Would Van Gogh be considered a major talent if he were alive today...or was he just a great painter for his time?

This is a very good question my friend! Vincent was definitely major talent,.. involved in the mastery of fine art, a great artist and painter, and knew more about fine art than any one of his colleagues in his own time. If possibly he was alive today,... he would experience many of the same rejections, the same as he did in his day, and more than likely would be considered the MFA world destroyer, by more than just his brother Theo,... and his colleagues.

Actually here's the sad part.

Most painters, like Van Gogh, didn't get much respect until after the death of the painter. Many don't realize until the death happens. Then they see what the person had done in the world of art.

I would think however that if Van Gogh was still alive today, he would be consider an excellent painter. Although the generations have changed, Van Gogh is one of the few that learned from a different perspective.

He's one of the most influential painters in history , so to judge him on his own merits today, you would have to erase his legacy so it's quite a conundrum.
My opinion is that his much deserved fame mainly has to do with the revolutionary aspect of his work.

His choice subjects weren't all that new: Portraits, Still-life, Indoor and outdoor sceneries, etc.
It's the WAY he used to put those images into canvas what makes him unique, his technique, his bold use of bright colors.

To many, Van Gogh is unique because he's somewhat hard to classify: Is he a an impressionist? or an expressionist? both?
Add to that the fact that his mental illnesses affected his work specially in the latter stages, creating an eerie atmosphere in most of them.