Here are some thoughts on another movie. I don't remember seeing it before, but I have known of it for some time, being always interested in an old movie and a true story. Lust for Life, the 1956, Movie story of the life and passion of the painter Vincent Van Gogh, starring Kirk Douglas. Van Gogh is perhaps the most recognizable artist from his work. I remember being by a copy of his Starry Night, when a boy came up to me pointed, and asked, "That's Starry Night by Van Gogh, isn't it?". I gave him a glad yes, and he smiled back and walked on. At that moment I was very glad the schools were teaching art history enough for that boy to know at least one painter's name.
Perhaps, what is not well known of Van Gogh, is that he was the son of a minister and wanted himself to be a evangelist of the Word. The movie depicts a man too full of his passions and longings to be woven into the more common patterns of society. In his work he sought to give something beautiful and significant to mankind. He had no success with his paintings during his lifetime which gave him assurance of his skill and vision, yet evidence of his spirit and perseverance is exhibited around the world and is enjoyed not simply by the world of art, but by the community's of the common man. I saw Starry night at my museum, a small thing compared to the large posters sold everywhere, yet it was as lively and vivid and alive as ever. I have also seen other landscapes of his and sketches,in real life and in reproduced in those big coffee table books. You can tell he had to work for that style which is so recognizable. From those big books I've read that it was many years before he developed his own style, in between were years of constant practice, and hundreds of sketches and paintings. As my art teacher as Glassel impressed upon us: we should draw a hundred drawings a day, by always observing, working to grasp the distance and bulk and consistency of the things we see.
As in all great things, art is a habit to be mastered, the skill with a pencil or a pen, use of them and your eyes over and over again, till every form is ingrained in the motion of your hand. In psychology 101, we students learned that muscle memory is the last part of our memory to go, that is why a person with Alzheimer's can still tie their shoes and knit, even if everything else once familiar has slipped away from them. I believe there is also something medicinal in physical habits. Hobbies and pastimes as simple as knowing how to work and use a camera or picking out a becoming ensemble to wear each day can enrich and enliven ones life considerably even if that life is basic and repetitive or even uncertain and used to mishap. Van Gogh was a lonely man, he wanted companionship which is the highest form of friendly flattery and perhaps the most basic sign of love. The continual process of painting I believe was a comfort to him, and a pain,.. as lonely occupations can be. We might be in a work place, a home, a society full of people but if no one recognizes a person, a person with a soul and a voice, even if spoken in color stroke by stroke, then I think we are all alone. See the person next to you. In your next crowded and free moment take a breath and open your ears your heart, and your mind.
