Van Gogh is one of the most famous painters in modern art.  He was born in 1853 and died in 1890.  He was only 37 years old when he died but yet he accomplished so much.  He was born on March 30 in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands.  After this he became an unordained preacher and received his education from a missionary society in Belgium.  Later in 1878 he represented the society as a minister.  At age 25 he was not accepted to a theological school.  He took his work so seriously that he went without food and other necessities so he could give more to the poor.  Van Gogh began to paint in 1880 and he became one of the most famous artists in the world.  Just in 2 years he painted over 200 hundred paintings.  He was famous because he painted about his strong religious feelings and his need for love and respect.  A few of his paintings are "The Potato Eaters", "Postman Roulin", and "The Starry Night".  He usually painted oil on canvas of people and their environment.  The most famous painting is "The Starry Night" that he painted in 1889 right before he had his seizure.  There were so many oil paintings and drawings of himself.  And he looks different in every one.  He painted everything around him.  If he saw something that he liked, he painted it.  He was very poor but still a remarkable artist and person.  Before he died he told everyone he knew that he had an incurable illness and he was going to die.  That is when he cut off his ear and went insane.  In Van Gogh's life he said that work was requiring more time, energy, and effort.  He thought that existence was a struggle for him.  On 31 January 1889,  Vincent Van Gogh sold his first painting.  Van Gogh wasn't only a painter but a sculptor.  His sculpture was called "The Female Torso."  He said he liked to sculpt, but he loves to be an artist more than anything.