Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In 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, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Not commercially successful in his career, he struggled with severe depression and poverty, which eventually led to his suicide at age thirty-seven [Wikipedia]
He is also the third most googled artist in the world, only surpassed by Leonardo da Vinci and Frida Kahlo.
Paintings
It is easier to group the paintings by museum/gallery. Most of his works are in The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Van Gogh Museum is dedicated to the works of his and his contemporaries work. It is located in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw.
The museum contains the largest collection of Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings in the world. In 2017, the museum had 2.3 million visitors and was the most-visited museum in the Netherlands, and the 23rd-most-visited art museum in the world.
It consists of two buildings, the Rietveld building and the Kurokawa wing. The former is the main structure and houses the permanent collection, and the latter is used for major temporary exhibitions.
The museum houses 200 paintings, 400 drawings, and 700 letters by the artist. Some of the most popular works are:
- Avenue of Poplars in Autumn (1884)
- The Potato Eaters (1885)
- Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1886)
- Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin (1887)
- Wheat Field with a Lark (1887)
- View of Paris from Vincent’s Room in the Rue Lepic (1887)
- The Zouave (1888)
- Bedroom in Arles (1888)
- The Bedroom (1888)
- The Yellow House (1888)
- Sunflowers (1889)
- Almond Blossoms (1890)
- Wheatfield with Crows (1890)
The permanent collection also includes nine of the artist’s self-portraits (e.g. with Grey Felt Hat, as a Painter, with Straw Hat, with Straw Hat and Pipe and more) and some of his earliest paintings dating back to 1882.
Its full collection is available on the official website.
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Kröller-Müller Museum is located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. It was founded by Helene Kröller-Müller, an avid art collector who, being advised by H.P. Bremmer, was one of the first to recognize van Gogh’s genius and collect his works.
It has the second-largest collection of his paintings after the Van Gogh Museum. The museum had 380,000 visitors in 2015 and it was the 12th most visited museum nationally in 2013.
Cafe Terrace at Night is, arguably, the most popular artwork hosted in this museum. And it also hosts Still Life with Straw Hat, one of three artworks competing for the title of Van Gogh’s oldest-known painting.
Apart from the Van Gogh paintings other highlights include works by Piet Mondrian, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Odilon Redon, Georges Braque, Paul Gauguin, Lucas Cranach, James Ensor, Juan Gris, William Degouve de Nuncques and Pablo Picasso.
Some important works located in this museum are:
- Still Life with Straw Hat (1881)
- Digger (1885)
- The Potato Eaters (another version) (1885)
- Cafe Terrace at Night (1888)
- La Berceuse (portret van Madame Roulin) (1888)
- The ravine (Les Peiroulets) (1889)
- Portrait of Joseph Roulin (1889)
- Country Road in Provence by Night (1890)
- Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate) (1890)
- The good Samaritan (after Delacroix) (1890)
You can search for its full collection here.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Musée d’Orsay is housed in the former Gare d’Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography.
It houses the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and van Gogh. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum’s opening in 1986. It is one of the largest art museums in Europe.
In 2022 the museum had 3.2 million visitors and ranked fifteenth in the list of most-visited art museums in 2020.
The museum hosts 24 of his paintings including:
- L’Arlésienne
- Bedroom in Arles
- Self Portrait
- Portrait of Eugène Boch
- The Siesta
- The Church at Auvers
- View from the Chevet
- The Italian Woman
- Starry Night
- Portrait of Dr. Gachet
- Doctor Gachet’s Garden in Auvers
- Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase
- Saint-Paul Asylum
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) is the largest art museum in the Americas and the most-visited museum in the Western Hemisphere. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments.
The Met’s permanent collection is curated by seventeen separate departments, each with a specialized staff of curators and scholars, as well as six dedicated conservation departments and a Department of Scientific Research.
Some important works located in this museum are:
- Shoes (1888)
- Wheat Field With Cypresses (1889)
- Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (1887)
- Sunflowers (1887)
- Oleanders (1888)
- Irises (1890)
- Roses (1890)
Their Van Gogh’s full collection is available here.
Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), New York
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is located in Manhattan, New York City and plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of the largest and most influential museums of modern art in the world. MoMA’s collection offers an overview of modern and contemporary art, including works of architecture and design, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, prints, illustrated and artist’s books, film, and electronic media.
It attracted 1,160,686 visitors in 2021, an increase of 64% from 2020 and it was ranked 15th on the list of most visited art museums in the world in 2021.
Related to Van Gogh, given that it does not host as many works as other museums, it does host one of the most popular paintings, The Starry Night, which was painted during his period in Saint Remy in 1889.
- The Potato Eaters (another version) (1885)
- The Starry Night (1889)
- Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background (1889)
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in Central London, England. It was founded in 1824 and houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.
It’s the third most popular museum in the UK and attracted 6,011,007 visitors in 2019.
The museum’s copy of Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers was attacked on 14 October 2022 by environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil campaign, who threw tomato soup at it while it was on display. Due to the protection of the plexiglass, the painting was not harmed, but it suffered some minor damage to the frame, according to a spokesperson for the museum.
Similar to MoMa, this museum does not have an extensive collection of Van Gogh, but it also has a very popular painting: Wheat Field with Cypresses.
- Head of a Peasant Woman (1885)
- Sunflowers (1887)
- Wheat Field with Cypresses (1889)
- Meadow with Butterflies (1890)
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 million people annually.
Its permanent collection of nearly 300,000 works of art is augmented by more than 30 special exhibitions mounted yearly that illuminate aspects of the collection and present cutting-edge curatorial and scientific research.
In 2017, the Art Institute received 1,619,316 visitors and was the 35th most-visited art museum in the world.
- The Drinkers, after Daumier
- Bedroom in Arles
- La Berceuse (Augustine Roulin)
- The Poet’s Garden
- Still Life with Apples, Pears, Lemons and Grapes
- Fishing in Spring
- Terrace and Observation Deck at the Moulin de Blute-Fin, Montmartre
- Peasant Woman Digging in Front Her Cottage
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas.
With more than 1.2 million visitors a year, it is the 52nd–most visited art museum in the world as of 2019.
Some important works located in this museum are:
- Weaver Facing Left with Spinning Wheel (1884)
- Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin (1888)
- La Berceuse (Augustine Roulin) (1889)
- Field with Ploughman and Mill (1889)
- Les Peiroulets Ravine (1889)
- Houses in Auvers (1890)
More of his paintings around the World
As listed above, his paintings are owned by some of the most important and influential museums in the world. But the ones above are not all of them, some other museums hosting his paintings, although in lesser quantities, are:
- Pushkin Museum, Moscow
- Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
- Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
- Ateneum, Helsinki
- Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
- São Paulo Museum of Art
- Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
- Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zürich
- Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
- Hiroshima Museum of Art
- Neue Pinakothek, Munich
- Kunstmuseum Basel
So wherever you are travelling in the World, you are likely a couple of hours away from an original Van Gogh’s. If you are curious and would like to see a list of most (or all) of his works, this Wikipedia link could be the answer.
Privately owned paintings
It is difficult to determine the exact number of Van Gogh paintings that are privately owned, as many collectors prefer to keep their art holdings private. However, it is estimated that there are around 250 paintings that are part of private collections.
Some of these include:
- Three Sunflowers in a Vase (1888)
- Portrait of Patience Escalier (1888)
- Garden of the Hospital in Arles (1889)
- Red Chestnuts in the Public Park at Arles (1889)
- Peasant Woman with a Rake (1889)
- Wild Flowers and Thistles in a Vase (1890)
Exhibitions
There are likely many Van Gogh exhibitions around the World at any point in time. However; I would like to highlight one that has taken place in different parts of the planet:
Van Gogh London Exhibit: The Immersive Experience
It uses state-of-the-art technology, such as projection mapping, virtual reality, and other special effects, to create a multi-sensory experience that transports visitors into the world of Van Gogh’s art.
The exhibit features large-scale projections of Van Gogh’s most famous works, such as “Starry Night” or “Sunflowers,” which visitors can view up close and in detail. There are also interactive elements that allow visitors to explore the themes and motifs of Van Gogh’s art, such as his use of colour or his fascination with nature.
In addition, the exhibit offers educational materials, such as audio guides or video presentations, that provide visitors with a deeper understanding of Van Gogh’s life and work. Overall, the goal of the exhibit is to create a unique and memorable experience that allows visitors to immerse themselves in the art and legacy of Vincent Van Gogh.
You may find the event temporarily in other cities, but London is hosting it permanently in a small venue in Shoreditch. Tickets are available here.
Map
Van Gogh Tours in Amsterdam
Most Van Gogh tours in Amsterdam are to visit his museum with an additional service such as a private guide, a canal cruise or a combination with other museums. Some of them are the following:
- Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum Ticket
- Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum Ticket and City Canal Cruise
- Van Gogh Museum & Rijksmuseum: Timed Entrance & Guided Tour
- Zundert: Vincent van Gogh House Entrance Ticket
Best Books about Vicent Van Gogh
Some of the best books available are the following:
- Van Gogh. The Complete Paintings (2015)
- Van Gogh. The Complete Paintings (2020)
- The Letters of Vincent van Gogh (1998)
- Van Gogh (2016)
- In Search of Van Gogh: Capturing the Life of the Artist Through Photographs and Paintings (2021)
- Vincent van Gogh: A Life in Letters (2020)
- Van Gogh: His Life & Works in 500 Images (2010)