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Even knowing a little about Vincent Van Gogh, it's still astonishing that he sold only a few paintings during his lifetime and for

small sums of money or barters to keep himself afloat. Today, there are traveling interactive

exhibits that promise to immerse you in his words and works. The area where he grew up in the

Netherlands is a national park. There are many pieces of music and films inspired by him.

There's an episode of Doctor Who about his struggle with mental health and aliens.

And someone once gave me a t-shirt that features Nian Cat, riding a Pop-Tart through the starry night.

When his works do come up for auction today, they fetch tens of millions

of dollars apiece. From famed paintings like sunflowers and cafe terrace at night to a litany of

self-portraits, Vincent Villam Vengo's portfolio is overwhelming and brilliant. But fame and success have always been fickle, and Vengo had a number

of odds stacked against him. He experienced debilitatingly poor mental and physical health.

It's mostly impossible to make real diagnoses today, but experts have extended hypotheses

from epilepsy to borderline personality disorder to

lead poisoning. Whatever he faced, it didn't make it easy for him to market himself.

He actually worked in the art scene for a time. He had a day job as an art dealer, but that

might have been a mark against him, too. For the article this episode is based on,

How Stuff Works spoke by email with Nadine Granof, a fine art appraiser.

She said, we get the impression that Vincent did not excel at sales.

He was a failure as an art dealer at Guppiel, a fine art dealer.

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