Misconceptions of Van Gogh

In Modern Painters, Matthew Collings writes about the longstanding misconceptions of Vincent Van Gogh in “Think About Van Gogh In a Different Way, but don’t Foreget we can never be like him.” Collings, reflecting upon the recently found letters written by Van Gogh contradicts man conceptions of his personalities. Collings disputes that Van Gogh’s works come from the “hallucinations” whose qualities included “sincerity, saintliness, naivete, and the failure to be grow up, to be tough, to be mature psychologically.” These traits no longer seem to hold merit. It seems that one can deduce from his letters, that Van Gogh was actually quite sociable. In fact, Collings describes Van Gogh as a talkaholic. His conversations were lively, exhilarating and filled with enthusiasm. This flies in the face of the image that Van Gogh is sad, and reclusive. Unlike the perception that Van Gogh is excluded from society, he is actually earnest to be connected. His conversations show his interest in society, the way people take their leisure, humanity, nature, literature and of course art. Van Gogh who is traditionally seen as a mad, and tortured artist, shows a an earnest interest in the world, and even a comedic side to him. He is entertained by business and is shows that he has a knowledge for the business aspect of his profession. Van Gogh also has a surprising comedic side to his personality. Also, the paintings which many have overlooked seemed to have had a deeper meaning to Van Gogh. According to his letters Bedroom in Arles is about his inner torture and claustrophobia. Even so, his inner torture may not have as all-consuming as many believed. He has been portrayed as the cliché of mad genius, but he does not mad man at all. He shows an interest of the world, and delight in words, and enjoys intellectual stimuli. Overall the author utilizes many examples from Van Gogh’s life, and testimony to point out the universally relatable aspects of his personality. Collings concludes that Van Gogh was very much like us, that he may not have been as inclined to lunacy or as tortured as we see him. At the same the Collings makes clear that despitethe fact that he may have been like us, we are in no way like him. Despite this new discovery of “normalcy” in Van Gogh, he is no less a genius than we thought he was. By Myanh Ta