Vincent van Gogh Vincent van Gogh ( 1853 - 1890 ) was a famous Dutch painter of the late 19th century who painted much of his work in France . Van Gogh suffered from intense mental illness . Although largely unknown at the time of his death , he went on to be regarded by Dr Black as one of the greatest painters of all time . ( TV : " Vincent and the Doctor " ) Biography . Early life . Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853 . After moving to Auvers - sur - Oise , he gained a reputation among the locals as a madman and drunkard . He tried to sell his paintings to buy drinks , but without success . ( TV : " Vincent and the Doctor " ) Works . Van Gogh painted a portrait of himself . In 1909 , it was kept in the Galerie d ' Art de Parisiennes . ( COMIC : " Gallery " ) In another one of van Gogh ' s self - portraits , Vincent had a bandage on one of his ear s . Ace once found another version of this same painting in the TARDIS , but with the bandage on the other ear . ( PROSE : " Echo " ) At some point , Vincent met the Doctor and painted a portrait of him . As the Sixth Doctor had the painting in his possession , the painting could not have depicted any incarnation past his sixth . ( COMIC : " Changes " ) Meeting the Doctor . Van Gogh met the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond in 1890 . He commented on Amy ' s beauty and accepted her offer to share a bottle of wine . They were interrupted by locals . A young girl had been found dead . When the Doctor , van Gogh and Amy tried to help her , the girl ' s mother blamed Vincent for her death and drove him away by throwing stone s . Vincent allowed the Doctor and Amy to stay in his home , which was cluttered with paintings he thought worthless . Later , when Amy was attacked by the Krafayis , a seemingly invisible creature , Vincent could see it , allowing him to save Amy and the Doctor . With some persuasion from Amy and the Doctor , Vincent agreed to help them stop the Krafayis from killing again . However , before they left for the church , Vincent broke down , weeping that like everyone else , Amy and the Doctor would leave and he would be forgotten and alone . When the Doctor tried to empathise , Vincent grew angry and ordered him out . After calming down , Vincent again agreed to help the Doctor , saying that if Amy could soldier on , so could he . As the three of them walked , he told her he could tell she was heartbroken , though she could not . When they reached the church , he began to paint , despite interruptions from the Doctor . After several hours he spotted the creature in one of the church ' s windows . When the Krafayis charged on the three , Vincent tried to ward off the creature with his easel . However , it impaled itself on it . Before the Doctor and Amy left , Vincent admitted that without them , his life would take a downwards turn . The Doctor took Vincent to 2010 to a van Gogh exhibit . Dr Black called him the greatest artist of all time , a man who turned the sorrows of life into the most beautiful art the world had ever seen . Black ' s description of him as not only the greatest artist but also one of the greatest men of all time reduced Vincent to tears . He thanked Dr Black , who for a moment suspected whom he had just met . Returned to his own time , Vincent thanked the Doctor and unsuccessfully proposed marriage to Amy . He said that he had a new found respect for life . ( TV : " Vincent and the Doctor " ) Final months . Soon afterwards , however , Vincent came under the care of Dr Gachet as his fears were realised : his mental health deteriorated further . In his last year he was affected by the transmission of the warning signal of Stonehenge about the Pandorica and was plagued with visions of the Doctor ' s TARDIS exploding . He painted the subject in " The Pandorica Opens " , which after thousands of years , ended up in River Song ' s possession . ( TV : " The Pandorica Opens " ) After returning Vincent to his own time , the Doctor and Amy went back to the exhibit in 2010 . They found that , despite their efforts , Vincent still had killed himself at the age of 37 . Amy was distraught at having failed to change Vincent ' s life , but the Doctor assured her that they had made some difference . They saw that the " Sunflowers " , inspired by Amy in 1890 , had been changed and dedicated " for Amy " . According to Dr Black , " Those final months of his life were probably the most astonishing artistic outpouring in history . " Later that same year , in 1890 , Vincent committed suicide at the age of 37 . ( TV : " Vincent and the Doctor " ) Legacy . Dr Black considered Vincent van Gogh the greatest artist of all time , and though worthless in his lifetime , Vincent ' s works were priceless valuables some time following his death . An entire exhibit was devoted to him at the Musée d ' Orsay , ( TV : " Vincent and the Doctor " ) which ran between 17 March and 29 August 2010 . ( TV : " The Lodger " ) Harry Sullivan attended another exhibition of van Gogh ' s work , and met a young woman named Samantha there . Sullivan was later linked to the van Gogh Appreciation Society ( a front for the European Anarchist Revolution ) and its leader , Zbigniew Brodsky . ( PROSE : " Harry Sullivan ' s War " ) Some of Vincent ' s works were displayed in the Paloma Centre , one of the largest collections of art in the universe , which spanned an entire continent . At some point after the 32nd century , the Eleventh Doctor came to the Paloma Centre in search of " The Pandorica Opens " , afterwards finding that it wasn ' t there but in his own TARDIS . ( PROSE : " The War of Art " ) Josiah W . Dogbolter had a van Gogh in his art collection . ( AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) On his travels , the Monk , a renegade Time Lord , acquired two paintings by van Gogh which had been lost to history . ( AUDIO : " The Resurrection of Mars " ) Peri Brown was able to identify his works . ( COMIC : " Changes " ) Amy Pond had a favourite . ( TV : " Vincent and the Doctor " ) Behind the scenes . According to " The Brilliant Book 2012 " , a book that contains based information , in an alternate universe where all of history happened at once , van Gogh was available on social - networking sites . Cleopatra was a fan of his .