2. Van Gogh did not begin painting
until his late twenties, and most
of his best-known works were
produced during his final two
years.
He produced more than 2,000
artworks, consisting of around
900 paintings and 1,100
drawings and sketches.
Although he was little known
during his lifetime, his work was
a strong influence on the
Modernist art that followed.
3. Today many of his pieces—including his numerous self portraits,
landscapes, portraits and sunflowers—are among the world's most
recognizable and expensive works of art.
4. The Potato Eaters
(Van Gogh Museum,
Amsterdam; 1885).
Van Gogh said he
wanted to depict
peasants as they really
were.
He deliberately chose
coarse and ugly models,
thinking that they would
be natural and unspoiled
in his finished work:
"I wanted to convey the idea that the people eating potatoes by the light of an oil lamp
used the same hands with which they take food from the plate to work the land, that
they have toiled with their hands—that they have earned their food by honest means."
"I think that the pictures of the peasants eating potatoes that I painted in Nuenen is the
best of all my work.“
Writing to his sister two years later in Paris, (Letter W1), van Gogh still considered
"The Potato Eaters" his most successful painting.
5. His palette at the time
consisted mainly of sombre
earth tones and showed no
sign of the vivid coloration
that distinguished his later
work.
In March 1886, he moved
to Paris and discovered the
French Impressionists.
Later he moved to the
south of France and was
taken by the strong sunlight
he found there.
His work grew brighter in
color and he developed
the unique and highly
recognizable style which
became fully realized The house where Van Gogh stayed in
during his stay in Arles in Cuesmes in 1880; while living here he
1888. decided to become an artist.
6. The extent to which his mental
illness affected his painting has
been a subject of speculation
since his death.
Despite a widespread
tendency to romanticize his ill
health, modern critics see an
artist deeply frustrated by the
inactivity and incoherence
brought about by his bouts of
sickness.
According to art critic Robert
Hughes, Van Gogh's late
works show an artist at the
height of his ability, completely
in control and "longing for
concision and grace".
Paul Gauguin's Armchair (1888), Van Gogh
Museum
9. The Starry Night
The painting depicts the
view outside his
sanatorium room
window at night,
although it was painted
from memory during the
day.
Since 1941 it has been
in the permanent
collection of the
Museum of Modern
Art in New York City.
11. Vestibule of the Asylum (September 1889), Saint-Remy, Van Gogh
Museum, brush and oils, black chalk, on pink laid paper
12. Portrait of Dr. Gachet is one
of the most revered paintings
by Dutch artist Vincent van
Gogh of Dr. Paul Gachet,
who took care of him in his
last months.
In 1990, it fetched a record
price of $82.5 million ($75
million, plus a 10 percent
buyer's commission).
There are two authentic
versions of the portrait, both
painted in June 1890 in
Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris.
Both show Doctor Gachet
sitting at a table and leaning
his head onto his right arm,
but they are easily
differentiated.
