The Parisian period of Vincent's life began, which turned out to be very fruitful and eventful. The artist visited the prestigious private art studio of the famous throughout Europe teacher Fernand Cormon, studied impressionism painting, Japanese prints, synthetic works of Paul Gauguin. During this period, Van Gogh's palette became light, the earthy hue of the paint disappeared, clean blue, golden yellow, red tones appeared, characteristic of him a dynamic, like flowing stream ("Agostina Segatori" in the Tambourine Cafe (1887–1888, Vincent Museum Van Gogh, Amsterdam), "Bridge over the Seine" (1887, Vincent van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), "Daddy Tanguy" (1887, Rodin Museum, Paris), "View of Paris from Theo's apartment on Lepik Street" (1887, Museum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam). In the works there were notes of calm and peace caused by the influence of ionistov with some of them -. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Emile Bernard - artist met shortly after his arrival in Paris thanks to his brother.

Despite the creative growth of Van Gogh, the public still did not perceive and did not buy his paintings, which was very painfully perceived by Vincent. By mid-February 1888, the artist decided to leave Paris and move to the south of France - to Arles, where he intended to create the "Studio of the South" - a kind of brotherhood of like-minded artists working for future generations. The most important role in the future workshop Van Gogh gave Paul Gauguin. Theo supported the initiative with money, and in the same year Vincent moved to Arles. There, the originality of his creative manner and artistic program were finally determined: "Instead of trying to accurately depict what is before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily, so as to express myself most fully." The result of this program was an attempt to develop "a simple technique, which, apparently, would not be impressionistic." In addition, Vincent began to synthesize the pattern and color in order to more fully convey the very essence of the local nature.

On the 20th of July 1890, Van Gogh painted his famous painting "Wheat Field with Crows" (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), and a week later, on July 27, a tragedy occurred. Coming out for a walk with materials for drawing, the artist shot himself into the heart area from a revolver, bought to scare bird flocks while working in the open air, but the bullet passed below. Due to this, he independently reached the hotel room where he lived. The hotel owner called a doctor, who examined the wound and told Theo. The latter arrived the next day and spent with Vincent all the time, until his death, 29 hours after being injured from blood loss (at 1:30 am on July 29, 1890). In October 2011, an alternative version of the artist's death appeared. American art historians Stephen Naifeh and Gregory White Smith suggested that Van Gogh was shot down by one of the teens who regularly made him company in pubs.
According to Theo, the last words of the artist were: La tristesse durera toujours ("The sorrow will last forever"). Vincent van Gogh was buried in Auvers-sur-Oise on July 30th. In the last path of the artist escorted brother and a few friends. After the funeral, Theo took up the organization of the posthumous exhibition of works by Vincent, but fell ill with a nervous breakdown and exactly six months later, on January 25, 1891, died in Holland. 25 years later, in 1914, his remains were reburied by a widow near the grave of Vincent.

The erroneous statement that during the life of Van Gogh only one of his paintings, "Red Vineyards in Arles", was spread. This canvas was only the first to be sold for a substantial amount (at the G20 Brussels exhibition at the end of 1889; the price for the painting was 400 francs). Documents preserved about the lifetime sale of 14 works by the artist, starting in 1882 (what Van Gogh wrote to Brother Theo: "The first sheep passed through the bridge"), and in reality more deals had to happen. Along with the works of Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh's works are some one of the first in the list of the most expensive paintings ever sold in the world, according to estimates from auctions and private sales. The number sold for more than 100 million (equivalent to 2011) includes: "Portrait of Dr. Gachet", "Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin" and "Irises". The painting Wheatfield with Cypresses was sold in 1993 for $ 57 million, an incredibly high price at the time, and his Self-Portrait with Ear and Tube was sold privately in the late 1990s. Estimated sales price was 80-90 million dollars. Van Gogh's painting "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" was sold at auction for $ 82.5 million. Plowed Field and Plowman auctioned off at Christie's New York auction house for $ 81.3 million.