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Vincent van Gogh painted about 860 oil paintings, most of them in the two years before his death in 1890, yet he sold very little. The only painting known by name to have sold in his lifetime is The Red Vineyard, bought in 1890 for 400 francs by the Belgian painter Anna Boch.

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Van Gogh lived mainly on money from his younger brother Theo, an art dealer in Paris, and the hundreds of letters they exchanged are the main source for his life and ideas. He also sold a few drawings, including views of The Hague ordered in 1882 by his uncle, an Amsterdam art dealer. Vincent died in July 1890, aged 37, and Theo died six months later. Theo's widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, was left with hundreds of paintings and drawings. She lent them to exhibitions, sold works with care to build his reputation and in 1914 published the letters, which helped make him famous across Europe. Their son, Vincent Willem, later placed the collection in a foundation, and the Van Gogh Museum opened in Amsterdam in 1973.

Türkçe oku
Vincent van Gogh yaklaşık 860 yağlı boya tablo yaptı; bunların çoğu 1890'daki ölümünden önceki son iki yılda çıktı. Ama pek az eser satabildi. Sağlığında satıldığı adıyla bilinen tek tablosu Kırmızı Bağ'dır: Belçikalı ressam Anna Boch onu 1890'da 400 franka satın aldı.

Van Gogh büyük ölçüde, Paris'te sanat taciri olarak çalışan küçük kardeşi Theo'nun gönderdiği parayla geçindi. İki kardeşin yüzlerce mektubu, onun hayatı ve sanat anlayışı hakkındaki en önemli kaynaktır. Birkaç desen de sattı; bunların arasında Amsterdam'da sanat taciri olan amcasının 1882'de ısmarladığı Lahey manzaraları vardır. Vincent Temmuz 1890'da 37 yaşında öldü; Theo da altı ay sonra hayatını kaybetti. Geride yüzlerce tablo ve desen kaldı. Theo'nun dul eşi Jo van Gogh-Bonger bu eserleri sergilere verdi, satışları özenle yöneterek ressamın ününü adım adım büyüttü ve 1914'te mektupları yayımladı; mektuplar Van Gogh'un Avrupa'da tanınmasına büyük katkı yaptı. Oğulları Vincent Willem daha sonra koleksiyonu bir vakfa devretti ve Van Gogh Müzesi 1973'te Amsterdam'da açıldı.

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Background reading: Vincent van Gogh
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The Reformation was the 16th-century movement that split Western Christianity and created Protestant churches independent of Rome. It is usually dated from 31 October 1517, when Luther, a monk and university teacher in Wittenberg, circulated his Ninety-five Theses against the sale of indulgences, certificates the Church sold to reduce the punishment for sins. A century earlier the Czech reformer Jan Hus had made similar criticisms and was executed in 1415; the historian Lyndal Roper argues that print is the main reason Luther escaped the same fate. Johannes Gutenberg's movable-type printing, developed in the mid-15th century, made short pamphlets cheap, and presses were scattered across many German towns, so no single authority could stop them. Towns with a printing press were more likely to adopt the Reformation. As most people could not read, Luther's friend the painter Lucas Cranach the Elder made woodcut pictures that put his ideas into images.

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