Vincent van Gogh's troubled life and tragic death have fascinated people since he committed suicide over hundred years ago. The paintings and drawings he left have appreciated considerably in that time and are now among the most valuable and popular in the world. The unmistakable intensity of his work--his color sense, use of pigments, and above all, his emotional expression--has influenced many of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. And the indelible images he created, including numerous self-portraits, raucous sunflowers, and the swirling blues of the night sky, aresome of the most copied in history.

Born in Zundert, Netherlands, on March 30, 1853, Vincent Willem van Gogh was raised in a small Netherlands town where his father, the Reverend Theodorus van Gogh, was the pastor of the town's Calvinist church. Van Gogh's mother, Anna Cornelia Carbentus, was a woman of formidable character who busied herself with local charity work...