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Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853—29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist whose paintings had a far reaching influence on 20th century art. Little appreciated during his lifetime, his reputation increased in the years after his death. Today he is regarded as one of history’s greatest artists and an important contributor to the foundations of modern art.

Van Gogh did not begin his career as an artist until he was around 27. He suffered from anxiety and was unsettled for most of his life. He spent his early adulthood working for a firm of art dealers in The Hague, London and Paris, after which he taught in England. An early vocational aspiration was to become a pastor and preach the gospel, and he spent time working as a missionary in a mining region in Belgium. In 1879, he began to sketch people from the local community and in 1885 he painted his first major work The Potato Eaters. His palette at this time consisted mainly of sombre earth tones and showed no sign of the vivid coloration that distinguishes his later work. In March 1886, Van Gogh moved to Paris and discovered the French Impressionists. In Paris his work developed rapidly in depth and grew brighter in color. He developed a uniquely recognizable style; which became fully realized during his stay in Arles in 1888. During his last ten years, he produced more than 2,000 pieces, including around 900 paintings as well as 1,100 drawings and sketches. Most of his best-known works were produced during his final two years, amid recurrent bouts of mental illness.

A common misconception is that Van Gogh’s paintings were a product of his poor mental health. His late work indicates an artist completely in control, “longing for concision and grace,” and who was both preoccupied with precision and deeply frustrated by the inactivity and incoherence brought about by his sickness. He died at the age of 37, at the height of his ability, from a self inflicted gunshot wound. Although little known during his lifetime, his work was a strong influence on the modernist artists that followed him, and 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.

And.... the million dollar question: Why did Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear?

To be precise, it was the lobe of his left ear which he put into an envelope and gave to a brothel wench named Rachel telling her: “Guard this object carefully.” Van Gogh had felt an increasing fear that Gauguin, a fellow artist, was going to desert him. It reached a crisis point on December 23, 1888, when Van Gogh stalked Gauguin with a razor, then later went to a brothel where he cut off the lobe of his ear.

Not to mention that the guy was just plain crazy.

Sunflowers
Vase with Twelve Sunflowers
August 1888
Neue Pinakothek, Munich
Self Portrait
Self-Portrait
1889
Private Collection
Chair
Van Gogh’s Chair
1888
National Gallery London
Starry Night
The Starry Night
June 1889
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Père Tanguy
Portrait of Père Tanguy
1887
Musée Rodin
Bedroom
Bedroom in Arles
1888
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Rooftops
Rooftops, View from the atelier
1882
Private collection
Potatoe Eaters
The Potatoe Eaters
1885
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Smoking Skull
Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette
1885
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Courtisane
Courtesan (after Eisen)
1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Blooming Plumtree
The Blooming Plumtree (after Hiroshige)
1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Bridges across the Seine
Bridges across the Seine at Asnieres
1887
Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zürich
Night Cafe
The Night Café
1888
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
The Yellow House
The Yellow House
1888
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Cafe Terrace
The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night
September 1888
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Holland
The Postman
Joseph Roulin (The Postman)
1888
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Sower
The Sower
1888
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Holland
L’Arlésienne
L’Arlésienne: (Madame Ginoux)
1890
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Holland
Dr. Gachet
Portrait of Dr. Gachet
Private collection
Prisoners
The Round of the Prisoners
1890
At Eternity’s Gate
At Eternity’s Gate
1890
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Holland
Absinthe
Still Life with Absinthe
1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
The Old Mill
The Old Mill
1888
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Rhone
Starry Night Over the Rhone
1888
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Olive Trees
Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background
1889
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Bedroom
White House at Night
1890
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Vestibule of the Asylum
Vestibule of the Asylum, Saint-Remy
September 1889
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Road with Cypress and Star
Road with Cypress and Star
May 1890
Kröller-Müller Museum, Holland
Wheat Field
Wheat Field with Cypresses
1889
National Gallery, London
Cypress Trees
Cypresses
1889
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Cherry Trees
Cherry Tree
1888
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Flowering Orchards
View of Arles, Flowering Orchards
1889
Arles with Irises
View of Arles with Irises
1888
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Irises
Irises
1889
Getty Center, Los Angeles
Wheatfield with Crows
Wheatfield with Crows
1890
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Painter Travels
Painter on the Road to Tarascon: Vincent van Gogh on the road to Montmajour
August 1888
destroyed by fire in World War II
Explosion in Time
The Pandorica Opens
1890
destroyed by Groot Boem
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