Portrait of Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh Painting Reproductions 5 of 18

1853-1890

Dutch Post-Impressionist Painter

Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch painter (Groot Zundert, Brabant, 1853-Auvers-sur-Oise 1890).

Vincent Van Gogh embodied the myth of the misunderstood genius of his time, so much so that his works were ignored in his own time and are today among the most sought-after in the world. He tried to exorcise his inner turmoil through painting. His research into form and color had a lasting influence on the avant-gardes to come.

A pastor's son, Vincent Van Gogh was named after a brother who was stillborn the year before he was born. Four years after his birth, he had another brother, Theodorus (1857-1891), whom he called Theo - and who supported him morally and financially throughout his life.

An unstable child with a talent for drawing, Vincent's uncles included the founder of the Goupil art gallery in Paris, which had numerous branches throughout Europe. He was sent successively to the Hague branch (1869), then to the Brussels and London branches (1873-1876), to learn the art business. Following setbacks in love, he took refuge in mysticism, writing letters to Theo as an outlet for his troubled soul.

After a brief stay in Paris, Van Gogh returned to London and became a schoolteacher in the working-class district of Isleworth. He sensed a true religious vocation, which led him to evangelize the miners of the Borinage region in Belgium. His zeal for evangelism offended the ecclesiastical authorities, who put a stop to it after a year (1879). After several years of solitary wandering, painting took precedence over preaching.

A devotee of Jean-François Millet, Van Gogh devoted himself to the study of landscapes and peasant scenes when he took up oil painting in 1882, on the advice of his cousin by marriage, Anton Mauve (1838-1888).

In Nuenen, near Eindhoven, where he lived for almost two years (December 1883-November 1885), he became familiar with Dutch realism (Potato Eaters, 1885). He then moved to Antwerp to attend the École des Beaux-Arts, where he discovered the work of Peter Paul Rubens. But, put off by the teaching he received, he left again in February 1886 to join his brother in Paris, who took him in at a studio in Montmartre.

Van Gogh frequented the milieu of Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painters (Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin, Paul Signac). He joined the studio of Cormon (1845-1924), where he became friends with Émile Bernard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who were to exert a clear influence on him. The three friends organized their first exhibition in 1887. They didn't sell any paintings, but they knew that their time had not yet come.

In contact with Gauguin, but also under the influence of Japanese prints, Van Gogh refined his research into color; his palette became lighter and more diversified, his style more flexible, giving rise to experiments in still lifes, landscapes and portraits (Père Tanguy, 1887). To perfect his work, he needed to find skies other than those of Paris. So, in February 1888, he moved to Arles. Dazzled by the light of the Midi, Van Gogh made color the very object of his work, rather than just a component of it. He sought the greatest possible intensity in both tones (such as the yellows in the Sunflower series) and chromatic relationships (yellow/blue, yellow/green, blue/green, red/green): flowers (Peach in bloom, "Souvenir de Mauve", 1888), landscapes (the Crau Plain with the ruins of Montmajour), interiors (the Night Café), portraits (Mousmée in the armchair) are charged with great expressivity.

Living alone among the people of Arles, who were suspicious of this strange outsider, Van Gogh sank into depression. Yet he did not abandon his dream of forming a community of painters. He finally persuaded Gauguin to join him. The master of Pont-Aven arrived in Arles in November 1888 and took up residence in the "Yellow House" - his host's studio.

But he couldn't stand Gauguin's inexpressive nature, and on the evening of December 23, 1888, after a more violent argument than the previous ones, he left for the house. Shortly afterwards, Van Gogh took a knife and cut off part of his left ear, which he then took to a prostitute. Two self-portraits bear witness to this gesture.

Admitted to the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence asylum, where he remained for a year (May 1889-May 1890), Van Gogh devoted himself to a style of painting in which elongated brushstrokes and twisted forms convey the force of his torments (Starry night, 1889). As soon as he was discharged, he had to leave Arles under pressure from the locals, whom he frightened.

Terribly weakened, Van Gogh agreed to go to Auvers-sur-Oise, where Dr. Paul Gachet lived. A doctor, but also an art lover and himself a painter in his spare time, Gachet was a friend of Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas. Through Théo Van Gogh, he became aware of Vincent's work, the importance of which he immediately sensed, at the same time as his illness. From then on, he never stopped trying to get him to come to Auvers-sur-Oise, drawing criticism - unfounded at the time - from those who accused him of acting out of self-interest.

A real friendship developed between the two men. Gachet succeeded in establishing a climate of trust around Van Gogh, which had a beneficial effect. The painter painted a first portrait of his benefactor, who, filled with admiration, commissioned a second. Perhaps for the first time in his life, Van Gogh was aware that his talent was recognized and his art understood by a man of quality.

Picking up his brushes again, he spent whole days at his easel, executing several of his masterpieces: "The Church of Auvers-sur-Oise", "View from the bedside" (1890), "Cottages at Cordeville", "Wheatfield with Crows". Here again, color is crucial, but it becomes darker, and forms more tortured, like the painter's mind. His inner pain is the strongest: "There's something inside me: what is it?" he desperately wants to know. He only benefited from the help Gachet was able to give him for three months, and ended up quarrelling with Gachet as well.

On July 27, 1890, while out for a walk, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest and, despite Gachet's care, died two days later. This was the end of an artist who had signed over eight hundred canvases, but who, during his lifetime, sold only one, the "The Red Vineyard", bought in Brussels in 1890.

412 Vincent van Gogh Paintings

The Ravine (Les Peiroulets), 1889 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

The Ravine (Les Peiroulets) 1889

Oil Painting
$734
Canvas Print
$60.61
SKU: VVG-1197
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 72 x 92 cm
Kroller-Mueller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands

Morning: Going out to Work (After Millet)  , 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Morning: Going out to Work (After Millet) 1890

Oil Painting
$614
Canvas Print
$52.10
SKU: VVG-1198
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 73 x 92 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

The Diggers (Les Becheurs), 1889 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

The Diggers (Les Becheurs) 1889

Oil Painting
$488
Canvas Print
$82.22
SKU: VVG-1199
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 65.1 x 50.2 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

First Steps (after Millet), 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

First Steps (after Millet) 1890

Oil Painting
$595
Canvas Print
$60.33
SKU: VVG-1200
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 72.4 x 91.1 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Prisoners Exercising (after Dore), 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Prisoners Exercising (after Dore) 1890

Oil Painting
$696
Canvas Print
$60.89
SKU: VVG-1201
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 80 x 64 cm
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia

Cottages and Cypresses - Reminiscence of the North, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Cottages and Cypresses - Reminiscence of the North 1890

Oil Painting
$499
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: VVG-1202
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 29 x 36.5 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Blossoming Almond Tree, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Blossoming Almond Tree 1890

Oil Painting
$835
Canvas Print
$60.06
SKU: VVG-1203
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 73.5 x 92 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Cypresses and Two Woman, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Cypresses and Two Woman 1890

Oil Painting
$466
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: VVG-1204
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 43.5 x 27.2 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Cottages - Reminiscence of the North, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Cottages - Reminiscence of the North 1890

Oil Painting
$514
SKU: VVG-1205
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 45.5 x 43 cm
Private Collection

Pine Trees and Dandelions in the Garden, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Pine Trees and Dandelions in the Garden 1890

Oil Painting
$613
Canvas Print
$60.06
SKU: VVG-1206
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 72 x 90 cm
Kroller-Mueller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands

Meadow in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Meadow in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital 1890

Oil Painting
$587
Canvas Print
$60.20
SKU: VVG-1207
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 64.5 x 80.7 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Vase with Irises Against a Yellow Background, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Vase with Irises Against a Yellow Background 1890

Oil Painting
$635
Canvas Print
$59.92
SKU: VVG-1208
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 92 x 73.5 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Vase of Roses, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Vase of Roses 1890

Oil Painting
$749
Canvas Print
$60.89
SKU: VVG-1209
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 93 x 74 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Still Life - Vase with Irises, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Still Life - Vase with Irises 1890

Oil Painting
$750
Canvas Print
$59.92
SKU: VVG-1210
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 73.7 x 92.1 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Roses, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Roses 1890

Oil Painting
$794
Canvas Print
$59.92
SKU: VVG-1211
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 71 x 90 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA

Landscape with Couple Walking and Crescent Moon, c.1889/90 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Couple Walking and Crescent Moon c.1889/90

Oil Painting
$455
Canvas Print
$61.50
SKU: VVG-1212
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 52 x 47 cm
Museu de Arte, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Green Wheat Fields, May 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Green Wheat Fields May 1890

Oil Painting
$591
Canvas Print
$59.64
SKU: VVG-1213
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 72.4 x 91.4 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA

Road with Cypress and Star, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Road with Cypress and Star 1890

Oil Painting
$635
Canvas Print
$60.33
SKU: VVG-1214
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 92 x 73 cm
Kroller-Mueller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands

Cottages at Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Cottages at Auvers-sur-Oise 1890

Oil Painting
$550
Canvas Print
$103.79
SKU: VVG-1215
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 59 x 72 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

House in Auvers, May 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

House in Auvers May 1890

Oil Painting
$542
SKU: VVG-1216
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: unknown
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA

Chestnut Tree in Blossom, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Chestnut Tree in Blossom 1890

Oil Painting
$450
Canvas Print
$58.95
SKU: VVG-1217
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 63 x 50.5 cm
Kroller-Mueller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands

The House of Pere Pilon, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

The House of Pere Pilon 1890

Oil Painting
$422
SKU: VVG-1218
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 49 x 70 cm
Private Collection

Blossoming Chestnut Branches, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Blossoming Chestnut Branches 1890

Oil Painting
$634
Canvas Print
$51.58
SKU: VVG-1219
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 72.5 x 91 cm
E.G. Buhrle Foundation Collection, Zurich, Switzerland

Village Street in Auvers, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh | Painting Reproduction

Village Street in Auvers 1890

Oil Painting
$608
Canvas Print
$59.92
SKU: VVG-1220
Vincent van Gogh
Original Size: 73 x 92 cm
Ateneumin Taidemuseu, Helsinki, Finland

Top