Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh (1853 to 1890) was Dutch. He worked as an art dealer, a teacher and a lay preacher before he decided, at 27, to become an artist. He taught himself, first with dark, earthy pictures of peasants in the Netherlands, then in Paris (1886 to 1888), where he met the Impressionists and Seurat and discovered Japanese prints. His colors exploded.

In 1888 he moved to Arles in the south of France, hoping to found a community of artists. He painted sunflowers to decorate the house where he hoped Paul Gauguin would join him; Gauguin came for two months that autumn. In 1889 and 1890 Van Gogh stayed at a hospital in Saint-Rémy, where he went on painting. He died in 1890, at 37. In about ten years he made around 2,100 works, including some 860 oil paintings, most in his last two years. His letters to his brother Theo, who supported him, tell us how he worked.

Looking closely: The Starry Night

Describe. Above a sleeping village with a church spire, a night sky churns with swirling currents, a glowing crescent moon and stars ringed with halos of light. A huge dark cypress tree rises like a flame in the foreground. Analyze. Every part is made of thick, visible strokes that follow the forms: spirals in the sky, waves in the hills, upward flicks in the cypress. Deep blues and bright yellows set up strong contrasts. The tree links the earth to the sky. Interpret. Van Gogh painted the view from his window at Saint-Rémy, but much of it from memory and imagination; the village was changed and the sky invented. The picture expresses feeling, not a record of one night.

In Sunflowers he painted yellow on yellow, from fresh blooms to withered seed heads, in thick paint. In The Bedroom he painted his room in Arles in flat, strong colors and tilted perspective, wanting it to suggest rest. He made three versions of it.