TOO SOON

     

Sometimes I have a strong need to take in anything that is beautiful~regardless of the format in which that beauty is displayed. It is then that my mind can play with and examine what I am seeing or reading, causing it to be calmed or excited or deeply moved during that time. Recently, I found such exquisite beauty that pleased my eyes, heart, and mind. I was certainly not unaware of this person's incredible ability to create glorious beauty, but I did not know the full extent of it. And this is what I saw:

An inability to pass theology exams prevented him from becoming an ordained minister. He turned his sights to becoming an artist, but sold only one painting during his life. Failure and mental instability marked his personal world.

That short biography applies to more than a few artists, doesn't it? If I throw in that he sliced off his earlobe with a razor blade during an argument with Paul Gaugin, does that help you determine the artist's name with absoluteness? If I say that his death was a suicide believed to be the result of his awareness that his mental disorder was never going to improve, would that have further narrowed it down? I am willing to bet if I said his most famous painting is The Starry Night, immediately you would know I am referring to Vincent Van Gogh. And that is correct.

Mention Van Gogh, and the majority of people will automatically think of these three things:  suicide, cutting off his earlobe, and The Starry Night. Ah, but there is so very much more to the man than those three things. In fact, I think he was a brilliant person AND soul. Aside from the fabulous artwork he created, the influence his work had on the art world, and the fame he ultimately received after his death, he was an outstanding thinker. That mind of his which was horribly tormented by an unidentified mental illness is still the subject of debate. What exactly did he suffer from that tortured him so? The latest theory I heard is that the paints he used contained materials that were detrimental to his brain. Whatever the exact illness, he surely had some monumental struggles to keep his sanity.

Such a shame. The man's artistic talent is unquestionable. He had the ability to grow with his art. He changed his styles, colors, techniques. I saw two of his paintings at the Chicago Art Institute. Had his name not been on each of the paintings, I would never have guessed he created both of them. (One painting was Montmartre, the other The Bedroom.) He was willing to experiment with his paintings, and it shows.

What impacts me with unusual intensity is his wisdom. He seemed so in tune with himself and with people in general. Here was a man who had debilitating periods of depressions that alternated with astounding periods of massive energy, yet his thoughts about people and feelings and the world are brilliant, in my opinion. He was a mere 37 at the time of his death, but he was able to "see" things some who live to be 100 never do see. He was an old soul in the body of a young man. Tormented until that beautiful soul was released.

There is nothing more I can possibly say about him except it is worth your time to explore the artwork he created and the words he penned. Maybe you will find he stirs something within you that lingers long afterward. I will end this with some quotes attributed to him that touch me and have me believing the world lost a very, very important person far too soon.