"Love many things for therein lies the true strength, whosoever loves much performs much and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well."
~ Vincent Van Gogh
Dutch painter Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) was born this day in Zundert, the Netherlands. He lived his life passionately, creating unforgettable art with exuberant boldness and intensity.
His beautiful paintings remain alive today with feelings and emotions.
The son of an evangelical minister, the sensitive artist was a celebration of colors.
"I can hardly find a yellow-green without painting a blue violet," he said. "There is no blue without yellow and orange."
Original and talented, Van Gogh's post-impressionist style was largely self-taught. Inspired by Charles Dickens' novels, Van Gogh brought to life inanimate objects with expressive lines and color.
Although he struggled with his demons, he once wrote with hope to his younger brother, Theo, "I want to get to the point where people say of my work: 'that man feels deeply.'"
He painted his famous The Starry Night (1889) from memory while a patient in the Provence asylum he called a "veritable monastery." Although Van Gogh was unable to sell his work, he continued to paint. Today his canvases are priceless.
"And in a picture," he explained, "I want to say something comforting, as music is comforting. I want to paint men and women with that something of the eternal which the halo used to symbolize, and which we seek to convey by the actual radiance and vibration of our coloring."
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