Vincent van Gogh’s long, miserable road to fame

Van Gogh's travels informed the works we revere today.

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Famous for chopping off a piece of his ear in a fit and delivering it to a woman in a brothel, Vincent van Gogh is remembered for his ailing mental health and the many paintings—over 900— he created during his lifetime. Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the village of Zundert in the Netherlands.

During his lifetime, Van Gogh’s work had little value to no value in the art world; but a century later, the first version of Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gatchet sold for $82.5 million in 1990 (around $159 million today). Van Gogh heavily financially-dependent on his younger brother Theo van Gogh. Though the relationship was strained at times, both brothers corresponded with each through hundreds of letters over the years.

Well-known paintings such as The Starry Night, Cafe at Night, andWheat Field with Crows were created within a two-year period before his death in July 1890. It was the same wheat field Van Gogh painted in June, that’d he go to shoot himself in the chest.

Though Vincent van Gogh lived a short and destitute life, he created some of the most revered paintings today.


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