Vincent van GoghNowadays, Vincent van Gogh is probably the best known and most appreciated figure of Post-Impressionism. During his short life, Vincent's work remained almost unknown to the world. His work is now exhibited in countless museums around the world and is considered priceless. His work became an important bridge between the 19th and 20th centuries. The art historical term Post-Impressionism was coined by Roger Fry, a British art critic, who described the various styles of painting that flourished during the period from about 1880 to 1910 (Britannica). . It was generally used as a convenient way to group together the generation of artists seeking new forms of expression during a pictorial revolution brought about by Impressionism. Among these figures were Piere Bonnard, Paul Cenanne, Paul Gauglin, Odilon Redon, George Seurat, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and, of course, Vincent van Gogh (Britannica). Van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853, in the Zundert rectory in Barbant (Burra). His father was a soft-spoken Dutch shepherd. The only thing Van Gogh got from his father was a desire to be involved in the family church. Even at an early age, Vincent showed artistic talent but neither he nor his parents imagined that painting would take him where it did later in life. One of his first jobs came at the age of sixteen, as an art dealer's assistant. He went to work for Goupil and Company, an art gallery where an uncle had long worked. Three of his father's brothers were art dealers, and he was christened after the most illustrious of his uncles, who was director of the Hague branch of the famous Goupil (Meier-Graefe) Galleries. His parents were poor, so his rich uncle offered to take him along... middle of paper... 20th century fashion in fictionalized psychological biography. Who knows how many other great paintings he could have created in the following years. Although his life was cut short, Vincent van Gogh has since been recognized as one of the greatest geniuses of modern art. He was clearly one of the greatest Post-Impressionist painters of all time. Works Cited Auden, WH Van Gogh A Self-Portrait Letter Revealing His Life as a Painter. Marlowe and Company New YorkBritannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2008. Encyclopaedia Britannica.9 March 2008 .Burra, Peter Van Gogh, New York Collier Books 1962Meier-Graefe, Julius: Vincent Van Gogh: A Biography. Dover Courier Publications: 1987: New York.Sweetman, David. The Love of Many Things: A Life of Vincent Van Gogh. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990.