Read the best collection of Vincent Van Gogh quotes sayings, and captions about life, art, and more to inspire you big time.
Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential artists of all time. His expressive brushwork and bold use of color made him one of the most appreciable painters in Western art history.
Despite having a tragic and troubled life, Van Gogh’s artistic journey was marked by a deep passion for art and beauty. He created around 2,100 artworks in a short period, including 860 oil paintings. They include still lifes, portraits, landscapes, and self-portraits.
Some of his masterpieces include paintings such as Starry Night, Sunflowers, and The Potato Eaters.
Van Gogh was unsuccessful during his lifetime but gained fame after his death by suicide when his extraordinary talent got noticed by the world.
He is now deemed one of the most talented artists of all time and is an iconic figure in the art world.
His work had a profound influence on modern art and continues to inspire generations of people. These thought-provoking Van Gogh quotes will help you gain insight into his thoughts on life, art, and nature.
Also, check out Michelangelo Quotes And Pablo Picasso Quotes about art, painting, and creativity to inspire you.
Top 10 Van Gogh Quotes
- “I would rather die of passion than of boredom.” — Van Gogh
- “Still, there is a calm, pure harmony, and music inside of me.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “Love always causes trouble, that’s true, but in its favor, it energizes.” — Vincent van Gogh
- “Drawing is the root of everything, and the time spent on that is actually all profit.” — Van Gogh
- “I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.” — Van Gogh
- “Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it.” — Van Gogh
Famous Quotes By Van Gogh Quotes
- “There is no such thing as an ugly woman.” — Van Gogh
- “Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.” — Van Gogh
- “I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.” — Van Gogh
- “The more I become decomposed, the more sick and fragile I am, the more I become an artist.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “So often, a visit to a bookshop has cheered me and reminded me that there are good things in the world.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “What preys on my mind is simply this one question: what am I good for, could I not be of service or use in some way?” — Van Gogh
- “Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.” — Vincent van Gogh
- “There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.” — Van Gogh
- “Don’t lose heart if it’s very difficult at times, everything will come out all right and nobody can, in the beginning, do as he wishes.” — Van Gogh
- “I can’t change the fact that my paintings don’t sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.” — Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh Quotes
- “I’m drawing a great deal and think it’s getting better.” — Van Gogh
- “I now consider myself to be at the beginning of the beginning of making something serious.” — Van Gogh
- “If I am worth anything later, I am worth something now. For wheat is wheat, even if people think it is a grass in the beginning.” — Van Gogh
- “You can’t be at the Pole and at the Equator at the same time. You must choose your own line, as I hope to do, and it will probably be color.” — Van Gogh
- “I assure you that there’s a lot involved in compositions with figures. … It’s like weaving… you must control and keep an eye on several things at once.” — Van Gogh
- “I haven’t got it yet, but I’m hunting it and fighting for it, I want something serious, something fresh—something with soul in it! Onward, onward.” — Van Gogh
- “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. And great things are not accidental, but must certainly be willed.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “Sometimes I long so much to do landscape, just as one would go for a long walk to refresh oneself, and in all of nature, in trees for instance, I see expression and a soul.” — Van Gogh
- “I believe that one thinks much more soundly if the thoughts arise from direct contact with things, than if one looks at things with the aim of finding this or that in them.” — Van Gogh
Van Gogh Quotes On Art
- “The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting.” — Van Gogh
- “I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.” — Van Gogh
- “There is no blue without yellow and without orange.” — Van Gogh
- “There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “I’ve just kept on ceaselessly painting in order to learn painting.” — Van Gogh
- “Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter’s soul.” — Van Gogh
- “One must work and dare if one really wants to live.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “When I have a terrible need of – shall I say the word – religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.” — Van Gogh
- “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” — Van Gogh
- “I think that I still have it in my heart someday to paint a bookshop with the front yellow and pink in the evening…like a light in the midst of the darkness.” — Van Gogh
- “I do not know myself how I paint it. I sit down with a white board before the spot that strikes me. I look at what is before my eyes, and say to myself, that white board must become something.” — Van Gogh
Van Gogh Quote
- “You have first to experience what you want to express.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God’s help I shall succeed.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “So let us go forward, quietly, each on his own path, forever making for the light.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “…and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more.” — Van Gogh
- “The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “Occasionally, in times of worry, I’ve longed to be stylish, but on second thought I say no—just let me be myself—and express rough, yet true things with rough workmanship.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.” — Vincent Van Gogh
Van Gogh Quotes About Love & Life
- “I will not live without love.” — Van Gogh
- “The more you love, the more you suffer.” — Van Gogh
- “The way to know life is to love many things.” — Van Gogh
- “No, no thought to the winnings. One loves because one loves.” — Van Gogh
- “A woman is not old as long as she loves and is loved.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “If one truly loves nature one finds beauty everywhere.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “Love is something eternal; the aspect may change, but not the essence.” — Van Gogh
- “To suffer without complaint is the only lesson we have to learn in this life.” — Van Gogh
- “Love always brings difficulties, that is true, but the good side of it is that it gives energy.” — Vincent van Gogh
- “Seek only light and freedom and do not immerse yourself too deeply in the worldly mire.” — Van Gogh
- “As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.” — Van Gogh
- “I try more and more to be myself, caring relatively little whether people approve or disapprove.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “But you must love with a high, serious intimate sympathy, with a will, with intelligence, and you must always seek to know more thoroughly, better, and more.” — Van Gogh
- “And the memories of all we have loved stay and come back to us in the evening of our life. They are not dead but sleep, and it is well to gather a treasure of them.” — Van Gogh
- “Close friends are truly life’s treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.” — Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh Quotes On Stars
- “I’ll start with small things.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “There is peace even in the storm.” — Vincent van Gogh
- “I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “I don’t know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “I confess I do not know why, but looking at the stars always makes me dream.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” — Van Gogh
- “Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all.” — Van Gogh
- “As you can see, I am immersing myself in color—I’ve held back from that until now; and I don’t regret it.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “For the great doesn’t happen through impulse alone, and is a succession of little things that are brought together.” — Vincent Van Gogh
- “One may have a blazing hearth in one’s soul and yet no one ever comes to sit by it. Passersby see only a whisp of smoke rising from the chimney and continue on their way.” — Vincent Van Gogh
Van Gogh Short Quotes And Captions
- “Conscience is a man’s compass.” — Van Gogh
- “There is peace even in the storm.” — Van Gogh
- “In spite of everything, I shall rise again.” — Van Gogh
- “I wish they would only take me as I am.” — Van Gogh
- “Exaggerate the essential, leave the obvious vague.” — Van Gogh
- “I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.” — Van Gogh
- “I take great care of myself by carefully shutting myself away.” — Van Gogh
- “Success is sometimes the outcome of a whole string of failures.” — Van Gogh
- “One must never let the fire go out in one’s soul, but keep it burning.” — Van Gogh
- “I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” — Van Gogh
Which Van Gogh quotes were your favorite? What other quotes by Van Gogh would you add to the list? Tell us in the comment section below.
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