Such green against the sky - Champ de blé vert, Auvers, by Vincent van Gogh, May 1890

 

The amazing work of van Gogh is too often viewed through the dark veil of his biography. It's a veil that distorts, obscures, a weight that is unfairly placed. Because, honestly, his work only rarely gives us any clue to his personal poverty and crushing depression; it most often seems wholly unconnected to that story. His gift was, in a way, impersonal, compelling him to pour out his very particular genius response to anything and everything that blessed his sight. To feverishly capture the beautiful truth of it all, the truth as only he was able to see it. And this painting, created only two months before his death, is nothing but joy. The joy of light and movement, the joyful singing force of Nature. The joy of painting, itself, the joy of paint.