Member-only story
What’s the Connection Between Vincent van Gogh’s Life of Painting and My Life of Activism?
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Recently in a conversation with one of my cousins, we talked about an upcoming adventure we have scheduled on Thanksgiving Day. I failed miserably in remembering the pertinent details about the event. I searched through a mountain of emails for the ticket confirmation, time, and location. Finally, I found it! Our scheduled time to attend “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” is on Thanksgiving Day at 4 PM.
I’ve always been fascinated by the relatively short life of Vincent van Gogh and the creative force he was. I tingled with excitement as I listened to an audio track describing the exhibit itself, sprinkled with the lived experiences of an iconic painter. He started painting at the age of twenty-seven, producing over 2000 works of art, ranging from landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits. After a fight with Paul Gauguin, he cut off his ear, then committed himself to an asylum due to mental health unrest. van Gogh died by suicide at the age of thirty-seven. He is recognized posthumously as an influential figure in Western art history.
Yet, I’m not writing this essay about the life of a painter per se. Rather, I’m writing based on a van Gogh quote shared in the audio, “I…
