Vincent Van Gogh. The name conjures up images of bold, thick, swirly lines and stories of a man embroiled in deep turmoil.

In an exhibit currently showing at the Philadelphia Museum of Art titled “Van Gogh Up Close” through May 6, 46 of his paintings from the final four years of his life are on display, verifying his mastery of color and intensity, both in his professional and personal life.

“At its heart, it’s about a way of working … in a new and intensely powerful and personal way,” said Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “In seeking to share the intensity of his emotional response to the world around him as directly as possible, van Gogh took the traditional methods making pictures and changed the rules.”

The exhibit, a collaboration between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Canada, explores van Gogh’s period in Paris from 1886 to his 1890 death in Auvers.

It focuses on his forceful concentration of natural topics from still lifes to flowers found in the garden at the Hospital of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole to landscapes of fields and vineyards to the undergrowth — the sous de bois — in a forest.

For van Gogh, the centering on a blade of grass represented a way of living simply and observing the world with thoughtful attention.

The exhibit begins as van Gogh travels to Paris to see his brother’s son.

“Van Gogh is coming to Paris and is completely overwhelmed,” Anabelle Kienle, assistant curator of European and American Art at the National Gallery of Canada, said.

She said he becomes aware of how dark and broody his pallet is, and he wants to do something about that.

“He works in modernizing his brushwork,” Kienle said. “He’s exploring.”

In addition, she explains that this experimentation occurs in a limited period.

“What we have to remember when we look at the collection is it’s all created in a very short time,” Kienle said. “He was really at the forefront of his time with something that was really avant garde.”

Joseph J. Rishel, The Gisela and Dennis Alter senior curator of European Painting before 1900, spoke of what van Gogh discovers in this exploratory phase.

“He takes an approach that creates this amazing, exploding painting,” he said, adding that the brushstrokes start to take a life of their own, many through thick, bold applications. “All these things started to climb up the surface of the canvas.”

That’s evident in many of the paintings on display, including “Fritillaries in a Copper Vase,” an 1887 work loaned from the Musee d’Orsay, in which the blues in the background swirl in comparison to the strong strokes in the copper vase.

At the time, the artist was also inspired by what he saw in nature and by the influence of Japanese woodblock prints.

“He speaks of needing to go out to the garden and look at a single blade of grass to regain his composure,” Rishel said, adding that van Gogh enjoys being in nature and needs it to nurture himself.

Rishel pointed to the 1889 “Iris” from the National Gallery of Canada, which he describes as painting a plant in all of its glory.

The vibrant plant encompasses a majority of the work, done on cardboard.

Such close-ups, the curator said, became one of van Gogh’s signature marks.

“It is something he picked up and really made his own,” he said.

Rishel said many of the floral and nature pictures may have found their origin from the grounds at the Hospital of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, where the artist stayed for some time.

Van Gogh also found motivation in Japanese prints, which Rishel said were popular and inexpensive in the artist’s day.

Rishel said the brothers had these prints pinned on their walls.

The severe rain strokes found in Hiroshigo’s “The Great Bridge: A Sudden Shower at Attake” are almost mimicked in van Gogh’s “Rain” of 1889.

Van Gogh’s exploration of nature continues as he looks underfoot in a series of paintings delving into the forest undergrowth, such as the 1890 “Undergrowth with Two Figures.”

“What really stands out is these remarkable colors,” Rishel said, adding particularly its brilliance and forcefulness.

It’s this blend of strength and vividness that earmarks “Van Gogh Up Close” as a testament to this prolific artist’s last days and dedication to his art and to his need to continue to push his own boundaries.

IF YOU GO:

“Van Gogh Up Close” will be on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through May 6. Tickets are $25 for adults; $23 for seniors; $20 for students and youth ages 13-18; $12 for children 5-12; and free for museum members and those 4-years-old and under. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.philamuseum.org or by calling 215-235-SHOW.