Van Gogh's starry skies

"At present I absolutely want to paint a starry sky.

It often seems to me that night is still more richly coloured than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens.

If only you pay attention to it you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance.

And without my expatiating on this theme it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky" - Vincent van Gogh, Letter to Wilhelmina van Gogh, the sister, written 9 and 16 September 1888 in Arles.

Vincent van Gogh | Starry Night Over the Rhône, 1888 | Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Van Gogh's flowers

Vincent van Gogh was a flower fan!

It all began in Paris, where he lived for two years (1886-88).

During his time there, he noticed that flower still lifes sold well.

Some French artists even specialised in painting flower still lifes.

Van Gogh started painting flower still lifes in the hope they would sell well.

Vincent van Gogh | Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, 1890 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vincent Van Gogh | Butterflies series

Butterflies is a series paintings made by Vincent van Gogh in 1889 and 1890.

Van Gogh made at least four paintings of butterflies and one of a moth.

The metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly was symbolic to Van Gogh of men and women's capability for transformation.

Vincent van Gogh | Butterflies and Poppies | Van Gogh Museum

Vincent Van Gogh | A Lane near Arles, 1888

A Lane Near Arles (Allee bei Arles) was painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1888, while he was living in Arles.

It depicts a lane surrounded by trees running between the fields outside Arles, France.

A Lane Near Arles is currently in the collection of the Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifswald, in Germany.

Vincent van Gogh settled in Arles in 1888 because he wanted "a different light".

Vincent Van Gogh | A Lane Near Arles, 1888 | Pomeranian State Museum Greifswald, Germany

Vincent van Gogh | The Poor and Money, 1882

'Drawing For National Lottery Today' - says the sign on the wall.

Many people have showed up for the event. Vincent wrote to his brother Theo that he saw this scene on a rainy day in The Hague.

He was moved by the vain hope of these shabbily dressed 'poor souls'.

Would the hard-earned money they spent on lottery tickets gain them anything at all?

Vincent van Gogh | The Poor and Money, 1882 (chalk, watercolour, pen and ink, on paper) | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Vincent van Gogh | Pietà (after Delacroix), 1889

Van Gogh based his Pietà on a lithograph of a painting by Eugène Delacroix.

This image of the Virgin Mary mourning the dead Christ is, however, more a variation on the original work than a copy.

Van Gogh has taken Delacroix’s theme and composition and added his own colour and personal signature.

Vincent van Gogh's suicide letter

Vincent van Gogh was an influential artist during the nineteenth century.

Widely believed to have been struggling with depression and insanity, he went out to a nearby field and shot himself in the chest, before stumbling back to his house where his brother Theo cared for him for two days, before he finally died.

Although he had sent a letter to Theo only three days earlier, he was carrying another letter to his brother on his person at the time of his suicide, largely seen as a suicide note.

Van Gogh severed his own ear with a razor in 1888 | The Courtauld Gallery London

Vincent van Gogh | Studies of heads

Van Gogh considered the modern portrait to be the most important genre for painters.

"What I’m most passionate about, much more than all the rest in my profession - is the portrait, the modern portrait.

I seek it by way of colour, and am certainly not alone in seeking it in this way’, wrote Vincent to this sister Willemien in 1890.

Vincent van Gogh | Head of a woman | Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh | Orchard in Blossom

Vincent van Gogh | Peach Trees in Blossom, April 1888 | Courtauld Gallery, London

This is van Gogh’s last view of a plain outside Arles that he often painted since settling in the south of France in 1888.

He wrote to the painter Paul Signac "everything is small there ... even the mountains, as in certain Japanese landscapes, which is the reason why the subject attracted me".

The snow-capped peak on the right (a deliberate echo of Mount Fuji in Japan) and blossoming trees create a peaceful atmosphere.

But the bent figure at left emphasises this is a man-made landscape. | © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London

Vincent van Gogh | Peach Trees in Blossom, April 1888 | Courtauld Gallery, London

Questa è l'ultima veduta di van Gogh di una pianura fuori Arles che dipinse spesso da quando si stabilì nel sud della Francia nel 1888.

Paul Gauguin | Washerwomen in Arles, 1888

"Washerwomen in Arles" - Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - was painted in that French town, where Paul Gauguin settled late in 1888 summoned by Vincent van Gogh, who hoped to found a community of artists there.

The work captures the painter’s concern in emphasising expressiveness over and above formalism, which entailed his final break with Impressionism.

This principle, for which Gauguin coined the term Syntheticism, was characterised by non-mimetic representations of nature, the rejection of the third dimension taken from Japanese prints and the separation of colour in broad contrasted planes by means of dark lines.

Paul Gauguin | The Washerwomen in Arles | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam