Van Gogh's Genius Had Teachers, Too

Van Gogh's swirling brushwork and bold color read, to most viewers, like a style invented whole cloth. The Collector reports otherwise: four master painters shaped the techniques he later made unmistakably his own, evidence that even the most singular hand in European art learned by looking closely at others first. For the collectors and dealers who track his catalogue, that lineage is part of what makes the work worth studying as closely as it's worth owning.

With reporting from The Collector.