Essential Van Gogh by Josephine Cutts

Vincent Van Gogh has become known as one of the art world's most tragic figures. Although he was little recognized in his lifetime, within just a few years of his early death his distinctive style was influencing artistic movements of the future and today his works sell for record sums. Vincent was an intelligent, articulate man, who spent much of his adult life dogged by depressive anxiety, caused by an unfathomed illness, currently attributed to either syphilis or porphyria (the illness that caused the famous "madness" of King George III of England). This unstable mind helped Vincent to create some of the most incredible works of fine art ever produced—but also led to his tragic suicide at the age of 37. 

Van Gogh's work remains some of the most exceptional ever produced by one artist. His diverse works encompassed radical changes in style, colour, and subject matter, which was perhaps indicative of his varying states of mind.