Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art.
In the novel number9dream, Eiji Miyake imagines being type of spy who talks his way into the office of the attorney Akiko Katō in an effort to get her to hand over her file on Miyake’s father. Katō is the owner of one of van Gogh’s Sunflowers paintings, which gets damaged by Miyake: “The bullet pings off the bulletproof glass and slashes into a picture of lurid sunflowers. Akiko Katō bulges her eyes at the rip. “You heathen! You damaged my Van Gogh! You are going to pay for that!”
Note: van Gogh is incorrectly spelled Van Gogh in the novel.