Vincent van Gogh. Born 30 March 1853 (Died 29 July 1890) in the rural Dutch village of Zundert, his existence was a paradox of blazing creativity and consuming despair. In just ten turbulent years, he redefined what painting could express, turning canvas into a diary of the soul.
The eldest son of a Protestant minister, van Gogh’s career as an artist was anything but direct. He drifted through professions—art dealer, schoolteacher, lay preacher—each failure deepening his sense of alienation. Only at 27 did he fully embrace painting, though his early works, like The Potato Eaters (1885), bore little trace of the brilliance to come. These were dark, heavy compositions, rooted in the grit of peasant life, their muddy tones reflecting both his admiration for Millet and his solemn worldview.
When he arrived in Paris in 1886. The city’s avant-garde circles electrified him. He devoured the techniques of the Impressionists, the pointillist dots of Seurat, the bold hues of Monticelli. Yet imitation wasn’t enough. By the time he left for Arles in 1888, his style had mutated into something entirely his own: a language of thick, urgent brushstrokes and colours that throbbed with emotional weight.
In Provence, under skies he described as “mackerel blue,” van Gogh entered his most prolific period. The sun-scorched landscapes of Arles birthed Sunflowers, The Yellow House, and The Night Café—works where pigment itself seemed to vibrate with intensity. But this creative euphoria was fragile. His ill-fated collaboration with Gauguin ended in crisis: the ear incident, the breakdowns, the first whispers of madness.
What followed was a cruel irony. As his mental health fractured, his art reached its zenith. Confined to the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy, he produced Starry Night (1889), a work where the heavens churn with celestial energy, a vision far removed from passive observation. Even his cypress trees twisted like living flames. These were not just paintings but acts of defiance—proof that beauty could be wrested from suffering.
Recognition, however, remained elusive. Only one painting, The Red Vineyard, sold during his lifetime. His reliance on his brother Theo, both financially and emotionally, was absolute. When depression finally overwhelmed him in July 1890, he walked into a wheat field near Auvers-sur-Oise and shot himself. He died two days later, leaving behind Wheatfield with Crows, its ominous sky and chaotic brushwork read by many as a final, wordless testament.
Van Gogh’s posthumous fame is one of art’s great ironies. The man who once wrote, “I can’t change the fact that my paintings don’t sell,” now sees his works break auction records.
His influence is everywhere: in the Fauves’ wild colours, in Expressionism’s distorted perspectives, in the very idea that art might prioritise emotional truth over realism. Yet beyond technique, it’s his vulnerability that captivates. Those hundreds of letters to Theo reveal not a mythical martyr but a man—flawed, desperate, yet achingly alive in every stroke of his brush.
Van Gogh’s life was a furnace of contradictions: despair and exaltation, solitude and longing, failure and immortality. As he once confessed, “I put my heart and soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.” Few artists have given so much of themselves to the world. Fewer still have made agony look so much like light.
A selection of Van Gogh’s 10 most pivotal works:
The Starry Night (1889) – The swirling, visionary sky painted at Saint-Rémy asylum is his most iconic work.
Sunflowers (1888) – A radiant series of still lifes, vibrating with his signature yellows.
The Potato Eaters (1885) – A dark, early masterpiece depicting peasant life in raw realism.
Wheatfield with Crows (1890) – His final painting, its stormy drama often linked to his impending death.
The Bedroom (1888) – A bold, flattened perspective of his Arles living space, pulsating with colour.
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889) – A haunting glimpse of his fragility after the Gauguin fallout.
The Night Café (1888) – A claustrophobic, gas-lit interior in jarring reds and greens.
Irises (1889) – Painted at Saint-Rémy, these flowers twist with restless energy.
Almond Blossoms (1890) – A joyous, delicate tribute to new life, gifted to his newborn nephew.
The Yellow House (1888) – His Arles home, glowing with optimism before his mental collapse.
Van Gogh’s top 10 most expensive paintings sold at auction:
1. Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890)
Price: $82.5 million (1990)
Auction House: Christie’s, New York Note: Holds the record for the highest price paid for a Van Gogh at auction.
2. Laboureur dans un champ (Field with a Ploughman, 1889)
Price: $81.3 million (2017)
Auction House: Christie’s, New York Note: A rare late-period landscape sold privately through Christie’s.
3. Irises (1889)
Price: $53.9 million (1987)
Auction House: Sotheby’s, New York Note: At the time set a then-record for the most expensive artwork ever sold.
4. Portrait of Joseph Roulin (1889)
Price: $58 million (1989)
Auction House: Private sale (via Sotheby’s). Note: One of multiple portraits of his loyal postman friend.
5. A Wheatfield with Cypresses (1889)
Price: $57 million (1993)
Auction House: Private sale (via Christie’s) Note: Painted during his time at Saint-Rémy asylum.
6. Self-Portrait Without Beard (1889)
Price: $71.5 million (1998)
Auction House: Christie’s, New York Note: One of his last self-portraits was painted as a gift for his mother.
7. Vase with Daisies and Poppies (1890)
Price: $61.8 million (2014)
Auction House: Sotheby’s, New York Note: A vibrant still life from his final months.
8. Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé (Landscape Under a Stormy Sky, 1889)
Price: $54 million (2015)
Auction House: Private sale (via Sotheby’s)
Note: A turbulent Provençal landscape.
9. Jeune homme au bleuet (Young Man with Cornflower, 1890)
Price: $47.5 million (1997)
Auction House: Christie’s, New York
Note: A rare portrait from his final months.
10. L’Allée des Alyscamps (1888)
Price: $66.3 million (2015)
Auction House: Sotheby’s, New York
Note: A vibrant Arles autumn scene, painted by Gauguin.
Key Observations:
Christie’s & Sotheby’s dominate Van Gogh’s auction market.
Portraits & late works fetch the highest prices, reflecting their rarity and emotional intensity.
Private sales (like Laboureur dans un champ) sometimes surpass public auction prices.