I looked at a dataset about the colors used by Van Gogh in his paintings and other artworks. I analyzed the data in Tableau and then reported my findings with Tableau dashboards and Powerpoint.

1. Van Gogh’s
Colors
How They Changed Over
the Years
There was a total of 1928
works of art in this dataset,
which includes oil paintings,
water colors, drawings and
sketches.
Most of the drawings and
sketches were primarily gray
and black.

2. Vincent’s Art in The
Netherlands
When he was living in The Netherlands,
Vincent’s paintings were often dark and dull.
This is one of his most famous paintings from
that period, called “The Potato Eaters.”
There were 854 works of art from this time
period.

3. Tableau Chart of Paintings Colors: Netherlands

4. Move to Paris
1886
• Vincent’s Art started to become
more light, bright and colorful.
• He met with many Impressionists,
such as Toulousse-Lautrec and Paul
Gauguin.
• He didn’t agree with their style, so
he made his own adaptation, called
Post-Impressionist.
• He made 340 works of art during this
time period.

5. Tableau Chart of Paintings Colors from Paris

6. Art Works From Paris
Colors
• Black/Gray: 73
• Blue: 40
• Yellow: 51
• Green: 24

7. Life In Arles 1888-1889
Van Gogh loved living in this
Yellow House.
Most of Van Gogh’s most
famous paintings were made in
the last two-three years of his
life.
He made more than 395 art
works here.

8. Tableau Chart of Paintings Colors From Arles

9. Colors From
Arles
• Black/Gray: 94
• Yellow: 51
• Green: 34
• Blue: 82

10. Hospitalization
at Saint Remy
1889-1890
Van Gogh painted some of
his best and most famous
works here, including The
Starry Night.
While Hospitalized here, Van
Gogh made 142 oil paintings as
well as many drawings.

11. Tableau Chart of Paintings Colors from St. Remy

12. Colors From Saint Remy
Black/Gray: 45
Yellow: 24
Blue: 17
Green: 13

13. The Last Months in
Auvers
Van Gogh only lived here three
months before his death.
He made 77 oil paintings, and
many drawings in those last
months.

14. Tableau Chart of Paintings Colors from Auvers

15. Colors in Auvers
Black/Gray: 18
Yellow: 14
Blue: 15
Yellow: 14

16. Conclusion
• Van Gogh is known for his bright and bold use of colors, especially the
years that he lived and worked in France.
• One of the most surprising findings is that Gray was by far the most
common color in the dataset.
• Of the art works that were primarily black/gray, 297 were from the
sketches genre, and 244 were from all other genres combined.
• Vincent was known for his bold use of yellow, but out of 1924 works
in the dataset, only 209 had the primary color of yellow.
• The primary color in The Starry Night, cosmic cobalt blue, was used in
only one other painting.