Vincent van Gogh used art to express his intensely emotional response to the world around him. Enraptured by the beauty of nature and tormented by the sorrows of human existence, he produced, in his tragically short life, some of the most powerfully expressive paintings ever seen. Many have made the mistake of thinking him mad, though he did suffer periods of mental anguish throughout his life. However, Van Gogh’s paintings are not the works of a madman.