let me just talk about van goghs almond blossoms painting for a second

tw / mental health mentions

please take what i say with a grain of salt as i wrote my paper on van gogh a long time ago but here i go

it's pretty commonly known, but van gogh had a multitude of health problems. depression and possible bipolar led him to act erratically

and made it very difficult for him to get along with people. you may remember the story of van gogh cutting his ear off and giving it to a prostitute - what many do not know was that this was his way of acknowledging her and her pain, having seen her in the brothel working+

tirelessly to pay off her medical bills after a dog mauled her at a very young age, tarnishing her beauty and leaving her as a servant in a brothel cleaning rooms. van gogh, who felt such immense empathy and had no way to express it, cut his ear off and brought it to her

some say that this was his way of expression his empathy - that he brought some of this suffering to her - to say "i see you. your pain is acknowledged. i feel pain too." of course, this wasnt received well and landed him another visit from a doctor. van gogh was so immensely+

in love with the world and felt empathy so strongly, and it seemed that his way to pour it into the world in a comprehensible way was in his art. fun fact: during van goghs entire lifetime, not a single painting of his was ever sold. because the art style in the art academies+

at the time was centered around realism and mostly used muted color palettes, van goghs bright colors were a rebellion against it, incorporating bright, vivid colors and composition styles he borrowed from the japanese wood block prints he collected and was inspired by. +

with a style so drastically different than what was currently being taught in schools, it's no surprise that his work was not welcome, and was often deemed ugly. again - not a single painting was sold. he battled an art industry that rejected his work, mental health problems

that turned him to drink and therefore influence his physical health, as well as keeping him from making any friends. the one friend van gogh did make, paul gauguin, another avant garde artist of the time, their relationship did not end well. paul was the only artist who agreed

to move to the south of france with vincent into this little house vincent was renting called "the yellow house". it was here that vincent wanted to start a new movement of art, one where they were immersed in nature and free of the tight rules of the art academies. paul was the

only one who agreed to come. vincent was so excited that he painted him a painting of sunflowers - with paul writing that it was (loose quote i don't remember the exact words) "just so vincent". however, as the two of them lived together and discovered their conflicting

views on art, tensions rose. eventually vincent had a mental breakdown which drove paul away, leaving vincent alone. but through it all, vincent always had his brother. his brother had the job of selling vincent's work and saw it's brilliant potential, even if nobody else did.

and yet he could never even sell one. and yet he supported his brother so dearly that theo himself would buy the paintings and tell vincent the art was doing well because he knew how happy it made him. even if vincent was a reject from the arts society and the black sheep of +

the family for his breakdowns and health problems, theo loved and supported his brother so dearly that he named his own son after vincent. when vincent recieved the news in a letter during his stay at the arles mental asylum, he couldn't fathom how his brother could think

he was worthy of such an honor. to express his gratitude, vincent painted almond blossoms, telling theo to hang it in the room with the child, as his token of thanks that he could never truly express.

when vincent eventually died (a suspected suicide, though some would argue otherwise), theo died of heartbreak just a year later. it was then that theos wife decided to carry on vincent's legacy, and johannas work is the reason why know of vincent today.

vincent van goghs last words were "the sadness will last forever."
but thanks to theos love for his brother and johannas belief in vincent, vincent van gogh finally got the recognition that he did not have during his own lifetime.

i will leave this thread with this quote by van gogh written to theo:
"I well knew that one could break one’s arms and legs before, and that then afterwards that could get better but I didn’t know that one could break one’s brain and that afterwards that got better too."
- fin

there is very much room for error in this thread as all of this is literally coming off of the top of my head from a paper i wrote a year ago, but i encourage you to head to the van gogh museums website and read about vincent's life

hi all i have many things to add to and correct on this thread maybe someday i will rewrite it hehe