Van Gogh wrote enthusiastically to Theo a few days after completing the painting, and included a sketch. The letter, on faded brown paper, hangs next to the completed painting in the museum.

This photo released by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Thursday, May 10, 2012, shows an 1882 water color of a pollard willow by Vincent van Gogh from his early Dutch period.

AMSTERDAM — A young Vincent van Gogh was so struck by a dead willow leaning “lonely and melancholy” over a pond near The Hague that he knew at once he had to paint it. “I’m going to ...

In the late 1880s, Vincent van Gogh spent two years in southern France. Though the period was famously tumultuous for the Dutch artist, it was also remarkably productive: He befriended Joseph ...

You can also lay Smush Crayons flat against your paper and rub them that way to create a beautiful watercolor effect. “It’s the quickest way to really see inside of a painting,” Oldham says.

Vincent van Gogh is the quintessential art-world phenomenon, both for his artistic creations and life story. But now, he's everywhere, in a new way: the center of a boom in immersive art ...

This photo released by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Thursday, May 10, 2012, shows an 1882 water color of a pollard willow by Vincent van Gogh from his early Dutch period. The ...

AMSTERDAM (AP) — A young Vincent van Gogh was so struck by a dead willow leaning “lonely and melancholy” over a pond near The Hague that he knew at once he had to paint it.“I’m going to ...

AMSTERDAM (AP) -- A young Vincent van Gogh was so struck by a dead willow leaning "lonely and melancholy" over a pond near The Hague that he knew at once he had to paint it. "I'm going to attack ...

AMSTERDAM – A young Vincent van Gogh was so struck by a dead willow leaning ‘lonely and melancholy’ over a pond near The Hague that he knew at once he had to paint it. ‘I’m going to ...