Vincent van Gogh

Although his works fetch record-breaking prices at modern auctions, Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) sold only a single painting in his lifetime. The artist labored in obscurity, creating hundreds of paintings and more than 1,000 drawings in the 10-year period before his suicide. His posthumous fame grew quickly, and his influence on Expressionism, Fauvism, and other branches of modern art is beyond calculation.