Explore the full biography of Vincent van Gogh — Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, creator of The Starry Night. Learn about his life, art, mental illness, and tragic death at 37.
Vincent van Gogh is one of the most recognised and celebrated artists in the history of Western art. Born in the Netherlands in 1853, he created an astonishing body of work in just over a decade — roughly 2,100 artworks, including approximately 860 oil paintings — yet sold only one painting during his lifetime. His bold use of colour, expressive brushwork, and raw emotional depth transformed him into a posthumous icon whose influence still resonates across art, culture, and popular imagination today.
His story is one of remarkable contradiction: a man who produced masterpieces in poverty and obscurity, who battled mental illness throughout his most creative years, and who died at 37 without knowing the magnitude of what he had created. Today, his works rank among the most expensive ever sold, and his life continues to inspire artists, writers, and filmmakers worldwide.
Quick Facts About Vincent van Gogh
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Vincent Willem van Gogh |
| Date of Birth | 30 March 1853 |
| Place of Birth | Groot-Zundert, Netherlands |
| Date of Death | 29 July 1890 |
| Age at Death | 37 years old |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Profession | Painter, Draughtsman |
| Art Movement | Post-Impressionism |
| Famous Works | The Starry Night, Sunflowers, The Potato Eaters, Irises |
| Total Artworks | Approximately 2,100 |
| Brother | Theodorus (Theo) van Gogh |
Early Life and Family Background
Vincent van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853 in Groot-Zundert, a small village in the Brabant region of the southern Netherlands. He was the eldest surviving child of Theodorus van Gogh, an austere Protestant minister, and Anna Cornelia Carbentus, a woman with a deep love of nature, drawing, and watercolours. His mother’s artistic sensibility left a quiet but lasting impression on the young Vincent.
His birth carried an unusual shadow — exactly one year before Vincent was born, his parents had lost their first child, also named Vincent, who was stillborn. Growing up, the young Van Gogh would pass the churchyard where his brother’s headstone bore his own name and birthdate — a detail that biographers believe contributed to his early sense of melancholy. Of his siblings, he formed his closest and most enduring bond with his younger brother Theo, a relationship that would sustain him financially and emotionally for the rest of his life.
Education and Early Occupations
Van Gogh received a basic formal education and showed an aptitude for drawing from childhood, but he did not pursue art training early on. At sixteen, he was apprenticed to the Hague branch of Goupil & Cie, an international art dealership partly managed by his uncle. He worked for the firm in London from 1873 and in Paris from 1875, developing a strong taste for the Dutch masters and French painters such as Jean-François Millet and Camille Corot.
Worth" loading="lazy" width="180" height="120">He was dismissed from Goupil’s in 1876 following poor performance driven by depression and a growing disillusionment with the commercial art world. In the years that followed, Van Gogh tried teaching, bookselling, lay preaching, and missionary work among coal miners in the Borinage region of Belgium. None of these callings stuck. By 1880, having drifted through failure and isolation, he made the decisive choice to become an artist — at the age of 27.
Artistic Career: A Decade That Changed Art Forever
Van Gogh was largely self-taught in his early years, studying drawing manuals, copying prints, and learning from brief periods of formal instruction including a stint with his cousin by marriage, Anton Mauve, in The Hague. His early works were dark and earthy — heavy with the weight of rural labour and peasant life. The most significant painting from this period is The Potato Eaters (1885), a raw, dimly lit portrait of a farming family that remains one of his most powerful statements about human dignity and hardship.
In 1886, Van Gogh moved to Paris to live with Theo, and the city transformed him. He encountered the Impressionists — meeting Degas, Gauguin, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Émile Bernard — and absorbed their lessons about colour, light, and composition. His palette brightened dramatically. He studied Japanese woodblock prints with fascination, and within two years had forged his own intensely personal style built on swirling, energetic brushstrokes and saturated, emotionally charged colour.
In February 1888, seeking warmth, light, and creative freedom, Van Gogh moved to Arles in southern France. This became his most prolific period. He painted the sunflower series, olive groves, wheat fields, blossoming orchards, and local portraits with extraordinary energy. He invited Paul Gauguin to join him in establishing an artistic commune, and for a short time the two painters worked side by side. However, their temperaments clashed, and in December 1888 Van Gogh suffered a severe mental breakdown — during which he famously cut off part of his own left ear and delivered it to a woman at a nearby establishment.
Most Famous Paintings
Van Gogh’s output during his final years was staggering in both volume and quality. Among his most celebrated works are:
Mental Illness and Time at Saint-Rémy
Following his breakdown in Arles, Van Gogh voluntarily admitted himself to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole psychiatric asylum in Saint-Rémy in May 1889. He remained there for just over a year, during which he produced some of his most powerful works — including The Starry Night — painting whenever his episodes allowed. He suffered from recurring psychotic episodes, depression, and seizures, the precise medical nature of which has been debated by historians and doctors ever since. Diagnoses proposed posthumously include epilepsy, bipolar disorder, and acute intermittent porphyria, among others.
Worth & Career" loading="lazy" width="180" height="120">Despite his suffering, Van Gogh maintained a prolific output and a remarkable self-awareness about his condition. His letters to Theo — numbering in the hundreds — document his struggles with brutal honesty and remain some of the most compelling writings in art history.
Death and Final Days
In May 1890, Van Gogh left Saint-Rémy and settled in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village north of Paris, under the care of Dr Paul Gachet, a physician and amateur artist. He continued painting at a furious pace — producing over 70 works in roughly 70 days. On 27 July 1890, Van Gogh went out to paint in the fields and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He was found bleeding, walked back to his room at the Auberge Ravoux, and survived through the night. Theo rushed to his side. On 29 July 1890, Vincent van Gogh died in his brother’s arms. He was 37 years old. Theo, devastated and already ill, died just six months later.
Legacy and Lasting Impact
Van Gogh’s reputation grew explosively after his death, driven in large part by the tireless efforts of his sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, who organised his letters and promoted his work internationally. By the early 20th century, he was recognised as a foundational figure in modern art whose influence shaped Fauvism, Expressionism, and beyond.
Worth & Songs" loading="lazy" width="180" height="120">In 1973, the Van Gogh Museum opened in Amsterdam, housing more than 200 of his paintings, 500 drawings, and 750 letters. His works are today among the most visited, reproduced, and expensive in the world. Don McLean immortalised him in the 1971 song “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)”. He is widely regarded as the greatest Dutch painter since Rembrandt.
Final Thoughts
Vincent van Gogh’s life was marked by suffering, solitude, and relentless creative drive. In a career that lasted barely a decade, he produced a body of work that reshaped the course of Western art and continues to move viewers more than 130 years after his death. He never achieved the recognition he deserved while alive — but few artists have ever been so thoroughly, so passionately remembered.
His story is a reminder that genius does not always announce itself in its own time, and that a life devoted wholly to creation — however painful — can leave a mark that never fades.
Worth" loading="lazy" width="180" height="120">Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: Who was Vincent van Gogh?
Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter born on 30 March 1853 in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. He is widely considered one of the greatest artists in Western history, known for works such as The Starry Night and Sunflowers. He died on 29 July 1890 at the age of 37.
Q2: How many paintings did Van Gogh make?
Van Gogh created approximately 2,100 artworks in total, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them produced in the final two years of his life. He also made over 1,100 drawings and watercolours throughout his career.
Q3: How did Vincent van Gogh die?
Van Gogh died on 29 July 1890 from a gunshot wound to the chest, sustained two days earlier in the fields near Auvers-sur-Oise, France. He died in his brother Theo’s arms at the Auberge Ravoux. The death is widely recorded as suicide, though some researchers have questioned this conclusion.
Q4: Why did Van Gogh cut off his ear?
In December 1888, following a heated confrontation with fellow artist Paul Gauguin in Arles, Van Gogh suffered a severe mental breakdown and cut off part of his left ear. The precise cause remains debated, with theories ranging from acute psychotic episode to a reaction to his deteriorating friendship with Gauguin.
Q5: How much are Van Gogh’s paintings worth today?
Van Gogh’s paintings are among the most valuable ever sold. His Portrait of Dr Gachet sold for $82.5 million in 1990, and Irises fetched $53.9 million in 1987. Adjusted for inflation, several of his works have exceeded $100 million in today’s equivalent value.
Q6: Did Van Gogh sell any paintings during his lifetime?
Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime — The Red Vineyard — sold in Brussels in 1890 for 400 Belgian francs, just months before his death. He spent most of his career in poverty, financially dependent on his brother Theo.
Q7: Where can you see Van Gogh’s paintings today?
The largest collection of Van Gogh’s works is housed at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which opened in 1973. Major works are also held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (The Starry Night), the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the National Gallery in London, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
