Inspiration: Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh is my favorite artist of all time. His work not only inspires me, but so do his words. He was so full of sadness. “Vincent Van Gogh used to eat yellow paint because he thought it would get the happiness inside him. Many people thought he was mad and stupid for doing so because the paint was toxic, never mind that it was obvious that eating paint couldn’t possible have any direct correlation to one’s happiness, but I never saw that. If you were so unhappy that even the maddest ideas could possible work, like painting the walls of your internal organs yellow, than you are going to do it. It’s really no different than falling in love or taking drugs. There is a greater risk of getting your heart broken or overdosing, but people still do it everyday because there was always that chance it could make things better. Everyone has their yellow paint.” 

All he ever wanted was for others to love him and appreciate his work, but he only sold one painting in his lifetime. He vented his complex emotions into his work until the day he died by committing suicide, so it is said. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest painters and men of all time, and his paintings sell for millions of dollars and grace the walls of the most famous museums in the world. If only he could see what his legacy has become. I wish I could travel back in time and give him a blanket and some hot chocolate and assure him that he will be appreciated some day, or make like Doctor Who and time travel him to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris or the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. I wish he could have known how happy he makes me and so many others. Here are some of my favorite paintings and quotes of his, many taken from his letters to his little brother Theo, and the Doctor Who video I mentioned.

“I know nothing with any certainty but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” 

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”

“It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.”

“The sadness will last forever.”

“I put my heart and soul into my work, and I have lost my mind in the process.”

“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.”

“Art is to console those who are broken by life.”

“A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke.”

“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”

“I am unable to describe exactly what is the matter with me; now and then there are horrible fits of anxiety, apparently without cause, or otherwise a feeling of emptiness and fatigue in the head.”

“I take great care of myself by carefully shutting myself away.”

"I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."

"Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it."

"Bookstores always remind me that there are good things in this world."