Vincent Willem Van Gogh was a post-impressionist painter who is one of the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. Over the course of just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 works of art, including 860 oil paintings, most during his last two years of life. The works of art include landscapes, still life portraits and self-portraits and they are characterized by bold, symbolic colors and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushstrokes that contributed to the founding of modern art. After years of poverty and mental illness, he committed suicide at the age of 37.