"Well, my own work, I'm risking my life for it and my reason has half foundered because of it." This was from a letter of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo Van Gogh in July 23rd, 1890. When I read it and looked at over 70 paintings and 30 drawings he produced during his last 70 days in Auvers-sur-Oise, a small village 35km away from Paris, where he could escape from noisy crowd and seek a tranquil life, I was so touched by his passion for life & the artist's anxious expression of beauty, yet so pathetic for the cruel ending he put himself to.
In his last 70 days in Auvers, he was excited, happy, satisfied, he was so productive, hardworking, he was like a moth to the flame, exhausting his whole body strength plunging the final light---his own way to tell the world he had been there...
"He himself wanted to die when I was sitting with him and told him we would try to cure him and that we kept hoping he would be spared this sort of despair, he said:'sadness will last for ever.' I understood what he means. Shortly afterwards, he gasped for breath, and a moment later closed his eyes. He found tremendous peace, and didn't regain consciousness." ---From Theo Van Gogh to his sister Elizabeth in Aug.5th, 1890.
I show my full respect for Vincent Van Gogh, not because he was a famous artist, but because of his passion for what he pursuits & his persistence for that.
I also love his paintings, esp. these landscape paintings, the wheat fields, the con fields, the path & sky of the countryside, the thatched roofs...They were hilarious even if the artist was in deep sorrow, the brush stroke on the canvas was so strong that you could almost feel the artist's inner scream...
Well I don't want to sound too pathetic anymore...hehehe
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