Monday Morning Musings:
“This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big,”
–Vincent van Gogh to Theo, Saint-Rémy, France, 1889
“For myself, I declare I don’t know anything about it. But the sight of the stars always makes me dream.”
–Vincent van Gogh, letter to his broth Theo, July 1888
It was midday, but we saw stars,
swirling lines
and colored bars
65,000 hand-painted frames
aiming to depict the art and life
the vision, the strife
artistry in different forms–the imagination
to take his art, recreate, use animation
caught us,
and we flowed with the waves of light
through bright days and starry nights.
Vincent loved
his brother, Theo.
Wrote letters,
long missives
every day penning his thoughts
on art, love, and life
The movie involved a bit of mystery
born not just from art, but from Vincent’s history
of writing these letters to brother Theo
and so
Postman Joseph Roulin
Sends his son to deliver one
found after Vincent’s death
Armand travels, meets the people with whom Vincent interacted
Vincent van Gogh, “Dr. Paul Gachet,” [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Learns what they felt, and how they reacted
to his art and eccentricities,
some charged, by his electricity,
others repelled,
the story told almost Rashomen-style
different versions of the artist and the man
and we’re left to understand him, as best we can.
An artist for a few years only,
failing at other careers,
art dealer, missionary,
he was a visionary
though his stern parents thought he was a failure,
he painted over 800 paintings in his short career
and it is clear
that he suffered for his art
and gave from his heart
his mother disposed of his work in a crate
finding out–only too late
though she thought he was dim and full of whims
others a genius thought him
We walk out into the warm November day
drink coffee
And look at the colors play
Through city streets and historic sites
And think about Vincent’s short life
A few days later
We’re immersed again in art
Using a gift from friends–
sisters of my heart–
we ponder, peruse,
perhaps a snooze,
or eat and chat
perhaps a scream
(imagine that)
I think of light
And creativity
of sun and clouds
and starry nights
Ceiling of van Gogh Café
And so, to bed
pillows piled high
from a cat, a gentle sigh
the night here cloudy
perhaps we’ll sleep soundly.
but in our dreams
nothing is as it seems
in our dreams
we fly, starry skies
swirl and flow
on light beams
we ride, silver stardust flows
magic of the night
Immersed in art
through starry nights and clouded days
seeing magic, creativity,
imagination, a constant, that stays
We saw the movie Loving Vincent. Trailer here.
We visited Ground for Sculpture. I have many more photos that may appear at some point.
I missed a couple days of Eliot of Along the Interstice’s November Shadorma Challenge,
so I’ve put a couple into this week’s musings.
