Today, anyone hearing the name Vincent van Gogh can conjure up one of the vivid paintings that have become his legacy. His art can be found in the most prestigious museums across the globe – the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Art Institute of Chicago, Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the National Gallery in London, Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam – the list goes on.

From his vibrant sunflowers to his moody landscapes, introspective self-portraits, Starry Night (1889)  and more, Van Gogh’s art has become iconic. It’s hard to believe that, during his lifetime, Van Gogh’s art was not appreciated. He has, in fact, become the art world’s archetype of the ‘misunderstood genius’. The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit, currently the hottest ticket in Chicago, delves into the mind of the artist, bringing his work to life – but with truth often stranger than fiction, is it even possible to untangle the myths from the man?

Born into an upper-middle class family in a small town in the Dutch countryside in 1853, Vincent Willem Van Gogh had a strange cross to bear from a very young age. He was born exactly a year after a still-born brother, also named Vincent Willem Van Gogh. Every time he went to church, where his father was the minister, he would walk past a gravestone bearing his name – is this perhaps the reason for his quiet introspection as a child?

Van Gogh loved nature, and immersed himself in the Dutch countryside on long, solitary excursions. These explorations became less solitary with the arrival of his younger brother, Theo van Gogh, near identical in looks to Vincent, who would become his closest companion and confidant.

At the age of 11, Van Gogh was harshly cut off from the world he knew and loved when he was sent to a boarding school about 30km away from his family. In his later life he recalled the experience of his parents leaving him behind as they drove off in a yellow car – yellow would come to represent ever-elusive happiness in his paintings.

At the age of 16 Van Gogh was sent to apprentice with his uncle, a very successful art dealer. Eventually Theo would join the same company, but in a different city. Van Gogh was overjoyed by this, and started a correspondence with his brother that would eventually comprise more than 800 letters – letters that to this day offer scintillating insights into Van Gogh’s art and psyche.