Vincent Van Gogh was a brilliantly gifted artist. His style was unique and original. Today, his paintings sell for many millions of U.S. dollars.

During his life, his work was not appreciated.

We must not guage the importance of the creative power that dwells in us by how we are received by our peers. Perhaps our contributions will be properly valued by people who haven't yet been born.

Pete, I just have to ask you this, and please don't take this the wrong way, because, not unlike your other heart-felt posts, this has truely touched me, but are you bored or something?

On second thought, perhaps you just explained why your "serious and sensitive idea about how cycling improves our lives" seemed under appreciated.

Actually, I am sick. I was surfing BikeForums and watching "Lust for Life," a movie about the life of Vincent Van Gogh, starring Kirk Douglas in the role of the famous painter.

Kirk Douglas, huh? That is sick.

Seriously though, here's wishes for a speedy recovery from your ailments. Hope you feel better!

Hi, Pete! I watched a part of that movie a while ago on one of the local stations. All I remember was that he was damn fiesty in that movie!


Anyway, I agree with you, most people don't appreciate the current art around us now, but rather later, after the author/artist has passed away. However, in saying that, at least there was another generation--or dozens more that continue to find his work invaluable, and not necessarily in the monetary sense.

By the way, thanks for the thought...it's quite nice to think of other things besides work!

Hi Guys,

Yeah...nice thought Pete...weird how that works eh...

Getting to the film subject, I heard once that Kirk Douglas actually had his chin fashioned from a piece of old english oak...

Could that be true, or was someone pulling my leg?

Rich

They were pulling your leg.

Mr. Douglas is actually a direct descendent of Popeye the Sailor.

Darn big arms on that dude!

Funny, at Civil Air Patrol the other night I got into my favorite subject(cycling) with one of the other cadets. When I got to the part about wanting to shave my legs..... I tried to explain but to no avail. Oh well, at least I know its cool

Servus!

fubar, I feel you pain! RangerGirl is not particularly thrilled when shaving season comes arond and insists that I wear pants when we go places together. Try telling your typical German boss why you shave your legs!

Pete, I do believe that history will recognize those who have led the way in the demise of the fossil-fuel powered vehicle. I see all too often that America leads the way in the "must drive" mentality and it saddens me, as it probably does the rest of you. I can honestly say that I see just a many bike commuters tiding down my street every morning as I do automobiles, so there is hope!

My girlfriend actually gets a kick out of my silky smooth legs (except when they're not so silky smooth!). It took her a while to get used to it, but now she thinks it's really cool.

Hey lightboy ..you tell her: what comes around , goes around ! ...hehehehe...... with regards to shavin'......that is ...(oh boy what have I done ?....."I'm milton ..you're brand new son !!)........

Sorry about the length of this post... it's raining, and I haven't anything better to do...

That was a good film... Kirk Douglas portrayed Van Gogh as many had imagined him to be... gentle, almost child-like, passionate about life/nature/beauty, erratic, and possessed of a muse that was powerful as any heroin addiction.

Jeanne Calment, who was for a while the (documented) world's oldest person at 122 years, was a little girl in Arles when Van Gogh came to live there. Jeanne's parents owned a mercantile shop that Vincent patronized from time to time. Over a century later, she recalled that her family referred to him as "le dingue," (the nut case) that he was always quite dirty and unkempt "like a wild animal," and although he was polite, he was difficult to talk to, distant, distracted. He would sometimes wander in the street making strange noises, or sit trancelike, seemingly having a seizure.

When she was asked how she felt about his behaviour, Jeanne said "he was Belgian." (Flamands, Walloons, Belges of all flavors, I mean you no disrespect. S'funny, that's all.)

My own take on Van Gogh is this:

He was a very emotional man, a lonely man, a man who possessed few talents or survival tools. Few people could put up with him for long, and his friends eventually all deserted him.
He wasn't a very good artist, having not much talent, no artistic training, and a disposition wholly at odds with the patient, attentive, careful demeanor of an artist.... But he was driven to painting because...

There was a monster inside of him, a giant thing, a huge, all-devouring desire to express the depth of emotion that welled up inside, filling him, overflowing him. The beauty that he percieved around him, and the gravity of his own condition, had him constantly near tears, and there was always this thing inside of him screaming to be expressed.

Look at his paintings... wide strokes of pure colour, often spread about with the palette knife or with his fingers, worked at a feverish pace, trying to keep up with this huge screaming thing within him... Indistinct figures, inexact proportions, all very hastily conceived and executed. He went through a lot of paint, too... his brother, who funded him, was always on him about how expensive the supplies were, and how he slabbed paint onto canvas as if he were painting a house.

That he could never hope to express on canvas what he was feeling inside drove him deeper and deeper into madness ...

... until finally, in the summer of 1890, he put the final daubs of paint upon his last work, stood back to view it, drew a revolver from his paint box, and put a bulled through his heart. He wasn't very good at suicide, either... it took him hours to die.

I took an americaine friend to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris last year, and told her all of this as we looked at several of Vincent's paintings. When finally I shut up, she pointed out that he appears to have quite succeeded in expressing how he felt.

Makes me look forward to your next period of boredom!