 
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in March, 1853 in the Netherlands. He was a Dutch painter, and generally considered the greatest since Rembrandt. This is a challenging lesson. We're going to copy one of his paintings!But first a little bit of information about this amazing artist ... Van Gogh’s art became amazingly popular after his death, especially in the late 20th century, when his works sold for record-breaking sums at auctions around the world. In his ten year artistic career he created more than 800 paintings, of which he sold only one in his lifetime. His work had a powerful influence on the development of modern painting. After arguing with fellow artist Gauguin, he cut off the lower half of his own left ear. At the end of April 1889, van Gogh entered an asylum but continued to paint; during his 12-month stay he completed 150 paintings and drawings. A move in 1890 was followed by another burst of activity, but he soon suffered a relapse and died that year of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The striking colour, emphatic brushwork, and contours of van Gogh's work powerfully influenced the genre called Expressionism in modern art. You can learn more about him, and see some large examples of his work, on our van Gogh page. Now we're going to copy one of his paintings. You have your choice: 'Starry Night', 'Sunflowers', or 'Wheatfield With Crows'. You can see large versions of each down below. We're going to use acrylic paints. The first step is to sketch the image lightly in pencil. Then start painting; start with the background first. You'll need small brushes. Don't worry about reproducing the picture exactly ... just have fun and try to capture the shapes and vivid colours. Notice that in all three paintings, especially the last two, you can see how van Gogh worked with many many short brush strokes, and didn't blend anything. Try to copy that method.
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