This artist pioneered the style of Expressionism. He painted famous works such as Starry Night, Sunflowers, The Potato Eaters, The Café Terrace… And, perhaps the biggest give away: this guy’s missing an ear. That’s right, it’s Vincent Willem Van Gogh, born on March 30, 1853. Van Gogh suffered from a mental illness and an addiction to absinthe. But apart from substances, he was rather fond of visiting brothels. In a fit of insanity, he cut off the lobe of his left ear, placed it in an envelope, and gave it to a favorite of his named Rachael, and instructed her to “guard this object carefully.” Vices aside, the central figure in Van Gogh’s life was his brother Theo, who provided constant and steadfast financial support. But Van Gogh’s bouts of mental illness became more and more frequent. Eventually, the madness drove him to commit suicide on July 29, 1890. Despite his colorful life style and rather gloomy death, his contributions to the art world are countless and timeless.
