[[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-VanGogh_1887_Selbstbildnis.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:180:A self portrait of the artist.]]

->''"For they could not love you, but still your love was true, \\
And when no hope was left in sight on that starry, starry night, \\
You took your life as lovers often do; \\
But I could have told you, Vincent, \\
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you."''
-->-- '''Music/DonMcLean''', "Vincent" from his album ''Music/AmericanPie''

Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a famous [[PostSomethingIsm post-impressionist]] {{painter|s}}, famous for his hard life, insanity and vividly colored {{paintings}}.

His last name is pronounced the Dutch way: [ˈvɪnsɛnt vɑn ˈɣɔx]. The parts "Vincent" and "van" are more or less pronounced as you'd expect, although in Dutch the second V is more of an "f" and the A is more of a short "ah" sound. People have many ways of pronouncing "Gogh". In regular Dutch, there would be a guttural Dutch G, a short O (as in "log"), and another guttural G. In the dialect that Van Gogh spoke, the G sound is similar but softer, like the "h" in "human". English speakers are more divided. Some pronounce it as "van Goch", as though it rhymes with the Scottish word "loch", while others say "van go" or "van Goff". As with any Dutch last name, the "van" is spelled without a capital letter unless his surname is written on its own.

Van Gogh was born to a minister and his wife, a ReplacementGoldfish to their dead son. After growing up with his brother Theo and going to boarding school, he left his small home in the Netherlands to work at an art dealer. [[DoingItForTheArt After expressing rage at the thought of art becoming a commodity]], he was fired. He fell in love with the landlord's daughter Eugénie Loyer, who rejected him when he finally confessed his feelings. This would start a chain of romantic failures. Van Gogh [[KissingCousins proposed to his cousin Kee Vos-Stricker]], who had no interest in him. [[EngagementChallenge Van Gogh held his hand over an open flame, saying he would hold it there until he could change her mind]]. She absolutely refused him. Van Gogh [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold fell in love with a prostitute]] named Sien Hoornick; his [[ParentalMarriageVeto father did not approve of the marriage.]] She drowned herself in the river in 1904.

Van Gogh fell into depression but decided to enroll in a school to do something with his life. He befriended Creator/HenriDeToulouseLautrec there, but because of his problems they fell out. He then moved to Arles, a city in the south of France which he described as [[WretchedHive disgusting and filthy]]. This didn't show in his artwork, as he made some of his most colorful and vibrant pictures of the city there. He found a friend in Paul Gauguin, who came to stay with him at the yellow house he bought in the countryside. However, the two men did not get on. The main issue was that Gauguin treated Van Gogh as a pupil, whereas Van Gogh wanted to be treated as an equal. After an argument in which Van Gogh allegedly threatened Gauguin with a razor blade, Gauguin ran out and Van Gogh [[NeverLiveItDown cut off his ear in a fit of mental illness]][[note]]Some accounts say it was only part of his ear[[/note]]. [[CloudCuckooLander He gave the bit of flesh to a prostitute at a hotel]].

After increasing tension and a state of angry paranoia and mental illness, including psychotic episodes that lasted days or even weeks, he returned to Arles. There, 30 townspeople made a petition to get rid of him. He was having [[TheSchizophreniaConspiracy paranoid delusions of people trying to poison him]]. They called him ''fou roux'' ([[MeaningfulName "the redheaded fool/madman"]]) and had him committed to an asylum. There, he threw himself into painting, making brilliant painting after painting. After he left, he moved to the outskirts of Paris and remained reclusive. In 1890, he shot himself in the chest with a revolver in the middle of a field. Unfortunately for him, [[RasputinianDeath he survived and had to stay in the hospital another two days, eventually dying of infections from the gunshot wounds]]. His beloved brother joined him at the grave, dying of grief six months after him.

Academic research has discovered, and told during a July 29, 2012 [[http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18560_162-20120760.html?pageNum=7&tag=contentMain;contentBody segment]] of ''Series/SixtyMinutes'', that Van Gogh might not have shot himself as the tale goes but received his fatal wound as a result of a village boy shooting him by accident, and told the authorities he'd shot himself [[WhatYouAreintheDark so the poor kid wouldn't get in trouble]].

He remains influential and recognizable today and a subject of many ArtImitatesArt situations.

The letters written by him to his supportive brother Theo not only give a detailed account of his life but [[HeAlsoDid are fascinating literature in their own right]].

The Dutch director and commentator Theo van Gogh was also related to him, being the great-grandson of his brother Theo. He was murdered by an Islamic radical in 2004.
----

!! Van Gogh's artworks:
[[index]]
* ''Art/TheStarryNight''
[[/index]]

!! Tropes found across his works:
* CreatorBreakdown: In general, his art was inspired by his mental problems. It's not clear what disorders he may be diagnosed with in modern time (if he had any) but some scholars think he may have had manic depression, while some theorized he might've been developing schizophrenia (or, as it was called in the 19th century, "dementia praecox").
* CreepyCrows: His final (or thought to be final) painting was ''Wheat Field with Crows'' has this a HarsherInHindsight sort of way, considering what we know about crows' association with death.
* FloralMotifs: According to Gogh, he associated sunflowers with gratitude and happiness.
* GenrePopularizer: [[PostSomethingIsm Post-Impressionism]]
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: No other artist has as many movies about his life as Vincent: to name a few, ''Film/{{Lust for Life|1956}}'', ''Film/{{Vincent and Theo}}'', ''Film/VanGogh'', ''WesternAnimation/LovingVincent'', Film/AkiraKurosawasDreams'' (where he's played by Creator/MartinScorsese of all people), ''[[Film/AtEternitysGate At Eternity's Gate]]'', ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E10VincentAndTheDoctor "Vincent and the Doctor"]]. He even has a Foreigner servant that takes inspiration from him in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' [[spoiler:though she isn’t ''actually'' him [[CompositeCharacter completely]]. Rather, "Van Gogh" is a FusionDance of Vincent's soul and memories with the mind and body of the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology water nymph Clytie]].]]
* IronicallyDisabledArtist: Modern analysis of Van Gogh's paintings suggest that he may have been colorblind; digitally altering images of his paintings to simulate how they would look to someone with red-green colorblindness results in startlingly realistic images. The reason for the unique and striking way he used color in his paintings may be that he ''literally'' saw the world differently than most people.
* PostSomethingIsm: Post-Impressionism, which became popular when his work gained acceptance.
* SignatureHeadgear: His yellow straw hat that often appears in his self-portraits.
----