VAN GOGH

Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30th, in 1853, in the Netherlands. Van Gogh was a post-impressionist painter whose work, notable for its beauty, emotion and color, highly influenced 20th century art. In 1885, he began work on what is considered to be his first masterpiece, “Potato Eaters.” This was the only painting he sold during his lifetime, The Red Vineyard, was created in 1888. Possibly one of the greatest artistic influences on Vincent van Gogh was Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh and Gauguin met in Paris in November of 1887. Both artists decided to work together and moved to a studio in the south of France. Vincent began painting sunflowers to decorate Gauguin’s bedroom. These sunflowers would later become one of his signature pieces. Today, Vincent van Gogh is considered the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt. He completed more than 2,100 works, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings and sketches. Several of his paintings rank among the most expensive in the world.