AN American man bears such an uncanny resemblance to painter Vincent Van Gogh that his own mother thought a portrait of the artist was her son.

    Robert Reynolds, 33, said that people come up to him a few times a week to tell him he looks like the painter but he only recently discovered Internet fame.

    Last week a commuter snapped Reynolds’ photo while he was riding the G train and then posted it to Reddit under the name xacbranch.

    “So I ran into Vincent Van Gogh today,” reads the post on Reddit along with a photo of Reynolds next to a portrait of post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh.

    “One of my friends texted me and was like ‘dude, you’re famous’!” Reynolds said.

    The famous painter died at 37 when he “shot himself in the chest” over a century ago, but Van Gogh’s likeness is very alive in Reynolds who hopes to somehow capitalize on his looks.

    Van Gogh went mad later in life and famously chopped off his own ear in 1888 in Arles, France. He then gave his severed body part to a prostitute named Rachel.

    Even though Reynolds is sane and has two ears, both he and Van Gogh share a passion for artistic expression.

    Reynolds is an actor from North Carolina who is now living in New York. He said that he may start making a YouTube Web series with him playing Van Gogh.

    “I thought about maybe doing some sort of YouTube series because that’s kind of a huge thing right now,” Reynolds said.

    “I’m just trying to get those sparks going in my mind.”

    Reynolds isn’t just recognized as his 19th-century counterpart in New York, he even gets stopped in his home town in North Carolina.

    “I was recently in a small bar in North Carolina and I saw a lady sitting at the bar taking my picture,” said Reynolds.

    “She saw me notice her so she comes over and she’s like ‘excuse me I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you this but,’ and then my friends all look at each other and we were like ‘go ahead – yes, Little Richard’?”

    When Reynolds walks through the streets of New York people can’t help but stop and stare.

    “I get stopped walking down the street, I get stopped on the subway,” he said.

    Even Reynolds’ own mother gets confused between her son and the 19th-century painter.

    “My parents had an argument on whether or not the painting was of me,” he said.

    “My mom swore that it was and she said to my dad ‘I gave birth to him I know what he looks like’.”

    His father replied: “This is not our son this is a famous painting!”

    Reynolds joked that if his YouTube career doesn’t take off he can always entertain at children’s birthday parties.

    “Well you know — all little kids want famous dead painters at their birthday parties,” he said.

    (SD-Agencies)