March 10

3 comments

Vincent

starry night

I have listened to the song Vincent for years (dare I even say decades). It is also one of the few songs I can play on the piano (yes I can play piano).

For the life of me, I never thought to find out what the song was actually about. I know, I know, how is it possible to be so flippant. But a few days ago I was just hit with it. I came across an article, .

It describes the true brilliance of Vincent Van Gogh. This is the Vincent that the song is about. Now, the painting you see above is a scientifically accurate depiction of turbulence, which to date, still baffles scientists as to how it happens.

Vincent Van Gogh painted this around 125 years ago, if not more. He must of been a brilliant guy hey? Surely he must of been a respected dude.

Nope, he was largely disregarded in his lifetime, having a breakdown, after a woman rejected his marriage proposal I might add (yes they can do that to a guy hey).
All of one of his paintings sold during his lifetime. And at the age of 37, committed suicide.

This is heart breaking. I can’t grasp this. Today there are very few people that you come across that will not. at least know his name. Which is great, but it leaves me with an emptiness in my being….

Why can we never accept genius and brilliance when they are among us? Whenever there is someone that does these things, they often pay for it dearly. And so often we celebrate them, even spread their message after they are gone. Yet when they are here, no one cares.

I can think of a few, Martin Luther King…….Jesus (I am referring to the fact that He was crucified before you say that He is not gone)….Galileo, I can go on. There are always a few that get it, but largely we just don’t seem to care to take the time to truly value wha is among us. Michael Jackson was also a laughing matter to most, but suddenly after his death everyone suddenly forgot that and just realised who they had lost. Yes, brilliance still exists, but it often comes in packages we cannot accept, or its too out there…..
It’s like we suffer from displaced appreciation. We can only appreciate things once they are removed from us.

I for one cannot live with that. I am left asking WHY?????? Why are we unwilling to acknowledge that we may be wrong? Why are we unwilling to look at ourselves and see into our souls? This is after all what these poets and artists bring into life.
We don’t always get it. But we often never think further than ourselves do we?

It is simply heart wrenching when you realise that could have lived much more sane and full lives had we simply celebrated them more. I do realise that some of this tortured people needed that conflict to create. I don’t doubt that, but I do think it is still on us to have open minds and hearts towards things we don’t or won’t understand. Art shapes us whether we think it does or not. We need art in all forms.

I leave you today with Don Mclean, who in my opinion captured the true but tortured brilliance of Vincent Van Gogh.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk&w=420&h=315]


Tags

Sanity, Starry night, tortured soul, Vincent Van Gogh

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