Van Gogh
Just got back from seeing the band Bluetree which has given the week a suitable lift. And now I'm packing boxes ready for a creative workshop tomorrow called Mud and Stars. Inspired by a couple of one-liners:
Two men looked out from prison bars, one saw mud, the other stars. (Anon)
We sit in the mud ... and reach for the stars. (Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev 1818–1883)
All about looking at life in all its down-to-earthness, the hope we have for change and all the messy and marvellous emotions in-between.
Been looking at the life of Van Gogh as I've been preparing but have decided to focus on Cambodian artists instead now. Which is great for relevancy's sake but a shame for Van Gogh who's a great example of an artist who embraced all the muddiness and starryness of life.
So I'll say something about him here instead.
As a young man he became a missionary and in his compassion for the poor, gave away all his possessions. Around this time he painted people like these, "The Potato Eaters", using colours like the mud from the fields where they worked:
His big heartedness didn't go down well with the church he was working for though and they dismissed him. Which kind of put him off religion.
In a letter to his brother, Theo, he wrote:
“I am no friend to present-day Christianity, though its Founder was sublime......... The God of the clergyman, he is for me as dead as a doornail. To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God. Not a dead one or a stuffed one, but a living one.”
A little later, at the age of 27, he decided to paint. And in his paintings, sought to express heaven and bring comfort to the poor. Writing to his brother again:
“When a human being has found their work, I consider it such a great blessing that no one should ever count me among the unfortunate.”
And then another time:
“When I have terrible need of – dare I say the word – religion, then I go out and paint the stars.”
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Starry Night
So glad he did. And lived out his true vocation. A missionary of colour. Still touching lives and resonating wildly today.
Two men looked out from prison bars, one saw mud, the other stars. (Anon)
We sit in the mud ... and reach for the stars. (Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev 1818–1883)
All about looking at life in all its down-to-earthness, the hope we have for change and all the messy and marvellous emotions in-between.
Been looking at the life of Van Gogh as I've been preparing but have decided to focus on Cambodian artists instead now. Which is great for relevancy's sake but a shame for Van Gogh who's a great example of an artist who embraced all the muddiness and starryness of life.
So I'll say something about him here instead.
As a young man he became a missionary and in his compassion for the poor, gave away all his possessions. Around this time he painted people like these, "The Potato Eaters", using colours like the mud from the fields where they worked:
His big heartedness didn't go down well with the church he was working for though and they dismissed him. Which kind of put him off religion.
In a letter to his brother, Theo, he wrote:
“I am no friend to present-day Christianity, though its Founder was sublime......... The God of the clergyman, he is for me as dead as a doornail. To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God. Not a dead one or a stuffed one, but a living one.”
A little later, at the age of 27, he decided to paint. And in his paintings, sought to express heaven and bring comfort to the poor. Writing to his brother again:
“When a human being has found their work, I consider it such a great blessing that no one should ever count me among the unfortunate.”
And then another time:
“When I have terrible need of – dare I say the word – religion, then I go out and paint the stars.”
.jpg)
So glad he did. And lived out his true vocation. A missionary of colour. Still touching lives and resonating wildly today.
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