'I put my heart and my soul into my work and have lost my mind in the process', once said Vincent Van Gogh. A few years later, at only 37 Van Gogh shot himself in the head. Plagued by poverty and severe depression for the last ten years of his life, Van Gogh descended into madness; it is one of the most tragic and omnipresent stories in art history.

But his broad, rich brushstrokes that bring an expressionistic vibrancy to quotidian scenes altered the trajectory of modern art. Spearheading a new revolutionary, Post-Impressionist movement in the early years of the twentieth-century, Van Gogh is now regarded as one of the most influential artists to have lived.

Starry Night Over the Rhône will be loaned from Musée d’Orsay in Paris for the 2019 exhibition. Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images

Now the Master of Sunflowers gets his first UK retrospective at Tate Britain in over 70 years. Bringing together the largest group of Van Gogh paintings shown in the UK for nearly a decade, Van Gogh and Britain will reveal how the artist was inspired by British art, literature and culture throughout his career and how he in turn inspired British artists, from Walter Sickert to Francis Bacon.

Evidenced by his art and his letters, Van Gogh was greatly inspired by the British architecture, literature, culture and art accessible to him during the years he spent in London between 1873 and 1876. Highlights of the upcoming exhibition include the mystical Starry Night Over the Rhône from Musée d’Orsay, and the rarely loaned Sunflowers 1888 from the National Gallery, London.

Alongside Van Gogh's masterpieces will be works by the modern British artists he inspired, including Matthew Smith, Christopher Wood and David Bomberg. The exhibition will conclude with an important group of portraits by Francis Bacon based on a Van Gogh self-portrait known only from photographs since its destruction during the Second World War.

Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), L’Arlésienne, 1890, Oil paint on canvas. Collection MASP (São Paulo Museum of Art).Photo credit: João Musa

Tate Britain Director, Alex Farquharson has said; ‘Vincent van Gogh is without a doubt one of the greatest and most influential artists of all time. His stay in Britain changed his vision of the world and himself, encouraging him to become an artist. This is an exciting opportunity for us to reveal the impact Britain had on Van Gogh as well as the enormous influence he had on British artists.'

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Vans x Van Gogh Museum collaboration

Ahead of the blockbuster Tate Britain Van Gogh exhibition in 2019, global footwear brand Vans has collaborated with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to bring us an exclusive clothing range decorated with the artist's most celebrated artworks. The collection, which is inspired by four main bodies of work: Skull, Almond, Blossom and Sunflowers, includes a pair of Vans Authentic shoes, enlivened by Gogh's vibrant Sunflowers, 1888.

Hoodies, bomber jackets, T-shirts and hats are also available, each intended to bring the painter's works 'off the wall and into the world to a new audience', says Adriaan Donszelmann, managing director of the Van Gogh Museum. The collection is in stores now, but has unfortunately sold out on Vans.com. Quick!