6 Contemporary Painters to Follow If You Like Vincent van Gogh
To even casual viewers of art, Vincent van Gogh hardly needs an introduction. His work has become so ingrained in our cultural consciousness that the mere mention of Starry Night (1888) or Sunflowers (1889) instantly conjures these images of intense, swirling skies and radiant, golden flowers. His thick brushstrokes and striking color contrasts firmly established him as one of the greats—tragically only recognized after he died in 1890.
Most often associated with Post-Impressionism, the Dutch artist painted alongside Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin in Paris. There, Van Gogh’s work initially retained the darker palette and traditional techniques of his earlier Dutch period, characterized by somber tones and a more restrained approach. However, after growing frustrated with the city, he moved to Arles in southern France, where his paintings adopted the vivid colors of the region.
In the two years Van Gogh lived there, he produced some of his most famous works, such as Starry Night over the Rhône (1888) and The Bedroom (1889). These works explored themes of identity, isolation, and nature through intense color and dynamic composition. “Van Gogh used color as a means of expression rather than representation. It is liberating,” said Kimberly A. Jones, curator of 19th-century French paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. “Generations of artists, from the Fauves through the Abstract Expressionists, have embraced this idea, giving full reign to color without any limitations.”
Whether in the thick brushwork of his self-portraits, or the intimate, brightly colored interior of The Bedroom, Van Gogh’s painting style is instantly recognizable. However, his tragic suicide marked the end of his short yet prolific career. Still, his pioneering style shaped the trajectory of modern art, most directly sparking the rise of Expressionism in Europe.
To this day, his work remains a major influence on contemporary artists. Here are six artists that fans of Van Gogh should know.
Jess Cochrane
B. 1991, Canberra, Australia. Lives and works in London.
The intimate paintings of Australian artist Jess Cochrane render snapshots of contemporary life with thick, layered brushstrokes, much like Van Gogh’s impasto technique. Moving between still lifes of fruit, moonlit landscapes, and portraits of her friends by the swimming pool, the London-based artist uses rich patterns and bright colors in her depictions of these quotidian scenes.
The resemblance to Van Gogh’s portraiture is particularly evident in Post Sun (2024): showing a friend, depicted in profile, smoking a cigarette in Morocco. The portrait is ornamented by daubs of white paint that create a flowing pattern emanating from the figure, reminiscent of Van Gogh’s blue Self-Portrait (1889). Meanwhile, in Bowl of Citrus on a Balcony Ledge (2024), the swirling brushstrokes and bright oranges recall Van Gogh’s still lifes, particularly Still Life with Basket and Six Oranges (1888). These works were featured in Cochrane’s solo exhibition “It Won’t Last Forever” at Gillian Jason Gallery in September 2024.
After initially studying graphic design at the University of Canberra, Cochrane decided to pursue painting at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Since graduating in 2015, the artist has presented two solo exhibitions at Rhodes in London before her most recent show at Gillian Jason Gallery.
Shonto Begay
B. 1954, Shonto, Arizona. Lives and works in Kayenta, Arizona.
Shonto Begay, like many Indigenous children in the ’60s, was enrolled in a residential school by the U.S. government, where he was prohibited from practicing the spiritual traditions of the Diné tribe and faced punishment for doing so. There, he turned to painting in secret as a way to escape his harsh reality.
Educated at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the California College of Arts and Craft, Begay brings an Indigenous perspective to the romanticized image of the American West. His landscapes of the reservation and portraits of the Diné community are characterized by terse, curlicue brushstrokes. In Road to Skeleton Mesa (2016), for instance, the coiling blue sky bears an unmistakable resemblance to Van Gogh’s swirling heavens.
For those familiar with Van Gogh, Begay appears to share a visual lexicon with the Post-Impressionists—evocative color palettes, textured landscapes, and densely patterned portraits. However, the artist connects these techniques to a broader history outside the Western art canon. “People have been doing this broken-stroke art for centuries. Look at the aboriginal spiritual work from Australia,” he told Canyon Road Arts.
Corinne Slade
B. 1998, Montclair, New Jersey. Lives and works in Chicago.
“I have always been enamored with Impressionism,” Corinne Slade said in an interview with Chicago gallery LVL3. “It feels like you get to show how your eyes work if that makes sense. Giving my impression of something, like a flower, for example, feels more interesting and specific than sitting there and articulating each and every petal.”
A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Slade focuses on these floral forms in her solo exhibition at COL Gallery, “Deadheading.” In the titular work, Deadheading (2024), the 26-year-old artist uses lurid colors and vigorous brushstrokes to depict several bright flowers. With an explosive use of color and nearly abstract forms, Slade envisions the world through her own idiosyncratic lens. In this way, Slade embodies the Impressionists’ pursuit of discovering new ways to depict their environment.
Slade has presented her work in shows at New Image Art, DADA Gallery, and The Breeder, the latter of which currently represents the artist.
Billy Childish
B. 1959, Chatham, England. Lives and works in Whitstable, England.
British artist Billy Childish produced about 600 drawings to gain entry to Saint Martin’s School of Art, only to be expelled shortly after for rebellious behavior. Never one to be boxed in or categorized, Childish still retained one belief: his affinity for Van Gogh. For him, the accessibility and sincerity of Van Gogh’s art are a constant inspiration in his introspective figurative works. “Van Gogh is one of the greatest artists because everyone can get it. It’s totally sincere, and grandma gets it,” he told the New York Times.
A fisherman alone on a boat, a self-portrait with his daughter, or an empty forest: Childish often paints scenes of rural life, evocative of the work Van Gogh completed in Arles. Amongst Cactus (2013), a portrait of Childish and his daughter in the desert, is defined by heavy, erratic lines and kaleidoscopic colors, akin to Van Gogh’s alleged last painting, Tree Roots (1890).
Childish is currently represented by Lehmann Maupin, which presented a solo booth of his paintings at Frieze London 2024.
Matthew Wong
B. 1984, Toronto. D. 2019, Edmonton, Canada.
In Canadian artist Matthew Wong’s Starry Night (2019), the late Canadian artist depicted a blue-toned landscape where a lakeside town sits under a star-speckled sky. But instead of Van Gogh’s swirling stars, Wong dotted the sky with a scale-like pattern pierced by bright yellow dots.
Before turning to painting at 29, Wong initially pursued photography, earning his MFA at City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media. He then taught himself through online forums and library books until his work was spotted by Matthew Higgs, founder of New York nonprofit White Columns, on Facebook. Before his tragic suicide in 2019, Wong experienced a meteoric ascent, gaining worldwide recognition for his uncanny, melancholic landscapes and luminous interiors.
Wong often employed sharp contrasts in color—dark skies against florid forests, or dark blue skyscapes speckled by yellow stars. The Realm of Appearances (2018), for instance, where the moon sits above a red-clad forest scene, is typical of Wong’s dense, textured landscapes with energetic markmaking and impasto techniques.
Only a year before his death, Wong presented his New York solo debut with Karma. Three years later, the artist’s first museum retrospective was presented posthumously at the Dallas Museum of Art. In response to his death, American painter Jonas Wooddubbed Wong “the modern-day Van Gogh.”
March Avery
B. 1932, New York. Lives and works in New York.
The daughter of artists Milton Avery and Sally Michel Avery, March Avery learned how to paint at home, yet not directly from her artist parents. “My father did not teach me. He was a very non-verbal painter,” the artist explained on her website. “I would show him one of my paintings, and all he would say was ‘paint another.’ The only advice I can remember him giving me was not to go to art school—and I didn’t.”
Surrounded by her parents and their friends—Mark Rothko and Marsden Hatley, to name a few—Avery developed into an acute colorist. In Wittenberg Parkland (1966), a landscape of rolling hills beyond a flat plain, the orange and ocher tones of the mountains contrast strikingly with the muted pinks and purples of the flatland. It’s a deceptively simple landscape where surprising color captures light and shadow, mirroring how Van Gogh used yellows and red to depict sunrise in The Red Vineyard (1888).
At 92, Avery still paints daily in her Greenwich Village studio in New York. In July 2024, the artist presented her fourth solo exhibition with BLUM, “Quiet Inside.” This exhibition showcased Avery’s still-life work from the 1960s to 2010s, particularly her depictions of various flowers and vases.
Header image: Jess Cochrane, Bathers Scene (Marrakech), 2024. Courtesy of Gillian Jason Gallery.
