By: Rachael Bergman

Brief BackgroundBorn March 30, 1853 and Died July 29, 1890Suffered a severe mental disorder in his later

yearsConsidered to be an expressionist painter

Interests Spark InspirationLove for natureNeed to help the destitute

Potato Eaters8.15 X 114.5 cmOil on canvas.Nuenen. 1885.

MentorsPaul Gauguin

Femmes de Tahiti69 X 90 cm.Oil on canvas.1891. Paris.

MentorsFernand Cormon

Le Harem65.4 X 54.3 cm.Oil on canvas.1845-1924.

Mission“I think that everything which is really good

and beautiful—of inner moral, spiritual and sublime beauty in men and their works—comes from God, and that all which is bad and wrong in men and their works is not of God and God does not approve of it.”

Artwork

Interior of a Restaurant 45.5 X 56.5 cm. Oil on canvas. 1887.

Otterlo, Netherlands.

Japonaiserie: Orian (after Kesai Eisen)105.5 X 60.5 cm. Oil on canvas. 1887. Amsterdam.

Still-life with Sunflowers95 X 73 cm.Oil on canvas.1888. Amsterdam.

Technique“ I hit the canvas with irregular touches of the

brush, which I leave as they are. Patches of thickly laid-on color, spots of canvas left uncovered, here and there with portions that are absolutely unfinished, repetitions, savageries…. Working directly on the spot all the time, I try to grasp what is essential in the drawing—later I fill in the spaces that are bounded by contours—either expressed or not, but in any case felt—with tones that are also simplified, by which I mean that all that is going to be soil will share the same violet-like tone, that the whole sky will have a blue tint.”

Café Terrace on the Place du Forum81 X 65.5 cm.Oil on canvas.1888. Otterlo, Netharlands.

Self-portrait65 X 54 cm.Oil on canvas.1889. Paris.

“The more ugly, old, vicious, ill, poor I get, the more I want to take my revenge by producing a brilliant color, well-arranged, resplendent.”

Starry Night73.5 X 92 cm. Oil on canvas. 1889. New York.

Did He Succeed?“The world concerns me insofar as I feel a certain indebtedness and duty toward it because I have walked this earth for 30 years, and, out of gratitude, want to leave some souvenir in the shape of drawings or pictures—not made to please a certain taste in art, but to express a sincere human feeling.”