Vincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853 - July 29, 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on twentieth-century art. Though van Gogh began to draw as a child, he did not begin to paint until his late twenties, completing many of his best-known works (including The Starry Night) during the last two years of his life. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. His oeuvre comprises portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, and still lives. In 1886, van Gogh moved to Paris and underwent a significant transformation when confronted with the works of Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists. Famously, van Gogh lived out the remainder of his life in the south of France, where he eventually succumbed to mental illness and committed suicide. His paintings of his final years are perhaps his most seminal and renown, and their influence on modern art cannot be overstated.
View all of Vincent Van Gogh's work.
A stunning example of Vincent van Gogh’s earlier work, View of a River with Rowing Boats demonstrates at once the strong influence of the artist’s contemporaries as well as his independent sense of innovation. A simple landscape overlooking the Parisian banks of the River Seine, van Gogh’s take on the common Impressionist motif of riverside boats is set apart from the rest in his bold, distinct brushstrokes. While not as dramatic as those that would come in his later paintings, van Gogh’s minute, almost obsessive attention to detail and palette make this painting a joy to encounter from afar as well as up close. Painted with oil on canvas in 1887, View of a River with Rowing Boats is currently in a private collection.
