{"id":16542,"date":"2022-10-14T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T17:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.overstockart.com\/blog\/?p=16542"},"modified":"2026-02-15T17:49:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T22:49:41","slug":"skull-of-a-skeleton-with-a-burning-cigarette-vincent-van-goghs-sense-of-humor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.overstockart.com\/blog\/skull-of-a-skeleton-with-a-burning-cigarette-vincent-van-goghs-sense-of-humor\/","title":{"rendered":"Skull of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette: Vincent van Gogh\u2019s Sense of Humor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Vincent van Gogh is an artist who is most well-known for his impressionist landscapes and still life paintings. He struggled with his career during his lifetime and didn\u2019t achieve real popularity until after his suicidal death. Much of his work reflects the depths of emotion and depression that the young artist was dealing with. That expressiveness is what makes so much of his artwork unique, going beyond the simple subject matter he often chose.<\/p>\n<p>Skull of a Skeleton Smoking a Cigarette was painted by Van Gogh while he was studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium. Many believe that this was painted as a joke, a satirical image that allowed the artist to practice his knowledge of the human form. The skeleton is not painted as something horrific, but much more lighthearted. It still showcases his talents and his admirable grasp of the human body.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/overstockart.s3.amazonaws.com\/cache\/data\/product_images\/VG516-1000x1000.jpg\" alt=\"Starry Night over the Rhone\" width=\"476\" height=\"397\" \/><\/p>\n<p>All of Van Gogh\u2019s works have a dark beauty to them. His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.overstockart.com\/painting\/van-gogh-starry-night\"><em>Starry Night<\/em><\/a>, which was painted while he battled his depression in an asylum, is imbued with that emotional turmoil.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.overstockart.com\/painting\/starry-night-over-the-rhone\"> <em>Starry Night Over the Rhone<\/em><\/a> as well, with its shadows being cast over the water. Even his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.overstockart.com\/painting\/cafe-terrace-at-night\"><em>Caf\u00e9 Terrace at Night<\/em><\/a>, which seems like such a pleasant scene of a midnight caf\u00e9, has the energy of sadness cast over it. Van Gogh was a man who fought his demons and it is reflected in his artwork. Any of his pieces could enhance a spooky atmosphere, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.overstockart.com\/painting\/skull-of-a-skeleton-with-burning-cigarette\"><em>Skull of a Skeleton with a Burning\u00a0 Cigarette<\/em><\/a> would add a bit of dark humor as well. Find all these and more in our wonderful <a href=\"https:\/\/www.overstockart.com\/subcategory\/shop-by-artist\/vincent-van-gogh\">Vincent van Gogh art gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vincent van Gogh is an artist who is most well-known for his impressionist landscapes and still life paintings. He struggled with his career during his lifetime and didn\u2019t achieve real popularity until after his suicidal death. Much of his work reflects the depths of emotion and depression that the young artist was dealing with. That [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":16554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[723,724,4],"tags":[752,1480,1479,1478],"class_list":["post-16542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-decor","category-overstockart-com-2","tag-halloween","tag-horror","tag-skeleton","tag-skull"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Skull of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette: Vincent van Gogh\u2019s Sense of Humor - ArtCorner: A Blog by overstockArt.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.overstockart.com\/blog\/skull-of-a-skeleton-with-a-burning-cigarette-vincent-van-goghs-sense-of-humor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Skull of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette: Vincent van Gogh\u2019s Sense of Humor - ArtCorner: A Blog by overstockArt.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vincent van Gogh is an artist who is most well-known for his impressionist landscapes and still life paintings. He struggled with his career during his lifetime and didn\u2019t achieve real popularity until after his suicidal death. Much of his work reflects the depths of emotion and depression that the young artist was dealing with. 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