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Even through the struggles of being mentally ill and in poverty, Van Gogh had left behind something special. In his last days, Van Gogh had beliefs that his life would never serve a purpose to the world. He believed that all of his hard work throughout his life would never make a difference and it was only something he did for himself that would never be appreciated. He believed that his paintings were not impressive, and that his life was a burden. However, today his art work have us considering him to be one of the best and most influential painters of all time. Even though he didn't know it, he was actually a creator of different types of art, creating a stylized way of combining emotion and color that would lead into how many artiest now develop their work. Thankfully, Van Gogh would leave behind over 2,100 paintings for todays population to enjoy and to study. His life did serve a purpose, for the public to enjoy his paintings for years past and years to come,   Van Gogh's life opened the minds of those that appreciate art, to accept all forms of art as an expression of feelings and to appreciate not only the outcome that was created, but also the struggle behind every story told by different pieces.

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A madman who cut off his ear in a crazed outburst and lived in poverty, or the greatest Dutch painter ever. However you remember him, he is widely known as Vincent Van Gogh, but lived a life that did not measure up to his paintings. Vincent Van Gogh was mentally ill and didn’t have a penny to his name. He was considered a failure as an artist until his suicide at age 37. In his life Van Gogh Painted over 2,100 painting almost half of which were in the last two years of his life. Van Gogh Painted many things but mostly he focused on landscapes and later self-portraits. Van Gogh loved to paint portraits as it was simple and helped him further develop his skills, but he could not afford models for his pieces so Van Gogh invested in a mirror that would allow him to use himself as the model for most of his work. When looking at the pieces of Van Gough you can see that he develops his own style of dramatic bold brushwork and bold colors over time. The development of Van Gogh’s skills overtime allows the viewer to see a man struggling to find his style through painting more than 2,000 paintings over his short life.

List of works

1) The Starry Night

2) Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette

3) Van Gough Self Portrait

4) Starry Night Over the Rhone

5) Sunflowers

6) Café Terrace at Night

7) The Yellow House

8) At Eternity’s Gate

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Vincent Van Gogh, January 1889, oil on canvas
In Sunflowers, Van Gogh wanted to demonstrate that is was possible to create an art piece using different variations of one color without losing any eloquence.  This painting had a large significance to Van Gogh, he wanted it to demonstrate "gratitude". He painted them and hung one in the room of another painter who came to live with him in the Yellow House, who later asked Van Gogh for one as a gift.

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Vincent Van Gogh, September 1888, oil on canvas
In 1888, Van Gogh rented four rooms in a house in Arles, the green shutters show where he lived. After moving into the house he sent his brother Theo a letter in regards to the Yellow House, he included a photograph of it inside. In the letter to Theo he wrote "it's tremendous, these yellow houses in the sunlight and then the incomparable freshness of the blue", describing the outside but also how it made him feel joy from the bright colors

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Vincent Van Gogh, 1888, oil on canvas
Only a two minute walk from the yellow house, this piece shows the effects of light at night along with some of his other famous paintings. The challenge of painting at night intrigued Van Gogh. Capturing the sparkling colors of the night sky along with the artificial lighting that was new to this era emphasized the importance of his night paintings.

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Vincent Van Gogh, 1890, oil on canvas
At Eternity's Gate was created in early May at a time when Van Gogh was recovering from a severe relapse in health, two months before his death. He died of mental illness in July of 1890.

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Vincent Van Gogh, 1888, oil on canvas
This painting was created when Van Gogh was recalling his mood when he wrote "The night is more alive and more rich colored at night than the day." Café Terrance at Night, was one of the first painting that he created during his stay in Arles, also the first painting that he had used a dark, night back ground. Painted on the streets at night Van Gogh recreated this based off of his observations, but not the observations he saw but from the observations of how he felt spiritually and personally on the reactions he observed.

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Vincent Van Gogh, 1889, oil on canvas.
Painted from memory, during the day time, this piece depicts the view from outside his room in the asylum. Being the only nocturnal study of the view, it offers a rare nighttime glimpse of what Van Gogh saw while in isolation.

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Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette

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Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette

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Vincent van Gogh, January-February 1886, oil on canvas
While studying at the art academy in Antwerp, the students were required to draw the anatomy of a human. The requirement did not include painting, but Van Gogh seemed to paint this outside of class. Some defy this piece as a statement of opening up about Van Gogh's health, for at this time period, he was struggling with health issues related to stomach-ailments and rotting teeth.

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Vincent Van Gogh, 1889, oil on canvas
This painting is meant to remind us of starry night, this was one of Van Gogh's last self- portraits and some say that it is an image of Van Gogh in a psychotic state. Van Gogh sent this portrait to his brother Theo with the following quote  "You will need to study [the picture] for a time. I hope you will notice that my facial expressions have become much calmer, although my eyes have the same insecure look as before, or so it appears to me."