Vincent Willem Van Gogh. A wildly criticized and scrutinized artist in the 1900s. Beloved memoir artist in the 21st century. He was born in the Netherlands, but died in France. Born into an upper-middle class family, life wasn't terribly hard for him from a statistical perspective. However, Van Gogh struggled with inner turmoil. He neglected his own health; he didn't eat enough and drank too much. He dealt with psychiatric episodes and frequently hurt himself emotionally.
Van Gogh had a thing for yellow paint. Because of the industrial revolution, Gogh was able to get ahold of a new color called "chrome yellow." The yellows have faded in his paintings, but his name has not.
Anyone who is relatively educated in the history of art knows his name. People are profiting off repainting his work. I repainted "Starry Night" and gave it to a friend of mine. People are inspired by his work. People wonder when they see his work, not only because he was a world renowned painter, but also because he was a troubled man who captured his nightmares and turned them into masterpieces. Gogh has influenced the modern artist. His painting techniques are seen being mirrored in art all over the globe.
People say that they feel troubled like Van Gogh did. He wasn't your stereotypical depressed artist who put on a face for the public. He was unapologetically himself. This pulled people in who were able to relate to him. People have learned that they can make art from the pits of their souls that spoke to other people's souls.
It's not like people are going through different things as Gogh did. Modern day artists are going through the same financial, social, political, internal, and external emotional rollercoasters that Van Gogh experienced. What's causing those stresses is different, but the emotions are just the same.
Van Gogh made people face what he could never look away from. He helped make it acceptable for an artist to expose their true selves in their work. His struggles ended up being his motivation to create impressionist paintings that brought a new zeal to landscapes and portrait life.
Vincent Van Gogh and the modern artist are greatly intertwined. Gogh helped establish an outlet for people to go to, and to draw from. He created an outline for just some of the things artists are capable of.
