By: Ayeza Khan
Post-impressionism, the art style that takes sceneries and expresses it replete with careless strokes and amorphous abstractions. Vincent can Gogh was not the first, second nor third to pioneer the post-impressionist movement, the art style that would spotlight his artistic footprint. This begs the question, just how much of his fame can be attributed to his tragedies; Do people seek from him what his art has to say, or what his art has to say about his suicide?
"I put my heart and my soul into my work and have lost my mind in the process". Vincent Van Gogh had severed his ear off in a state of mental turmoil, ingested paints in hopes of lead poisoning, and shot himself in the stomach with a revolver, at 37. In his childhood, he had been solemn, quiet and ruminant. This would permeate into his adulthood, mutated as undiagnosed manic depression, epilepsy, bipolar disorder and substance use disorder. Save a few friends and his brother, Theo, he could be described as grievously hermit-like. Painting was a conduit for his emotional expression, his earlier works characterized by blacks and whites and harrowing depictions of poverty. This would be the most of human life his artwork would encapsulate, his later artworks predominantly centred around landscapes and self-portraits, perhaps nodding towards his deepening isolation. Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Georges Seurat were other post-impressionists, coincidentally hailing from affluent and aristocratic backgrounds. Gogh then, a denizen of the middle-class, could not be pegged as the artistic spearhead he grew to become. Indeed, in his lifetime, only 2 of his works were sold. The red vineyard and one by his pitying uncle. He would even dissuade prospective buyers from buying his "worthless" pieces. It is not until Gogh's 663 anguished letters to his brother were published, posthumously, by his sister-in-law, did his paintings escape obscurity and land in the annals of artistry. So it is not surprising, however macabre, that today not only are his paintings auctioned off, but the rust-eaten revolver he used on himself too.
Yellow is a recurring motif in his later paintings. A universal symbol for warmth and happiness. Some conjecture his affinity for this color is an allusion to his alleged xanthopsia, a condition where there is an overriding yellow bias in vision. "Oh yes, he loved yellow, this good Vincent, this painter from Holland - those glimmers of sunlight rekindled his soul, that abhorred the fog, that needed the warmth" Paul Gauguin commented. It is perplexingly paradoxical then, that he once tried to poison himself with yellow paint, the very color that brings him solace.
"If I could have worked without this accursed disease, what things I might have done" Except he already is studded in the stratosphere of success, sound of mind or not. So while we shouldn't romanticize the painted narrations of his tribulations, we should acknowledge its influence and celebrate the talent of vincent van gogh.
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