Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose bold colors and emotional intensity influenced modern art, though he achieved little commercial success and struggled with mental illness during his lifetime.
Van Gogh sold only one painting while he was alive, and produced much of his most celebrated work during a stay in a psychiatric hospital, a detail that complicates any simple story about his genius.
A Late Start
Van Gogh did not begin painting seriously until his late twenties, after earlier attempts at careers in art dealing and religious ministry failed to bring him fulfillment, leaving him just a single decade to produce his entire artistic output before his death.
An Astonishing Output
In that brief period, van Gogh produced over 2,000 artworks, including approximately 860 oil paintings, working with remarkable speed and intensity, often completing a painting in just a single day.
Struggles with Mental Illness
Van Gogh battled severe mental health struggles throughout his adult life, including a well-documented crisis in 1888 during which he severed part of his own ear, and he voluntarily admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence for treatment.
Painting Through Turmoil
Remarkably, some of van Gogh's most celebrated works, including The Starry Night, were painted during his stay at the psychiatric hospital, reflecting his ability to channel intense emotional experience into extraordinarily vivid, expressive art.
Recognition Only After Death
Van Gogh sold only a single painting during his lifetime and died in 1890 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His work was championed posthumously, largely through the efforts of his sister-in-law, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, and he is now considered one of the most influential painters in Western art history.
