Vincent Willem van Gogh (Zundert, Netherlands, March 30, 1853 - Auvers-sur-Oise, France, July 29, 1890) was a Dutch painter, one of the leading exponents of post-impressionism. He painted 900 paintings (of which 27 148 self-portraits and watercolors) and 1,600 drawings. The central figure in his life was his younger brother Theo, who continually and selflessly provided financial support him. The friendship between them is documented in numerous letters they exchanged from August 1872 to Theo were about 650 of its 800 letters preserved; the others are correspondence with family and friends.