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Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch painter. He was born in Groot-Zundert in the southern Netherlands in 1853. Before his career as artist, van Gogh was a teacher in England. He was one of the most famous Post-impressionist painter. Roger Fry, who was an English art critic, coined the term Post-impressionism. It was a French art movement that developed between 1880 and 1900.

In his early paintings, colours were plain. Working classes were represented realistically. In 1886, after his travel to Paris and the strong influence of Impressionism and Post Impressionism, his way of painting changed. Colours started having an emotional value. They were dramatic because they were used to express emotions and feelings. In Paris, he met Paul Gauguin, another very famous Post-impressionism painter.

He also wrote several letters where he described how he became an artist: he told about his travels and his growth as an artist. Many letters were written to his brother Theo, who was a very important person in his life.

In 1888, Van Gogh moved to Provence and it was a very important period for him. In that period he painted his famous series ‘Sunflowers’. The series consists of five canvases with sunflowers in a vase and painted with only three shades of yellow. Vincent painted them because he wanted to decorate the Gauguin’s room, the socalled “Yellow House”.

Landscapes, portraits, and self-portraits were very common in Van Gogh’s paintings. In 1882 he painted “Fisherman on the Beach” and Fisherman’s Wife on the Beach” which were two portraits.

Another Van Gogh’s masterpiece was “Starry Night” painted in 1889, when he was in Provence. It depicts the view from Van Gogh’s window. Colours used in this painting are used to express strong emotions. The church that he represented evokes his native land. Even if his paintings were great masterpieces, Van Gogh became famous after his death. During his lifetime he wasn’t appreciated, in fact he only sold one painting. In Amsterdam there is the Van Gogh Museum dedicated to Van Gogh’s works.