#starry night

(“De sterrennacht”, Starry Night, 1889/ Vincent van Gogh; 1853-1890)

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

A Letter to Theo,Vincent Van Gogh

reblog / like if you save them.

anxietyproblem:

I get the joke, but I think it’s important to emphasize that he did it despite his depression, not because of it. Part of what makes van Gogh so extraordinary is that he produced beautiful, colourful, vibrant art depicting the world he wanted to see, while his pain showed him something else. Furthermore, many of his most celebrated works were painted while he was institutionalized and had hallucinogenic drugs shoved down his throat. The Starry Night, for example, was painted during his stay in a French asylum, after he suffered a complete mental breakdown that caused him to cut off his own ear. The final product we know and love today took him twenty-one attempts, as he tried to paint it from memory, during daylight hours, while looking through his cell window. The drugs altered his vision, making bright colours (yellow, orange, red) appear even brighter, which frustrated and confused him. Sadly, he considered the final product, our beloved Starry Night, an absolute failure. He wasn’t happy with how it turned out because he thought it failed to capture the image he held in his mind. Let’s also not forget his depression won in the end, because he wasn’t given the proper help he needed/deserved. I really don’t think you want his depression. If you truly want to be like van Gogh, start by picking up a paint brush, not glorifying his disorders.

Meet Me at Midnight poem from my new poetry book She’ll Find the Sky