Today I went had an artistic play date. In town, we have a local movie theater which plays artistic films and produces music and theater events. Its one of the cool things about this town.
Today the theater played the biographical documentary “Vincent van Gogh: A New Way of Seeing.” I guess I should have paid more attention to my art history, but van Gogh’s story was somewhat of a mystery to me.
I knew van Gogh’s iconic artwork; his self-portraits, “Sunflowers,” and “Starry Night.” I didn’t know how tortured his life history was. Sadly he only sold very few pieces of his art while he was alive. But, he was loved and cared for by his brother, Theo. If it wasn’t for Theo and his wife, Johanna, Vincent may have never had such fame.
The story was timely because, lately I’ve been thinking about artist drive and muse. What drives people to create? Today, Vincent would have been classified manic-depressive and his treatment would have been different than it was in the late 1800’s. I wonder, if Vincent was alive today, would his medical treatment have interfered with his creative drive? We will never know.
I guess my take home lesson from my outing today is that there’s a reason we have artistic energy. If we’ve found our muse, then we should create our art. It doesn’t matter what the obstacles are. Its important to embrace the energy, if only for your own satisfaction.