The Color of Night

I remember when I was a kid, I really admired Van Gogh. He was the artist who I most loved and whose life I most studied. His story was the classic redemption story of a guy who did this incredible work that obviously he fully believed in, while struggling through a life of chronic rejection. He was a failure who never got anywhere in the art world, despite the fact that his very own brother was an art dealer, and he tragically ended his own life, only to be finally, posthumously appreciated for all of his hard work. His story gave me hope and fueled me and made it possible for me to shrug off rejection and failure, to move modestly forward.
I would never sellout, I thought, because look, look at Van Gogh who stuck to his guns and drove himself to finally kill himself, look at how worth it it all was. Just go up to MoMA and see that great little show, Van Gogh and the Color of Night, and see those remarkable paintings, and the insane crowds of people trying to get in there. Van Gogh was fascinated by the color of night and compelled to capture those colors through paint. Never mind that color is generated by light, and needs light in order to exist, Van Gogh was intent on capture the color that he "saw." The show is a jaw dropper, and worth the fight with the crowds to see this collection of works about this one peculiar obsession of an artist who had so many.
I strongly recommend going to see this show, despite the sea of people that you will have to fight to see it. To me, it reminded me of all of the reasons that I got involved with being an artist in the first place. Quixotic ideals that I rallied around and once really believed in. DK