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Vincent van Gogh’s long, miserable road to fame

Van Gogh's travels informed the works we revere today.

Famous for chopping off a piece of his ear in a fit and delivering it to a woman in a brothel, Vincent van Gogh had a life marked by ailing mental health and the eye-catching paintings he created during that time.

Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the village of Zundert in the Netherlands. He created some of his most well-known paintings, such as The Starry Night and Cafe at Night, within a two-year period before his death in July 1890. The fields he painted in Wheat Field With Crows in June were a depiction of the same location where he shot himself in the chest a month later. During his lifetime, his work had little to no value in the art world. But a century later, the first version of his Portrait of Dr. Gachet sold for $82.5 million in 1990 (around $159 million today).

Vincent van Gogh lived a short and destitute life, but he created some of the most revered paintings of our time. Watch the video above to find out more about his travels and the works he created along the way.