Printed in 1990, the book was published on the centenary of Vincent van Gogh's sudden death in July 1890. He was a world-class painter producing about eleven hundred drawings and almost nine hundred paintings during his short career. At 27 years of age in 1880, he decided to become an artist, and in ten years he developed from an amateur sketcher to a mature master painter. His unsurpassed works are nowadays valued and admired throughout the world. Vincent van Gogh was passionate and ambitious to develop his artistic skills, and at the same time he was very critical toward his own work. Instead of individual masterpieces, he wanted to create a coherent whole including sketches, drawings and studies comprising series of paintings. He regarded one masterpiece to reflect only one part of his personality. Vincent's criticism toward his work can be seen in the development of his artwork which involved sketches, exercises, and artistic studies. Studies could then develop into series of paintings. Not all paintings were signed, only those which he valued most.