The Van Gogh Syndrome

Vincent Van Gogh has been justly acclaimed as one of the great painters of the modern era. Although born in Holland he moved to France as a young man. During a sojourn in Paris, Van Gogh became enamored of the French Impressionists who had abandoned the traditional approach to painting. The advent of photography made it plain that their hitherto attempts to reproduce works of art could not compete with the objective & detailed compositions of the new technology. Objective reality was replaced in favor of a much more subjective & creative realism. Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cezanne, etc. epitomized this new art form of the 19th century and Van Gogh gleaned enormous inspiration from it. ‘Starry Night’ is one of his many and most widely renowned masterpieces. The swirling clouds & luminescent nocturnal orbs are the work of a fevered genius. That painting is alive with an animation of brilliant colors that no photograph could ever duplicate. The reason for that is very simple…painting is an art form; photography is a mechanical technology.
The point of this piece is not so much to address Van Gogh’s art as it is to address his artistic temperament. By all accounts, he was an asocial & irascible malcontent. Unfortunately, those personality traits have influenced far too many aspiring artists. An artist’s genius should be determined by his work not by his personal behavior. Yet, an increasing number of so-called artists during the past half century seem to believe that they have a license to act like spoiled, eccentric brats. If they cannot create works of genius then, at least, they can behave like artistic geniuses. Van Gogh is the primary example whom these charlatans refer to as an excuse for their ill-mannered megalomania. ..i.e., the Van Gogh Syndrome. People of this ilk abound in various art classifications…painters, actors, writers, musicians and, also, quite a few prominent athletes. Granted, some of them are very talented in their particular fields. The problem is that they act like cantankerous irritants to the society of people who have the misfortune of crossing their paths…always on the prowl for new and creative ways to have their delicate sensibilities offended. As mentioned elsewhere, professional snooker is the only field I can think of that still remains as a classy and gentlemanly enterprise.
Being the father of a one year old baby girl, my primary concern is that she grows up to be a decent & kind human being. That is the first and foremost art form I would like to see her pursue. Whatever else she may choose to be, will have my full support. Well, with one possible exception…that is if she ever comes to me and says, “Daddy, I want to be a writer.” In that case, I might do both of us a favor and just shoot her.