You may not have guessed this because he’s so famous now, but it probably sucked to be Vincent van Gogh.

A lifetime of misery, mental illness, poverty...and let’s not forget: an EAR sacrificed on the altar of love.  It all culminates into a botched suicide attempt, thus ending his truly wretched life.

For all his posthumous glory, poor VVG only ever sold a handful of paintings during his lifetime. This one was bought for 400 Swiss franks by a lady known as Anna Boch. Van Gogh had painted the portrait of her brother, Eugene Boch, a fellow artist and friend to Vincent. Anna saw this painting at an annual exhibit in Brussels and purchased it on the spot. Vincent's brother Theo even managed to sell another to a London gallery

Now, no one knows why Anna chose this one, but let’s look at some possible theories:

1. She wanted to show Vincent that she had his back at an exhibition where everyone thought his work was pretty terrible.


2. She was helping him out cause she knew he wasn’t exactly rolling in dough.


3. She could’ve maaaaaybe just liked the painting.


4. She bought it to make her bro Eugene happy, whose portrait van Gogh had painted. They were friends after all, though some say a little more. Hmmm.

Ultimately, Ms. Boch came to be one of the few proud owners of a van Gogh original during his lifetime. The rest were part of Theo’s collection. He tried to sell the work but wasn't very successful. Too bad, because this painting is worth at least a few million now. And the fat cats at the museum are probably counting them dolla’ bills as I type this. Did I already say that it SUCKED to be van Gogh?