Once Upon a Time in Saint-Rémy
We have all seen the most famous painting in the world. The famed 'Starry Night', which currently resides in the famous Museum of Modern Art in New York City, has been popularized by the influx of current media. we often see merchandise such as mugs that hone the impressionism depicted in that masterpiece.
Unfortunately, Vincent Van Gogh has been the victim of many misconceptions that surround his artistic personality and while he may have lived a life of many problems, his work has undoubtedly made a very significant impact on the modern art world.
Born into an upper middle-class family, Van Gogh started his artistic journey by doing ‘still lives’ in charcoal throughout his childhood. He was often seen as a very different child who as shy and thoughtful. Would this later pave way for his mental issues? Maybe, but his early drawings inspired an interest in doing this as a profession. Van Gogh started working as an art dealer, which made him move from time to time. He was then transferred to London where he started getting depressed and that started his journey into madness.
My takeaway from this is the apparent lack of growth that Vincent saw in himself. He wasn't rich enough to just sit at home and paint, but at the same time he didn't need to 'paint for a living'. He got carried away with life and being mobile actually hurt his health in a lot of ways. He kept working with artists and was surrounded by art all the time, but he couldn't find time to practice his passion even when it was all around him.
Now, many people think that he was the unsung hero that only got his repute after his death but that is false to some extent. While it is true that he wasn't accepted as the artistic genius that is celebrated today, he was still a prominent figure in the French Avant-Grade and since his brother Theo remained to be a very prominent art dealer, Van Gogh's works had started to get some recognition by the time he died.
His brother Theo is probably the most important figure that we can look on for information regarding Vincent's life because the two of them remained to be on really good terms and maintained a very long correspondence with each other. In fact, many of his works were first studied and sent to Theo, and this way hundreds of sketches made by Vincent were preserved on these letters. The two brothers remained to be on very good terms throughout his illness too and had it not been for Theo, we may have lost Vincent way earlier.
I believe we all need a Theo in our life. In a world that is so volatile, we need an emotional anchor that helps to keep us grounded. Artists can't hold emotions, that is a fact. They use paintings as an outlet to calm themselves but when the emotions overflow to the point of not satisfying that itch by painting, that is when the trouble arises. Theo immortalized the way Vincent thought in his letters. He preserved some of the last words he will ever say and also preserved the planned drawings of a majority of paintings that are the Peacock Thrones of most museums around the world.
Van Gogh struggled with mental issues but the most significant event of him cutting off his ear was very popularized as it solidified Vincent as the 'troubled artist' and also highlighted his issues with other people.
What happened actually was that Paul Gauguin and Vincent were in one of their debates and Vincent took a razor and cut off a part of his ear during one of his episodes. This ended their longstanding friendship which started with Vincent's interaction with the Avant-Garde. Vincent worried about his mental instability, but this could've been one of the reasons that he started neglecting his own health and never ate properly. For someone that was regularly having psychotic episodes and depression, he really needed to take care of himself and when he did not, he kept playing with depression until his depression won the battle and Vincent shot himself in the head.
People say that he saw the turbulence of his thoughts and projected that in his paintings, but I strongly disagree with that notion. So called 'experts' may comment that he solved fluid dynamics in his 'Starry Night' but I just think that he liked the effect of Impressionism. He had worked up his skills by drawing traditionally but he wanted to put his mark in the movement, so he painted like that. He enjoyed the vibrancy as opposed to the gloomy weather of France and he magnified the attributes he loved to see. He wasn't a scientific genius, but he sure was an aesthetic one.
Many people believe that Vincent's death was very suspicious and that he was actually murdered, but there is a very little chance of that being true, because at the time, suicide was a sin according to Christian beliefs and none of his friends or his brother looked into his death. If his death had even an ounce of suspicion, Theo would have tried his best to clear it up and allow his brother to have a legacy that was not only artistically brilliant, but also in accordance to his religious beliefs.
Visiting the Museum of Modern Art in NYC is one of the top things in my bucket list. Have I hyped that moment in my mind so much that I will be undoubtedly be disappointed? Maybe, but at the same time, that moment also has the potential to make me get back into painting and pick up my brushes.
