Lena Rivera
Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous painters of all time, with his original artworks selling for millions. However, during his lifetime, he was little appreciated and sold very few paintings. Van Gogh's fame grew posthumously, and today, his paintings are among the world's most recognisable and expensive works of art. While most people are familiar with his iconic works like Starry Night, Sunflowers, Cafe Terrace at Night, and his many self-portraits, there are several lesser-known masterpieces that deserve attention. These include Still Life with Blue Enamel Coffeepot, Earthenware and Fruit, The Sower, Portrait of Père Tanguy, and Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette. These paintings showcase Van Gogh's unique style and talent, and provide insight into his personal history and artistic evolution.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of paintings | 2000+ |
| Period of painting | 1881-1890 |
| Locations | Neuen, Paris, Arles, Saint-Remy, Antwerp, Auvers-sur-Oise |
| Colours | Dark hues, browns, blacks, greys, red, green, blue, yellow, orange, violet |
| Style | Post-impressionist, thick brushstrokes, swirls, waves |
| Subjects | Landscapes, self-portraits, wheat fields, windmills, rivers, cafes, stars, sunflowers, portraits, peasants, crows |
| Famous paintings | Sunflowers, Starry Night, Cafe Terrace at Night, The Potato Eaters, Self-portrait with Straw Hat, Wheatfield with Crows, The Red Vineyard, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Irises |
| Least famous paintings | The Blute-Fin Mill, Orchards in Bloom (Arles), Roofs and Backs of Houses, Green Wheat Fields |
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Van Gogh's early paintings
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) only began painting around ten years before his death at the young age of 37. During this time, he created over 2000 works of art, some of which are considered masterpieces today. Van Gogh's early paintings reflect the artist's innate command of colour, intense effort and self-discipline, and desire to depict nature and the working class.
Van Gogh's early works primarily consisted of drawings and watercolour paintings. In 1882, under the tutelage of Anton Mauve, he began painting with oils. During this time, Van Gogh studied the working poor as subjects while living with his parents in Neunen, the Netherlands. He was inspired by the works of Jean-François Millet and others. In 1884 and 1885, Van Gogh encountered a new theory of colour in his readings about the French painter Eugène Delacroix. He became fascinated with the idea that the use of complementary and contrasting colours, in place of tonality and chiaroscuro, was a distinguishing feature of modern art.
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His time in Paris
Vincent van Gogh moved to Paris in March 1886, where he lived for the next two years. During this time, he was exposed to some of the era's most outstanding artists, including Pissaro, Degas, Manet, Monet, Sisler, and Renoir. While he remained ambivalent about what he saw, their influence can be seen in his paintings from this period, particularly in his gradual embrace of colour.
Van Gogh lived with his brother, Theo, in Montmartre, an enclave of independent-spirited rebels, bohemian artists and writers, working-class folk, and those who appreciated cheap rents and wine, cafés and cabarets. He wandered the fields, vineyards and vegetable gardens, and rambled past construction workers and farmers. He also visited art galleries, studied nude painting, and hung out with fellow artists in cafés, building a network of friends and acquaintances.
During his time in Paris, Van Gogh painted city scenes, experimenting with the Impressionists' loose brushstrokes and light colour palette. He painted several views from his home on Rue Lepic, including "Roofs and Backs of Houses", which reveals his continued preference for darker hues. He also painted Père Tanguy three times, with each painting using more and more colour and light, illustrating the transformation he experienced during his Paris years. The last portrait, which shows Père Tanguy surrounded by Japanese prints, ended up in the Musée Rodin. Van Gogh also painted “Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase” and a self-portrait in 1887 while living in Paris.
In 1888, Van Gogh left Paris for Arles in search of brighter colours and new inspiration. He noted in an 1888 letter to Theo: "It still seems to me that I am a traveller who is going somewhere and to a destination."
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Portraits
Vincent van Gogh is known to have created numerous self-portraits, with estimates ranging from 35 to "dozens". Many of these self-portraits are among his most famous works, including "Self-Portrait with Straw Hat" (1887-88) and "Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat" (1887-88). However, there are several lesser-known self-portraits that are worth highlighting:
Self-Portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat (1888)
This painting is part of the collection at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It depicts Van Gogh with a pipe in his mouth and a straw hat on his head, capturing the artist's likeness with brushstrokes that evoke the pointillism of his contemporary, Georges Seurat.
Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin (1888)
This self-portrait was seized by NS authorities and sold at auction in 1939. It is one of several works by Van Gogh that was dedicated to his fellow artist and friend, Paul Gauguin.
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889)
Painted after Van Gogh's infamous incident of cutting off his left ear, this self-portrait depicts the artist with his head wrapped in a white bandage. It is one of the final self-portraits he painted before his death in 1890.
Self-Portrait without Beard (1889)
This self-portrait, also known as "Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe", was likely painted after Van Gogh shaved his beard. It was sold for $71.5 million in 1998, making it one of the most expensive paintings of all time.
In addition to these self-portraits, Van Gogh also produced portraits of other individuals during his career. One notable example is "Portrait du Docteur Gachet" (1890), which sold for $82.5 million in 1990.
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Sunflowers
Van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings were created to decorate his house in Arles, in anticipation of a visit from his friend and fellow artist, Paul Gauguin. He wrote to his brother, Theo, that he was painting with "gusto", and that he hoped to create a "decoration" for his studio, with "nothing but large sunflowers". The sunflower had various meanings for Van Gogh, who once declared, "the sunflower is mine". The flower had been associated with love since the 16th century, and Van Gogh also saw them as a symbol of "gratitude".
The Sunflowers paintings were considered innovative for their use of the yellow spectrum, made possible by newly invented pigments. Van Gogh's expressive style is evident in the way he has captured the textures of the flowers in their various stages of life, from young buds through to maturity and decay. The paintings are also notable for their large size, with Van Gogh creating five large canvases with sunflowers in a vase, using three shades of yellow "and nothing else".
The Sunflowers paintings are among the most famous works by Van Gogh, with their vibrant colours and expressive style. They demonstrate the artist's mastery of colour and form, and their ability to capture the beauty and vitality of nature.
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Landscapes
Vincent van Gogh was a prolific post-impressionist painter, creating approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, during his decade-long career. Landscapes were a genre that held his focus throughout his career.
One of Van Gogh's earliest forays into landscape painting was 'View of the Sea at Scheveningen' (1882), which depicts a stormy scene near The Hague. Grains of sand from the stormy weather are still embedded in the painting's oils, attesting to its realism. In 1883, Van Gogh painted 'Bulb Fields', a testament to the artist's awakening to the expressive use of light and colour. This painting features hyacinths in various hues filling garden boxes that lead the eye toward a distant hillside and a sky filled with white clouds.
In 1888, Van Gogh completed a series of landscapes using a gridded "perspective frame", with three of these works being shown at the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. During his time in Arles, he was energised by the local countryside and light, and his works from this period are rich in yellow, ultramarine, and mauve. They include harvests, wheat fields, and other rural landmarks, such as 'The Old Mill'.
In his final years, Van Gogh continued to paint landscapes, including 'Green Wheat Fields' (1890) and 'Wheatfield with Crows', one of his final paintings. These works were created during his time in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village north of Paris, where he focused solely on nature and the landscape, excluding any human figures or man-made structures.
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Frequently asked questions
While Van Gogh's paintings are now adored around the world, he was little appreciated during his lifetime and died believing he was a failure. Some of his lesser-known works include:
- 'Still Life with Blue Enamel Coffeepot, Earthenware and Fruit' (1888)
- 'The Sower' (1888)
- 'Portrait of Père Tanguy' (1887-1888)
As a rule of thumb, Van Gogh's paintings before 1886 tend to be darker, as he had not yet discovered the use of colour.
