Saturday, November 5, 2011

Musical Story of Vincent van Gogh

“Vincent," as you may know, was a song by Don McLean, written in the seventies as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. It is also known by its opening line, "Starry Starry Night", a reference to van Gogh's painting "Starry Night."

The song describes different paintings by Van Gogh.

Don McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of the artist. The following year the song became the No. 1 hit in the U.K. and No. 12 in the U.S.

For several years, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam played the song daily. A copy of the sheet music is in a safe beneath the museum, along with a set of van Gogh's paint brushes, the hat he wore while painting Starry Night and various other items.

It is rumored that Van Gogh's painting of the 'Starry Night' was painted during the time he was in an asylum and we've heard that he sold only one painting during his lifetime, as his genius was not recognized. That's perhaps what caused him to fall into an abyss of depression which eventually led to his suicide. How tragic to have felt so hopeless and not understood in spite of being so gifted!

This video with exquisite music accompanied by Van Gogh's paintings really moved me. It is beautiful and thought provoking. It's time for a moment of beauty.

Goda di...enjoy!



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3 comments:

kornkountrytreasures said...

Very thought provoking! He is one of my daughters favorite artist! I'll make sure she sees this.

Just goes to show . . . . we cannot possibly understand the pain and despair he felt unless we felt it ourselves. And this is a life lesson for us all.

Thank you SG for posting this!

Fleapirates said...

Starry Night hangs in my living room... love Van Gogh's work!

And for a more up-to-date version of the song, Vincent, look for Josh Groban's rendition. It's fabulous!

Thanks for making me smile today, SG!

Unknown said...

Beautiful. Having a blue day. This was perfect therapy. Thanks for posting it.