From sunflowers to starry nights, Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous names in Western art history.
He is thought to have produced 2,100 works of art during his lifetime, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which were painted in the last two years of his life. His work is exhibited in the world’s most prestigious museums and galleries, including the National Gallery, Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and the Met, and his 1888 painting Verger avec cyprès will sell at auction for $117 million in 2022. Denying Van Gogh’s lasting impact on the art world.
Since it’s so cold and dark, there’s never been a better time to enjoy his works. Here we have compiled 10 of Van Gogh’s best paintings.
Potato Eaters
The Potato Eaters was Van Gogh’s first major work and was apparently one of the pieces he was most proud of due to its originality. Its aim was to represent the harsh reality of country life: peasants were painted in earth tones, rough faces and bony hands to show the hard labor they endured every day.
Cafe Terrace at Night
Although painted over 130 years ago, this café still exists in France and has since been renamed Café Van Gogh. This artwork marks the first time Van Gogh’s famous post-impressionist star-filled sky has been seen in a work, and it is believed that the work was painted on the ground itself rather than in memory. Although the work does not bear his signature, it is widely known to be by Van Gogh, as he mentions Café Terrace at Night in many of his letters.
Bedroom
The Bedroom is a painting of a room in Van Gogh’s Yellow House in Arles. It seems that before starting work, the artist meticulously arranged the room in his house and selected his own paintings to hang in the room. The curved wall in the background was a deliberate choice by the artist; In a letter to his brother, he explains that it is possible to paint the area without shadows so that the painting resembles a Japanese print.
sunflowers
You don’t have to be an art lover to recognize Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, undoubtedly one of the most famous flowers of all time. Only three shades of yellow were used to create this painting, which Van Gogh chose because he associated it with happiness. Originally, the Dutch artist planned to paint the sunflowers in a series of 12, but he ended up completing five. These are exhibited in galleries around the world; among them is a painting in the National Gallery which has transferred the greatest amount of product to its gallery of any painting.
iris
Van Gogh completed almost 142 pieces during his stay in the Saint Rémy de Provence mental hospital, where he was a voluntary patient from 1889 to 1890, and this work was one of his first works. The hospital garden was a great source of inspiration for the artist during his time there, and he believed that he could protect himself from going crazy by painting. Originally the flowers in this work were painted purple, but over time the fading of the red pigment means they have now turned blue.
Wheat Field with Cypresses
This piece was also inspired by the view from the window of the shelter. Van Gogh was so pleased with the summer landscape that he made two studio renditions: one of the same size that hung in The Met, and the other a smaller copy that he planned to gift to his mother and sister.
A night with stars
Starry Night, one of the artist’s most famous works, is another depiction of the view seen from the east-facing window of his room in the Saint Rémy de Provence mental hospital. This is the only painting he painted at night during his year-long hospital stay, although he wrote to his brother Theo about his admiration for the painting hours later. This abstract landscape painting was one of the later works of the artist, who killed himself the following year. He is thought to have created approximately 21 variations in total.
Almond Flowers
This iconic painting was inspired by the birth of Van Gogh’s nephew, who shares the same name with the artist. This painting, part of a group of paintings dating from 1888 and 1890, was gifted to his brother Theo. Flower branches and bushes against a vibrant blue sky are a popular motif in the artist’s work; however, in this example, the blooming buds represent the arrival of baby Vincent Willem.
Starry Night Over the Rhône
Starry Night Over the Rhône (1888) is a sister work to The Starry Night (1889). Although The Starry Night was painted from Van Gogh’s hospital room, this lesser-known midnight depiction was actually painted on the banks of the Rhône river, just a short walk from his home in Arles.
Self-portrait, 1887
Van Gogh, who painted more than 36 portraits from 1886 to 1890, stated in a letter to his brother that painting them helped him develop his creative skills. Completed in Paris in the autumn of 1887, two years before he hospitalized himself, this painting is one of his best-known self-portraits and the one that he apparently felt reflected his “true character”. It is also worth noting that all his later self-portraits show his head without revealing the ear he famously cut off.