Priya Kapoor
Despite only working for a decade, from the age of 27 until his death at 37, Vincent van Gogh was incredibly prolific. He produced more than 2,000 artworks, including around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches—nearly a new artwork every 36 hours. Tragically, van Gogh never enjoyed commercial success during his lifetime, and he suffered from severe depression and poverty. However, he posthumously became one of the most influential artists in the world, and his paintings now sell for hundreds of millions of dollars.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Total number of artworks | 2,100+ |
| Total number of paintings | 860-900 |
| Total number of drawings and sketches | 1,100+ |
| Number of oil paintings | 860 |
| Number of paintings sold | 1-2 |
| Time taken to create each artwork | 36 hours |
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What You'll Learn
Van Gogh's early works mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers
Vincent van Gogh created approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860-900 oil paintings, during his lifetime. He is considered one of history's greatest painters and a significant contributor to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's early works, mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers, contain few signs of the vivid colours that distinguished his later work.
Van Gogh's early life and works were marked by struggles with mental illness, poverty, and depression. He turned to religion and spent time as a Protestant missionary in southern Belgium. He only began painting in 1881 after moving back in with his parents, supported financially by his younger brother, Theo. During his first summer in Arles, he painted landscapes and traditional rural life, capturing his belief in the power of nature.
In 1885, Van Gogh completed numerous drawings, watercolours, and nearly 200 oil paintings during his two-year stay in Nuenen. His palette consisted mainly of sombre earth tones, particularly dark brown, with no vivid colours. That year, he also created his first major work, "The Potato Eaters", along with a series of "peasant character studies". He wanted to establish himself as a painter of peasant life and challenged himself to experiment with light and shadows, as seen in "The Potato Eaters".
Van Gogh's early works were influenced by artists like Lhermitte and Jules Breton, who specialised in depictions of rural life and peasants. He admired Breton's image of a poor girl harvesting potatoes, softened by her blue shirt and the green grass. Van Gogh's own early works, such as "Still Life with Open Bible, Extinguished Candle and Novel" and "Still Life with Bible", had darker themes and colour palettes.
In November 1885, Van Gogh moved to Antwerp, where he lived in poverty, choosing to spend most of his money on painting materials and models. During this period, he created "Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette" and "Peasant Woman Digging, or Woman with a Spade, Seen from Behind". Despite his struggles, Van Gogh was a remarkably productive artist, and his early works laid the foundation for his later, more colourful and expressive style.
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Van Gogh's self-portraits
Vincent van Gogh produced more than 2,000 artworks during his lifetime, including around 900 paintings. He painted many self-portraits, with sources suggesting a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 35. The self-portraits are particularly significant because, apart from one surviving portrait photograph, they are the main source of information about van Gogh's appearance.
> 'People say – and I’m quite willing to believe it – that it’s difficult to know oneself – but it’s not easy to paint oneself either.'
Van Gogh produced most of his self-portraits—over 25—while he was in Paris (1886–88). He was short of money at the time and struggled to find models, so he painted himself. To save money, he sometimes painted self-portraits on the back of other paintings, thereby avoiding the cost of models and canvas.
In December 1888, van Gogh suffered a mental breakdown and cut off his left ear. He 'reported' on this incident in two self-portraits, including one with a bandaged ear. He did not portray himself as a sick, broken man to arouse pity. Instead, he was convinced that painting would help him to heal.
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Van Gogh's mental health
Vincent van Gogh produced over 2,000 artworks during his lifetime, including around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches. He is widely regarded as one of history's greatest painters and a significant contributor to modern art. Despite his immense talent, Van Gogh faced challenges with his mental health, which had a profound impact on his life and work.
In December 1888, Van Gogh suffered a severe crisis in which he cut off a part of his left ear. Following this incident, he was hospitalised and diagnosed with "acute mania with generalised delirium". Dr Félix Rey, the intern treating him, also suggested the presence of "a kind of epilepsy" characterised as mental epilepsy. These episodes of confusion, unconsciousness, and stupor made it challenging for Van Gogh to paint, draw, or even write letters during some periods.
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Van Gogh's artistic influences
Vincent van Gogh created approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 to 900 oil paintings, 150 watercolour paintings, and 1,100 drawings and sketches in his short 10-year career. He only sold one painting, "The Red Vineyard", during his lifetime, but his work began to attract critical artistic attention in his final year.
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism:
Upon moving to Paris, Van Gogh was deeply inspired by the works of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. He adopted their use of bright and vibrant colours and experimented with their broken brushstroke techniques. Artists like Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Georges Seurat influenced him to adopt a lighter palette.
Japanese Prints and Woodblock Printing:
Van Gogh was also influenced by Japanese art, particularly Japanese woodblock printing. The thick dark outlines, flat swaths of colour, and elongated visible brushstrokes evident in his work reflect the influence of Japanese prints. He also curated an exhibition of Japanese prints in a Parisian restaurant.
Baroque Painter Peter Paul Rubens:
During his time at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Van Gogh discovered the art of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens' swirling forms and loose brushwork had a clear impact on the young artist's style.
Avant-Garde Artists:
In Paris, Van Gogh met avant-garde artists like Émile Bernard, Paul Gauguin, and others who were seeking new paths beyond Impressionism. Gauguin's technique of painting from memory influenced Van Gogh's style, making his paintings less realistic.
Nature:
Van Gogh found spirituality in nature rather than in man-made structures. His surroundings in Arles, such as olive groves, wheat fields, and sunflowers, inspired him to turn his attention to the natural world and incorporate it into his artwork.
Personal Expression and Emotion:
Van Gogh's work was an outlet for his emotions, especially when battling depression and mental illness. His expressive and emotive use of colour and distinct brushwork became popular and influenced Expressionism and early abstraction. His letters, with their sketches and intimate thoughts, are also considered a form of artwork.
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Van Gogh's commercial success
Vincent van Gogh created approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. He produced landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterised by bold colours and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art.
Despite his current status as one of the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art, Van Gogh was unsuccessful during his lifetime. He was considered a madman and a failure, and his fame only began to spread in the last year of his life, in France and Belgium. He contributed artworks of his own only on a few and minor occasions, which mainly passed unnoted by critics and the public. During his lifetime, only one of Van Gogh's paintings, "The Red Vineyard", was sold.
However, in the years after his death, Van Gogh's fame grew, and he attained widespread critical, commercial, and popular success. His fame reached its first peak in Austria and Germany before World War I, influencing a whole generation of German artists. British and American collectors also had the opportunity to acquire his works relatively late, adding to his commercial success. Today, Van Gogh is widely regarded as one of history's greatest painters, and his paintings are among the world's most recognisable and expensive works of art.
In addition to the letters, Van Gogh's commercial success was also facilitated by his association with other artists and exhibitions. In 1888, he joined the "Société des Artistes Indépendants", and three of his paintings were displayed in their annual exhibition in Paris. In 1890, Albert Aurier published an enthusiastic essay about Van Gogh, which established his fame as an artist and solidified Aurier's reputation as a leading art critic. Van Gogh's friendship with Paul Gauguin also contributed to his success, as they exchanged artworks, and Gauguin was part of the avant-garde movement in Paris that influenced Van Gogh's work.
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Frequently asked questions
Van Gogh produced over 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches, which is almost one new artwork every 36 hours.
It is not known exactly how many paintings Van Gogh sold during his lifetime. However, it is believed to be more than one. Van Gogh's first commission was for 19 cityscapes of The Hague.
Some of Van Gogh's most famous paintings include The Starry Night (1889), The Potato Eaters (1885), The Red Vineyard (1888), Sunflowers (1888), and The Bedroom (1888).
It is believed that Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime, The Red Vineyard, which was bought by the painter and art collector Anna Boch. However, he did sell other paintings, such as Red Vineyard at Arles and A Self Portrait, and traded several more in exchange for food or art supplies.
