catalogue of works by v. van gogh (1853–1890) · approx. 900 paintings in 10 years · lifetime sales: one

Every lot in this sale sells twice.

Once in his lifetime — usually to silence, occasionally to pity, exactly once to money. And once about a century later, to sums that embarrass the first hammer. The catalogue below lists both results, because together they prove something no single price can: the paintings didn't change.

// tap any lot to drop the second hammer. reproductions are from memory, which is where paintings actually live.

lot 1 · the red vineyard, 1888arles

The only one that sold

Purchased in 1890 by the painter Anna Boch, for 400 francs. His entire lifetime revenue from roughly nine hundred paintings.

400 francs · one bidder, ever

tap — second hammer

lot 1 · the red vineyard · second hammermoscow

Beyond sale

Now in the Pushkin Museum. It will never be auctioned again. The one painting the market managed to buy in time, it can no longer afford.

priceless, literally

tap — back to 1890

lot 2 · portrait of dr. gachet, 1890auvers

The sad doctor

Painted six weeks before the end, of the physician meant to look after him. "The heartbroken expression of our time," he called it, in a letter.

1890: no market. left with the family.

tap — second hammer

lot 2 · portrait of dr. gachet · second hammerchristie's, new york, 1990

The most expensive painting on earth

Three minutes of bidding, exactly one century after his death. A world record that stood for years.

$82,500,000

tap — back to 1890

lot 3 · irises, 1889saint-rémy asylum

Painted in the asylum garden

His first week as a voluntary patient. He called the work "the lightning conductor for my illness" — painting as the thing that kept him standing.

1889: exhibited. politely ignored.

tap — second hammer

lot 3 · irises · second hammersotheby's, new york, 1987

A record, briefly

The most ever paid for a painting at the time. Now at the Getty, where the asylum garden draws larger crowds than most countries' capitals.

$53,900,000

tap — back to 1889

lot 4 · sunflowers, 1888the yellow house, arles

Decoration for a guest room

Painted to welcome Gauguin — wall decoration, by intent. Yellow on yellow on yellow, because he had discovered a color could be a mood held still.

1888: worth the cost of the paint, per the market.

tap — second hammer

lot 4 · sunflowers · second hammerchristie's, london, 1987

The guest-room decoration

Nearly quadrupled the previous world record for any painting at auction. For the sunflowers. For the guest room.

£24,750,000

tap — back to 1888

lot 5 · the starry night, 1889painted from a barred window

The view from the asylum

The most beloved painting in the world, made by a patient looking out of a window before sunrise. He considered it a failure and told Theo so.

1889: unsold. "a failure," per the artist.

tap — second hammer

lot 5 · the starry night · second hammermoma, new york

Never coming to auction

Insurers decline to publish a figure. The crowd in front of it on any given Tuesday exceeds every audience he had in his life, combined.

the market gave up pricing it

tap — back to 1889

He painted himself over thirty-five times because models cost money he didn't have.

Poverty chose his most famous subject. Constraint chose the yellow. The asylum chose the view. Every limitation in this catalogue ended up hanging in a museum — which is worth remembering about your own.

The paintings didn't change. The looking did.

Between hammer one and hammer two, not a single brushstroke moved. Worth was in the canvas the whole time, waiting out the price. If you are making something the first hammer ignores, you are in the finest company this catalogue knows. Keep painting.

The Red Vineyard: sold 1890 to Anna Boch, 400 francs; now Pushkin Museum, Moscow. Dr. Gachet: $82.5m, Christie's, May 1990. Irises: $53.9m, Sotheby's, November 1987. Sunflowers: £24.75m, Christie's, March 1987. Starry Night: painted June 1889 at Saint-Rémy; MoMA since 1941. "Lightning conductor" and "heartbroken expression of our time" are from his letters; he sold exactly one painting in his lifetime, and wrote about 900.