] book James Grundvig, Breaking van Gogh Used for: biography.
  13. [13] book Vincent van Gogh, Delphi Complete Works of Vincent Van Gogh (Illustrated) Used for: biography.
  14. [14] book guggenheim-vangoghexpressio00gogh Used for: stylistic analysis.
  15. [15] book Masterpieces of western art : a history of art in 900 individual studies from the Gothic to the present day Used for: biography.
  16. [16] book Vincent van Gogh, Masters of Art - Vincent van Gogh Used for: biography.
  17. [17] book Carol Strickland and John Boswell, The Annotated Mona Lisa _ba crash course in art history from prehistoric to post-modern _cCarol Strickland and John Boswell Used for: biography.
  18. [18] book Carol Strickland and John Boswell, The Annotated Mona Lisa _ba crash course in art history from prehistoric to post-modern _cCarol Strickland and John Boswell_1 Used for: biography.
  19. [19] book Carol Strickland and John Boswell, The Annotated Mona Lisa _ba crash course in art history from prehistoric to post-modern _cCarol Strickland and John Boswell_2 Used for: biography.
  20. [20] book Beckett, Wendy, The story of painting Used for: biography.
  21. [21] book Steven Naifeh, Van Gogh Used for: biography.
  22. [22] book Jan Greenberg, Vincent Van Gogh Used for: biography.
  23. [23] book Susie Hodge;, Vincent Van Gogh Used for: biography, stylistic analysis.
  24. [24] book Vincent van Gogh, Vincent Van Gogh and artworks Used for: biography.
  25. [25] book Charles, Victoria; Gogh, Theo van; Gogh, Vincent van; Harrison, Robert, Vincent van Gogh by Vincent van Gogh Used for: biography.
  26. [26] book VINCENT VAN GOGH, Works of Vincent van Gogh (Masters of Art) Used for: biography.

Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-31. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.

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