The masters behind our paintings
Vincent van Gogh – ten years that changed painting
* 30 March 1853, Groot-Zundert · † 29 July 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise
He only started painting at 27, painted for just ten years and sold hardly anything in his lifetime. Today his sunflowers, stars and self-portraits are among the best-known pictures in the world.
A short, luminous life
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A pastor's son finds his way
Vincent van Gogh is born in 1853 in Groot-Zundert in the Netherlands, the son of a pastor. At 16 he starts at the art dealer Goupil in The Hague, later in London and Paris. Then he wants to become a preacher and lives among miners in Belgium for a while.
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A late start at 27
In 1880 he decides to become an artist – with little training but iron will. His younger brother Theo, an art dealer himself, supports him with money month after month from then on. More than 800 of Vincent's letters survive, most of them to Theo.
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Dark beginnings
His early pictures are earthy and dark. In 1885 in Nuenen he paints “The Potato Eaters”: peasants at supper under a lamp. He wants to show that these people earned their food with the very hands they now eat it with.
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Paris brings colour
In 1886 he moves to Theo in Paris. He sees the Impressionists, collects Japanese woodblock prints – and his palette explodes. In two years there he paints more than twenty self-portraits, including the one with the straw hat.
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The Yellow House in Arles
In 1888 he goes to Arles in the south of France, rents the “Yellow House” and dreams of an artists' community. For Paul Gauguin's visit he paints sunflowers. But living together fails; in December 1888, in a severe crisis, Vincent injures his own ear.
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Stars behind the window
In May 1889 he voluntarily admits himself to the asylum at Saint-Rémy. Some of his most famous pictures are made there, including “The Starry Night” – the view from his window, transformed into a swirling sky.
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The last weeks
In May 1890 he moves to Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. In just over two months he paints more than 70 pictures. On 29 July 1890 he dies, aged 37, from a gunshot wound. Theo dies only half a year later.
His most famous paintings
Five of around 850 paintings – from the dark beginnings to the luminous final years.
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The Starry Night A swirling sky, a cypress like a flame and a quiet village – painted in Saint-Rémy. -
The Potato Eaters His first major work: dark, rough and full of respect for ordinary people. -
Sunflowers Yellow on yellow – painted in Arles to decorate the room for Gauguin. -
The Bedroom His room in the Yellow House in strong colours – Vincent wanted it to express “rest”. -
Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat Painted in Paris – on the back of an earlier study, to save canvas.
The story behind the fame
The woman who made Vincent famous
In his lifetime Vincent sells hardly anything. Only one sale is documented with certainty: in 1890 the painter Anna Boch buys his “Red Vineyard” in Brussels. When Vincent and, shortly after, Theo die, hundreds of paintings and letters remain.
Theo's widow Johanna van Gogh-Bonger takes everything to the Netherlands. She organises exhibitions, sells pictures deliberately to museums and collectors and in 1914 publishes Vincent's letters. It is through her that the misunderstood painter becomes a world star.
By the way, our motif, the 1887 self-portrait with a straw hat, was painted on the back of a peasant study – canvas was expensive. Now we paint his glowing colours and brushstrokes for your pet.
Your pet in a straw hat
We keep van Gogh's self-portrait – straw hat, bold brushstrokes, glowing colours – and put your pet into it. Fur, markings and expression come from your photo. The preview is free.
Images of the original paintings: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.