The emotionalism and loneliness of Van Gogh can be seen in some of his paintings. After Paris, he moved to southern France and there produced his most powerful paintings. For a time, Van Gogh lived with another Post-Impressionist painter, Paul Gaugain. Van Gogh wanted to build a community of painters in the southern city of Arles. In honor of Gaugain's visit, Vincent painted a series of paintings of sunflowers.

In this painting of sunflowers, shown to the right, we see van Gogh's celebration of color. The intense color shows the influence of the work of the Impressionists. But these paintings take color a step farther. There is no shadow in this painting. Van Gogh was interested in light and color, but in a different way from Monet. Like Monet, he used complementary colors to highlight the brightness of each. Van Gogh used thick layers of paint to show the individual characteristics of each flower. Some are fat, some are curved over the edge of the vase; each one is slightly different. Van Gogh also used outlining to give emphasis to the shape of the vase. He has removed everything else from the picture except the vase, flowers, and table.

Although Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime, to his brother Theo, one of his paintings of sunflowers recently went at auction for millions of dollars. The artist would have been amazed. Often, when Van Gogh did not have enough money for both paint and food, he bought paint. After Van Gogh's death, the sunflower paintings became some of the best-known and best-loved paintings of the 20th century.

Van Gogh's visit with Gaugain did not go well. The next two months would be pivotal, and disastrous, for both Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Initially, Van Gogh and Gauguin got on well together, painting on the outskirts of Arles, discussing their art and differing techniques. As the weeks passed, however, the weather deteriorated and the pair found themselves compelled to stay indoors more and more frequently. As always, Vincent's temperament (and most likely Gauguin's as well) fluctuated to match the weather. Forced to work indoors, Vincent's depression grew.*

Van Gogh from then on was in and out of mental institutions. During one of these episodes, he painted his best-known work, Starry Night. Instantly recognizable because of its unique style, this work has been the subject of poetry, fiction, and CDs, as well as the well-known song, "Vincent" or "Starry, Starry Night," by Don McLean.

Unlike most of Van Gogh's works, Starry Night was painted from memory and not outdoors as was Vincent's preference. This may, in part, explain why the emotional impact of the work is so much more powerful than many of Van Gogh's other works from the same period.

Some people have speculated about the eleven stars in the painting. While it's true that Vincent didn't have the same religious fervor in 1889, when he painted the work, as he did in his earlier years, there is a possibility that the story of Joseph in the Old Testament may have had an influence on the composition of the work.

'"Look, I have had another dream' he said, 'I thought I saw the sun, the moon and eleven stars, bowing to me." - Genesis 37:10

Van Gogh's relatively tranquil state of mind didn't last, however, and he was incapacitated by another attack in mid-July. During this attack Vincent tried to ingest his own paints and for that reason he was confined and not given access to his materials. Although he recovered fairly quickly from the incident, Van Gogh was discouraged at being deprived of the one thing that gave him pleasure and distraction: his art. After another week, Dr. Peyron relented and agreed to allow Van Gogh to resume his painting. His resumption of work coincided with an improved mental state. Vincent sent Theo letters detailing his precarious state of health; while at the same time Theo had similar issues to deal with. Theo's health had often been delicate and he had been ill throughout much of early 1889.