Unfortunately for him, he only gained fame after his death, selling only one painting his entire life!
Van Gogh was a pretty emotionally tortured person. He went through fits of extreme depression and anxiety, and even tried to kill himself by drinking lead paint.
Perhaps what sets him apart from other artists, more than anything, is the story about cutting off his own ear.
The story goes that van Gogh cut off his own ear and gave it to a prostitute at a brothel for safe-keeping.
This was all after a fight he had with his friend and fellow artists Paul Gauguin, where van Gogh went after him with a razor. But the story has been somewhat exaggerated throughout the years.
Van Gogh only lost his earlobe, and now people aren’t even sure he did it himself. It’s likely that the ear was injured by Gauguin during their fight, perhaps by fencing sword, and van Gogh lied to protect his friend.
