Every artist
would like to think that he is the next Van Gogh. I myself, have
used him as a comforting excuse when my works have been turned down
for a show, or haven't sold, or even brought the most lowly comment
of approval from anyone. Van Gogh is truly the artist's `Christ
figure' and every artist can identify with him at some time or
another. Vincent Van Gogh has given encouragement, beyond measure,
to every struggling, unaccepted artist who has painted since his
death.
"I was one of the `flash lads' of the time. We were a gang of
young people between sixteen and twenty, and like a lot of young
imbeciles we used to amuse ourselves by shouting abuse at this man
when he went past, alone and silent, in his long smock and wearing
one of those cheap straw hats that you could buy everywhere.
But he
had decorated his with ribbons, sometimes blue, sometimes yellow. I
remember - and I am bitterly ashamed of it now - how I threw
cabbage-stalks at him! What do you expect? We were young, and he was
odd, going out to paint in the country, his pipe between his teeth,
his big body hunched, a mad look in his eye. He always looked as if
he were running away, without daring to look at anyone... He was
really a gentle person, a creature who would probably have liked us
to like him, and we left him in his terrifying isolation, the
terrible loneliness of genius." (69)
M. Julian
"If you are a painter, they think you are either a fool or a rich
man." (70)
Vincent Van Gogh
69. Marc Edo Tralbaut, Vincent Van Gogh, (N.Y., Alpine Fine Arts
Collection, Ltd.,1981), p.p. 269, 270
70. ibid.,p.270
