Sunflowers, 1888 by Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890, Dutch)

Perhaps the greatest of them all, Van Gogh was a post-impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, stil- lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterized by bold colors and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art.