Arguably the world’s best loved artist, Vincent van Gogh painted starry nights, swirling landscapes, and golden sunflowers in an expressive style which is instantly recognizable and iconic. Today, these masterpieces are displayed in global museums and reproduced on fridge magnets, tea towels, and even socks. But why is his art so popular, and what makes it so special?

Van Gogh’s Artistic Style

Van Gogh’s art story is a deeply personal one, reflected in the fact that although his career only lasted 10 years, he painted 35 self-portraits. In his early “Self-Portrait as a Painter” (1887-1888), the Dutch master has portrayed himself as an artist, palette in hand, hard at work. Living in Paris, he’d been introduced to the Impressionists and was adopting their use of broken brushstrokes.

However, he was also experimenting with a bold new palette of intense pairings – blue and orange, red and green, yellow and purple. Seeking brighter light, and an escape from the city, he moved to the South of France later that year. As Van Gogh shared in a letter to his supportive brother Theo, he found Arles “extraordinarily beautiful,” embracing its warm hues on his canvases.

Among the first, and most famous, works from this period is “Sunflowers”(1888), in which the wild bouquet bursts with glorious color combinations and Van Gogh’s revolutionary new style. Forgoing traditional realism, he applied paint in dabs and dashes, using a thick, impasto technique to create a sense of texture in the twisting leaves, stems, and petals.

A closer look at Van Gogh’s two iconic Sunflower paintings.

Less interested in simply representing external reality than imbuing scenes with feeling, mood, and symbolism, Van Gogh pioneered Post-Impressionism. His own emotions are layered into the dense surface and vibrant palette of this notable still life, as well as the wider “Sunflowers” series, which carry a message of friendship. After all, these pictures were painted as a welcoming gift for fellow artist Paul Gauguin, who was headed to Arles.

Van Gogh and Gauguin

While Van Gogh is often framed as a solitary genius, creative friendships were crucially important to him, as London’s National Gallery illustrated in their major exhibition “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers,” which has been accompanied by an insightful documentary.

Among the show’s highlights was “The Yellow House” (1888), an immortalising portrait of the home which he and Gauguin shared, working side-by-side, for several months. Vividly-painted, the composition is filled with Van Gogh’s hope and optimism, as he sought to launch a new colony of artists from his very own “Studio of the South.”

The iconic “Yellow House” where Van Gogh resided with Gauguin.

However, it wasn’t long before Van Gogh and Gauguin fell out. Not only did they have differing opinions about life and art, but the Dutch painter had long struggled with his mental health, suffering bouts of depression, mood swings, and sadness. After a heated argument on December 23, 1888, Van Gogh cut off most of his left ear with a razor, as he later depicted in “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear” 1889.

Gauguin fled, while Van Gogh committed himself for psychiatric treatment at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in 1888. While confined, the painter found inspiring new subject matter, picturing the hospital’s gardens in works such as “The Garden of the Asylum at Saint-Remy” (1889), which he imagined as a tangle of thickly painted, brilliantly coloured trees.

Views from his window also found their way into some of his most famous paintings, including “The Starry Night” (1889). Spinning and shimmering with brilliant blues, the evening sky explodes with starlight, evoking hope among the darkness. A visionary masterpiece, it illuminates the power of painting for Van Gogh, who turned to it as an escape. As he once wrote, “Art is to console those who are broken by life.”

A closer look at Van Gogh’s two iconic Starry Night paintings.

Van Gogh’s Legacy

Channelling his emotions into canvases, Van Gogh painted through periods of sickness. As his mental health worsened, the master’s paintings became ever more poetic and resplendent, a theme explored in this documentary. Tragically, aged just 37 in 1890, Van Gogh took his own life, leaving behind hundreds of paintings.

Slowly, in the decades that followed, and thanks to the tireless work of his sister-in-law Jo Van Gogh-Bonger, the world began to appreciate this tortured genius, who’d used art as a form of therapy. Paving the way for a more expressive modern art, he profoundly influenced the Fauves and German Expressionists, who adopted a subjective approach to painting, while inspiring the likes of Edvard Munch, who expressed his inner pain through portraiture.

Beautifully intense, Van Gogh’s paintings carry moving messages about his personal struggles and the healing power of creativity. Not only did the artist seek to help himself by painting, but his artworks can help others find a sense of serenity in their swirling scenes. As we increasingly discuss our mental health struggles today, Van Gogh’s remarkable art resonates deeply with viewers, who gain glimpses into the life of this great artist.

You can experience Vincent Van Gogh’s full story through the documentary, Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers.