Life Lessons with Van Gogh
- Lauren Fraze
- Nov 17, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 27, 2022
"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream." Vincent Van Gogh
Art is the "physical manifestation of the human mind", it's so unique and personal to both the creator and the admirer. For this reason, I have always had a love for it. But I was introduced to the world of art through this ridiculously cool woman with an artistic touch, my mom. She used to show me some of her favorite art pieces and teach me how to sketch and paint. But I didn't realize how amazing she was until I saw her art throughout the years: childhood art pieces, teenage Patrick Nagel-inspired paintings, and finally her fashion sketches from her college years at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
My mom's love of art has obviously been passed down to me and because of that we were both ecstatic to have the chance to visit the "Van Gogh Sacramento Exhibit: The Immersive Experience". It was absolutely incredible! The creators of the exhibit wowed everyone with their immersive rooms and did a fantastic job engaging the audience and bringing his art pieces to life... literally! I can't say enough good things about it. So if you ever get the chance to go... do it!!
If it wasn't already obvious my mind was completely blown but I totally wasn't ready for the wave of emotions and thoughts that came from it.
Vincent Van Gogh: a remarkable artist and one of the greats of the Post-Impressionist era. His emphatic and unique techniques for color palettes, brushwork, and forms all influenced Expressionism in modern art. After his passing, his art became extremely popular and his personal history immortalized him as the 'tortured artist'.
Growing up, I took a lot of art classes and I learned all about the Post-Impressionist era and the style, the themes, and the other greats but I find it odd that I was not taught much about him. If art is the manifestation of a person's mind then why wouldn't we learn the history of their life? Knowing a person's background clues us into the message of their art.
In our minds, we have immortalized him as this untouchable and elusive person. Someone, who despite owning the title of the "tortured artist", couldn't possibly be relatable. That his life was too extreme to relate to. In some ways, it could be true but at the end of the day, he had his joys and struggles just like the rest of us.
I could sit here and write a research paper on Van Gogh, but I won't bore you all with the sordid details of his life. That's something that a Google search can tell you. But what I will say is that he struggled just like all of us, he's felt the sting of unrequited love, suffered at the hands of mental illness, experienced poverty, faced plenty of crises, and felt lonely & unseen.
I'm pretty sure every college student has been through all of those problems at least once. And just like us, he had his outlet to express his emotions, thoughts, and dreams. I knew so little about him, but as I learned more about his life and works, I realized that I definitely related to him.
To process what happens in my own mind, I have always turned to creative means whether it was writing in my journal, sketching, painting, creating Pinterest boards, etc. It was an outlet for all the energy that I was holding onto. All the dreams, hopes, fears, struggles... everything. It was a milestone marker for various stages of my life.
As odd as it seems, Van Gogh's Sunflower collections, ("The Paris Sunflowers", "The Arles Sunflowers", and the "Repetitions"), resonated with me. When you see the paintings at first they're not as fascinating as "Cafe Terrace at Night" or "Starry Night Over the Rhône" but it hides a simple truth. As the collection grows, you notice the status of the Sunflowers and the gradually muting color palettes (variations of yellow & blue).
Although it's something so simple, it's a lot more profound to me. The different colors and stages of the flowers detail his spiritual and emotional state. Every painting he creates offers a clear feeling of how he experienced each scene. For the Sunflower collections, his intentions for the paintings were to show gratitude for a friend who came to help him when he was struggling. However, I interpreted it as his continual optimism, looking for hope even when you're struggling. After all, sunflowers follow the sun.
Simple. Profound. Maybe even blown out of proportion but that's art. It may have a specific meaning or it may be left to interpretation but regardless it's inspiring. Once again, it's the physical manifestation of the human mind. Whether it's written, painted, or however you choose to express yourself: art is the journal of our livelihoods.
And just like that, we are not so different from the people that we have idolized. They're a lot more like us than we think.
I started this whole rant about us recognizing ourselves in people we admire, how art is a powerful tool and how it's important to express ourselves, but I want to end with something a little different.
... and I'm not just talking about art anymore.
Van Gogh, although a complicated man, never stopped pursuing his professions and passions even if it didn't always go according to plan. In his lifetime, he struggled, made some terrible decisions, and never got the recognition he truly deserved, but he lived life the way he wanted to and he died the same way.
If nothing else resonated with you, I hope this does...
"Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling." Vincent Van Gogh
Life is crazy enough as is. So why should we live our life withholding ourselves? It's not always going to be easy. You might even change your mind about the direction of your life, but it will be worth it. Why live our lives so halfhearted when we could live passionately and intensely?
Find your passions, keep moving forward with them, and one day you will become the remarkable!
After all, Sunflowers follow the sun.
Love.
Lauren
P.S. Just some things to consider!! ;)
Van Gogh Sacramento Exhibit:
In case y'all wanted to read a little more about Van Gogh:
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