Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. His artistic career was extremely short, lasting only the 10 years from 1880 to 1890. In just over a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings , most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork contributed to the foundations of modern art. Van Gogh was not commercially successful, and his suicide at 37 came after years of mental illness and poverty.
Van Gogh’s artistic breakthrough was in 1888 in Arles, France. He then completed over 200 paintings. In Arles Van Gogh reached his artistically best paintings in style and with broad brushstrokes, inventive perspectives, colors, contours, light and designs, these paintings represent the style he sought and of which Van Gogh is best known, Dutch painter, generally considered the greatest after Rembrandt van Rijn. Van Gogh’s art became astoundingly popular after his death, especially in the late 20th century, when his work sold for record-breaking sums at auctions around the world.