Tribute to Vincent Van Gogh

132 years ago, on this very day, Vincent Van Gogh died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 37 years old.

This amazing Dutch artist created thousands of works that were only recognized as masterpieces after his death.

His short life was troubled. He suffered from depression and loneliness and fear of rejection. His odd behaviors drove people away, making his life even more desperate and sad. He is described as “mad” and was prone to hallucinations and disconnections from reality. He once severed part of his left ear with a razor following a disagreement with a friend.

He spent the year before his death locked up in a “sanitorium” in France but continued to paint the world around him as seen through his cell window and the facility grounds. He was released from the “hospital” in May 1890 – just 2 months before his suicide in July of the same year.

Some of the artworks created during his year of confinement are some of his finest and best known pieces. 

 

“The Irises” was inspired by the flowers Vincent saw in the asylum garden.

The Irises Attribution: Rawpixel, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

"Starry Night” was the view outside his cell window. This is also the painting that inspired Don McLean to write a tribute song called “Vincent”     Song Link:  https://youtu.be/oxHnRfhDmrk

Starry Night Attribution: Vincent van Gogh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 

And “Wheat Field with Crows” (which is thought to be the very last painting Van Gogh created before his death) was inspired by a wall-enclosed field of wheat on the facility grounds.

Wheat Field with Crows Attribution:  Vincent van Gogh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 

There is a Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam that opened in 1973 and brags the largest collection of Van Gogh artworks in the world.

Vincent would have been so proud and perhaps less sad and lonely if only he had known how loved and cherished he and his works would someday be.

 

Sources:

Vincent Van Gogh Wikipedia

Van Gogh Museum Wikipedia

Vincent (Don McLean song) Wikipedia

Don't Judge People By Their Looks

Here's the story of a young man who probably gets judged daily for his race, his accent, his tattoo, his piercings, his backwards ball cap, and his age.

A teenager from San Diego, California found a shopping cart with an abandoned purse in the parking lot of a local supermarket. He searched the purse, looked inside the wallet (which had cash and credit cards in it) and found the address. 

He drove there but the owner of the purse was not home, so he left it with her family. 

When the woman got home she was surprised and wanted to see who returned it. She watched the video of him on her ring doorbell.

What she saw was a young Hispanic teenager with pierced ears and a neck tattoo, wearing a backwards baseball cap. She was impressed by his honesty and wanted to know who he was, so she posted his image on social media.

Sure enough, someone identified him. His name is Adrian Rodriquez. He is 17 years old and just graduated from high school.

The woman took it a step further and created a GoFundMe page so she could reward him for his good deed.

She raised $17,000, met him in person, and gave him the money. The local media was there. The young man was shocked - he expected nothing for what he did. He was humble and soft-spoken and said he always wants to do the right thing, even when no one is around. 

A good reminder to judge people by who they are, not by how they look. 

Here's a link to this story on YouTube:

 https://youtu.be/-duMzWZmRZg

 

 

Vibrators Are Illegal

It is still illegal to own a vibrator in the state of Alabama. State senator Tom Butler, who was born in 1944, made it illegal in 1998 with a law called the Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act. Butler is a Republican (of course) who also helped make abortion a crime with no exemptions for rape or incest in 2019. 

Perhaps Senator Butler got this idea from Sharia law, which also bans sex toys.

Yu Buk = You Suck

An artist named Yu Buk had an art exhibit in a museum in South Korea that consisted of live goldfish starving to death in sealed intravenous bags hanging from the ceiling. There were 15 IV bags with one live, starving, cramped goldfish in each. One third of them starved to death before patrons of the gallery and animal rights advocates complained and demanded the tortured fish display be taken down. The gallery obliged and were able to save some of the fish.

The artist was apparently annoyed about it and released this statement to The Korea Times newspaper:

"The slow deaths of the goldfish were meant to be a part of my piece. Now that the fish are gone, it lost its meaning as a work of art…”

 Asshole.

This artist has also created works by applying adhesive liquids to surfaces and luring flying insects to it with bright lights, then displaying the dead, stuck bugs and calling it his art.

 Asshole.

 Is there no limit to what humans will do in the name of entertainment?

 

Source: artnet.com