A series of sailboats on the shore, with more of them sailing in the distance, create perfect diagonal lines in Van Gogh's painting from 1888. Now regarded as one of the most famous artists ever, the Dutch artist didn't experience success during his lifetime. His work was revealed to the world after he died.

Vincent van Gogh painted many pictures with a strong sun blazing in the background, such as here. That was innovative at the time, because until then painters would only depict sunlight indirectly. Van Gogh saw the sun as a symbol of life and hope. That inspired German Expressionist painters such as Erich Heckel, Max Pechstein and Otto Dix.

In this early work by German artist Otto Dix (1891-1969), the sun rises over a snow-covered field. The 1913 painting, included in the exhibition "Making Van Gogh: A German Love Story" in Frankfurt's Städel Museum, shows how Van Gogh influenced German artists as the "painter of the sun."

Lacking the money to pay for models, the artist often portrayed himself, here with short strokes and dabs of paint. These self-portraits contributed to Van Gogh's image as a misunderstood, suffering artist — the tragic hero who sacrificed himself for his art. This legend also inspired many other artists.

In 1913, Peter August Böckstiegel (1889-1951) painted this portrait of himself with his head enigmatically outstretched, his eyes looking down at something outside of the picture. The German Expressionist painter appears to have been inspired by his role model, Vincent van Gogh. He also paid tribute to the myth of the suffering artist.

Farmers' hard work and simple countryside life fascinated Van Gogh and inspired many of his paintings, including this portrait of Augustine Roulin, the wife of his postman in the region of Arles, in the south of France. Van Gogh wanted to set up an artists' colony there, but his project failed to get off the ground.

Van Gogh's paintings of farmers and country life inspired a number of artists. The influence of Van Gogh's "Augustine Roulin" on this work by Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907) is notable. Even though the German Expressionist developed her own style, her early career was influenced by the Post-Impressionism that Van Gogh pioneered.

The exhibition at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt shows that Vincent van Gogh was in search of the ideal style of painting. He went through a range of styles and was constantly questioning whether a painting should be flat or vividly structured and dynamic. Germany developed an early passion for the Dutch artist which, as this latest retrospective show, has continued to the current day.

Created around 1500, this painting of Christ attributed to Leonardo da Vinci is one of the master's 20 still existing paintings. In 1958 "Salvator Mundi" was sold for just $60 because it was thought to be a copy. But it fetched more than four times Christie's pre-sale estimate on November 15, 2017, when it was sold for over $450 million (€382 million) — setting a world record for auctioned art.

From 1954-55, Pablo Picasso did a series of 15 paintings inspired by Delacroix's "Les Femmes d'Alger," with versions named "A" through "O." He started them after the death of Henry Matisse, as a tribute to his friend and artistic rival. "Version O" broke the world record for an auction sale, selling for $179.4 million (167.1 million euros) at Christie's in May 2015.

At a Christie's auction held in November 2015, seven potential buyers spent nine frantic minutes bidding on this painting. It was finally snapped by a telephone bidder from China. The nude, painted in 1917-18, provoked a scandal at its first exhibition in Paris. The police shut down the art show after a crowd gathered outside the window.

Modigliani's work "Nu couché (sur le côté gauche)" caused such a controversy when it was first shown in Paris in 1917 that the police had to close the exhibition. The Italian artist's oil painting became the most expensive artwork to have been sold at New York auction house Sotheby's in May 2018.

This 1907 painting by Gustav Klimt is considered one of the most elaborate and representative of his "golden phase." In 2006, it was sold through a private sale brokered by Christie's for a record sum for a painting, $135 million. That same year, Jackson Pollock's classic drip painting "No. 5 1948" broke that record, obtaining $140 million through another private sale.

Van Gogh allegedly said of the homeopathic doctor Dr. Gachet, whom he painted here in 1890, that "he was sicker than I am." The plant is a foxglove, which is used to make the drug digitalis. In 1990, the work was auctioned off to Ryoei Saito, Japan's second-largest paper manufacturer, for $82.5 million, making it the world's priciest painting at the time (the price above has been adjusted).

This 1969 triptych documents Francis Bacon's friendship and rivalry with fellow painter Lucian Freud. At the time it was sold, in November 2013, it obtained the highest price for a work of art at an auction, until Picasso - and now Modigliani - surpassed that record in 2015.

This 1876 work by Impressionist master Renoir depicts a dance venue for high society on the outskirts of Paris, the Moulin de la Galette. One of Renoir's most famous works, it exudes the joie de vivre that is characteristic of his style. In 1990, the work was purchased for $78.1 million (adjusted price above) by Japanese buyer Ryoei Saito, along with van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet."

This portrait of an adolescent holding a pipe and wearing a garland of flowers in his hair was created during the Spanish master's "Rose Period" in 1905. Just a little under a century later, the painting fetched an impressive sum of $104.2 million at a Sotheby's auction in 2004 (price adjusted above).

This agonizing character painted by Edvard Munch is one of the most iconic paintings in the world. The Expressionist artist had actually made four versions of it: Three are in Norwegian museums, and the fourth one was sold for the screeching price of $119.9 million in May 2012 at Sotheby's, which would be adjusted to $130.7 million today.

Picasso is well represented among the highest earning painters. His 1905 masterpiece "Fillette a la corbeille fleurie" ("Young Girl with a Flower Basket") was sold – along with two other Rose Period paintings – by the artist himself to writer Gertrude Stein in a sale that helped launch his career. The work, which was later part of David and Peggy Rockefeller's collection, sold for $115 million.

The French painter Claude Monet created multiple landscape series that depict the same subject in different types of light and seasons, showing off his ability to capture atmosphere. The painting "Meules" (1890), from his "Haystacks" series, fetched $110.7 million (€98 million) at a Soethby's auction — the record for a Monet and the first impressionist painting to cross the $100-million threshold.

Inspired by his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walther, Picasso created this painting in a single day in 1932. If you add the eight minutes and six seconds it took for the auction record bid at Christie's in May 2010, it still appears to be well-invested time. Its price could be adjusted to $115.7 million today.

Sandro Botticelli's masterpiece was sold at auction at Sotheby's in January 2021 for $92.2 million. The Italian Renaissance master had never fetched so much at auctions before. Prior to the sale, the work had been estimated at about $60 million.