Van Gogh loved most to paint the simple, the ordinary and the everyday. He looked to nature and people working with nature as subjects for his passion of expressing emotion and feeling through paint strokes.
As I stood in front of one of his most famous paintings of sunflowers in a vase, I noticed something I’d never seen before. Most of the prominent sunflowers don’t have petals on them.
In his art he didn’t seek perfection or the height of beauty yet in some mysterious way by showing the life of a sunflower in various stages, even wilting, it exemplifies beauty. It not only ignores the standard for beauty but defies and surpasses it at the same time.
I have to wonder what went through his mind as he choose his subject matter and how he would convey it. How did his current life circumstances dictate what he choose to paint? Did he find strength to express his beliefs and values through his thick, strong brush strokes?
As much as Van Gogh is known for his mental state, after walking through a museum his nephew helped establish and learning more about him my view has been broadened. His mental health obviously wasn’t stellar but there is so much more to Van Gogh than him cutting his ear off and shooting himself in a wheat field.
He saw beauty where others passed by. He esteemed those who the higher class snubbed their noses at. He was passionate about art and worked extremely hard to improve. He devoted himself when others didn’t see the value in his work.
He’s made me think.
Where do I see beauty? Who do I esteem? Why? What do I devote myself to? Is it worth my devotion? Is my devotion whole hearted?
How about you?
Where do you see beauty? Who do you esteem? Why? What do you devote yourself to? Is it worth your devotion? Is your devotion whole hearted?
