Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh became an artist comparatively late, after unsuccessful attempts at careers in art dealing, teaching and religious work. His early Dutch paintings, culminating in The Potato Eaters, were built from dark earth colors and a commitment to peasant life. Moving to Paris in 1886 exposed him to Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism and Japanese prints, radically brightening his palette. In Arles from 1888 he produced sunflowers, portraits, night scenes and the Yellow House interiors while hoping to create an artists’ community with Paul Gauguin. After a severe mental-health crisis he entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole hospital at Saint-Rémy voluntarily in 1889, where he made works including The Starry Night and Irises. He spent his final weeks in Auvers-sur-Oise and died there in July 1890. His letters, preserved through the Van Gogh family, form an unusually rich record of his artistic thinking.

Painting; drawing; print-related study