Welcome to Kid-Cast, the show where we dive into big stories with simple words! I'm Chloe, your host, and today we have a very special guest, Gina, who is an art expert!

Hi Chloe! Hi everyone! I'm so excited to talk about one of my favorite painters today.

Me too! We are talking about Vincent van Gogh. Gina, when I think of famous painters, I think of people who have been painting since they were tiny toddlers. Was Vincent like that?

Actually, no! Vincent was a bit of a late bloomer. He didn't start painting until he was twenty-seven years old. That is much older than most famous artists start! Before that, he tried lots of other jobs, but nothing made him happy until he picked up a paintbrush.

Twenty-seven! Wow! So if any of our listeners haven't started painting yet, they still have plenty of time!

Absolutely! And once Vincent started, he couldn't stop. He painted over two thousand pictures in just ten years! Can you imagine making that many drawings?

Two thousand?! That is like... more than one drawing every single day for ten years straight! My hands would hurt so much. How did he paint so fast?

He painted with big, quick strokes. Sometimes he even squeezed the paint directly from the tube onto the canvas! He made what we call masterpieces.

Ooh, masterpiece is a big word. What does that mean for our little listeners?

A masterpiece is an extra-special piece of art that is so beautiful, it makes you feel something deep inside. Like his painting called 'The Starry Night'—it has big, swirling yellow stars that look like they are dancing in the night sky!

I've seen that one! It looks like a beautiful dream! He must have made a lot of money selling those dancing stars.

You would think so, but actually, Vincent was very, very poor. He spent all his money on paints instead of food. Sometimes his tummy would rumble because he hadn't eaten all day!

Oh no! A hungry tummy is no fun at all. Why didn't he just buy food instead of paint?

Because painting was his favorite thing in the world. Luckily, he had a wonderful younger brother named Theo. Theo was Vincent's best friend. He sent Vincent money to buy food and art supplies like paintbrushes and canvases.

Theo sounds like an amazing brother. Did they get to see each other a lot?

Most of the time they lived in different places. But they wrote letters to each other. Vincent wrote over eight hundred letters to Theo! He would write about his paintings, his dreams, and even when he was feeling very sad.

Eight hundred letters! That's a mountain of mail! It's like sending a giant stack of postcards.

So where did Vincent live when he was writing all these letters?

He was born in a cold country called the Netherlands, but when he was thirty-two, he moved to France because he wanted to find warmer, brighter colors to paint. He moved from city to city, always looking for a place that would make him happy.

Did he find a happy place?

Sometimes he did, especially when he painted bright yellow sunflowers. But Vincent struggled with being very sad inside. And sadly, people back then didn't understand his art. He only sold one single painting while he was alive!

Only one painting?! But his paintings are so famous now! That feels so unfair!

It does feel unfair, doesn't it? He worked so hard and made such beautiful things, but almost nobody wanted to buy them back then.

What happened to him in the end, Gina?

Vincent died in 1890, when he was only thirty-seven years old. And the saddest part is, just a few months after he died, people started to realize how brilliant he really was.

Oh, that is so heartbreaking. He never got to see how much everyone loves his art today.

That's true, but today, his paintings are kept in giant museums all over the world, and they are worth millions of dollars! Millions of people travel just to see his swirling stars and bright sunflowers.

So even though he had a hard, sad life, his beautiful art still makes millions of people happy today. He really was a genius!

He absolutely was, Chloe. His art showed us how he saw the world—full of beautiful color and motion.

Thank you so much, Gina, for sharing this touching story with us on Kid-Cast!

It was my pleasure! Keep painting and sharing your colors with the world, kids!

And to all our listeners, thank you for tuning in to Kid-Cast! See you next time for more big stories! Bye-bye!