Starry Starry Night...

Vincent van Gogh was one of the most talented artists to have graced the surface of the planet. The legacy left behind after his death has had far-reaching influence on modern art, especially on the Fauves and German expressionists. This post-impressionist painter had created numerous pieces of legendary art which. van Gogh has clearly become one of the decisive and central figures in the history of modern art.

Most know van Gogh as the famous painter, but few know about him as a person. If there can be one simple word used to describe his life which spanned across thirty seven years, it would simply be 'sad'. All through his time, van Gogh had been misunderstood and yet imcomprehensible at the same time.

Born on 30 March 1853 in North Braband, Netherlands, van Gogh was the son of Anna and Theodorus van Gogh. His father Theodorus was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. van Gogh was given the same name as his elder brother, stillborn a year ago.

At the age of twenty, van Gogh had already become a successful businessman working with an art dealer. While working in London. He was already earning a larger amount of money than his father. He fell in love with his landlady's daughter but was rejected as she was already secretly engaged to a previous lodger. That would become the first turning point of his life. Vincent isolated himself from the world and grew fervently deep in religion.

6 years later, van Gogh became a missionary in a coal-mining district of Belgium. He chose to live the life of the miners he preached to and slept on straw in a little hut. But his behaviour registered displeasure among church authorities whom felt that he was weird and 'undermining the dignity of priesthood'. His relationship with his father took a turn for the worst. Failing to understand the reason for his 'queer' behaviour, Vincent's father enquired on having his son sent to an asylum at Geel. At every nightfall, the landlady would hear Vincent sob uncontrollably in his hut.

Following the advice of his brother Theo, who was the central figure of his life, Vincent left Borinage for Brussels to study art.

In 1884, van Gogh returned to the Netherlands. He fell in love with Margot Begemann, who was 10 years older than him. Their relationship was opposed by their families and when their marriage wasn't approved by them, Margot tried to kill herself with strychinine. But was saved in time when Vincent dashed to the hospital with Margot in his arms. A year later, his father died of a stroke. van Gogh fell deep into grief and depression.

Paul Ganguin was van Gogh's best friend and was a painter too. In letters written to Theo in 1888, Vincent stated that his friendship with Ganguin was deteriorating. Plaqued with anxiety, van Gogh was extremely fearful that Ganguin was about to desert him. van Gogh stalked Ganguin with a razor and then in a seizure, he sliced off a portion of his own left ear in a desperate attempt to express himself to Ganguin. The next day, Ganguin left for good and never saw van Gogh again. He was hospitalised for a few days and was in a critically ill. From then on, van Gogh would be haunted constantly be hallucinations and paranoia of being poisoned.

That next year, van Gogh admitted himself into a mental hospital in Arles. He was given two rooms, which were really just two cells next to one another, installed with barred windows as his only connection to the world outside. It was in this place where van Gogh painted 'The Starry Night', which would then become one of the most instantly recognised pieces of art in history. The masterpiece which resides in The Musuem of Modern Art in New York is an impression of the village of Saint Remy viewed from his cell.

van Gogh struggled with his sanity in the last few years of his life. He was frequently affected by seizures. Up til this day, no one has managed to confirm the cause of his illness. Many suggestions point towards lead poisoning and alcoholism.

And throughout his entire life, Theo provided constant financial support, love and care to Vincent, even his darkest times. Struggling with his demons, ladened with a sense of guilt and with the wish to relieve his brother of the burden, Vincent took his own life on 27 July 1890, at the age of thirty seven. He walked into the fields and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. Despite being wounded fatally, he returned to his bed in Ravoux Inn where he died two days later. Theo rushed to Vincent's deathbed to hear his last words, 'la tristesse durera toujours' which is French for 'the sadness will last forever'. Unable to come to terms with the loss of his brother, Theo died six months later. He lost his battle with syphilis. Theo's body was exhumed and re-buried beside Vincent in 1914.

Vincent van Gogh had been the victim of misunderstanding from the people around him. He was a genius in expressing himself through his artwork, but failed in his attempts to get the world to see the things through his eyes. It must have been excruciatingly painful for one to be rich in emotion and thought yet unable to communicate with others who are less well off in those areas. van Gogh's life must have felt like undergoing an exploratory surgery in the heart without anaesthesia adminstered.

The life story of van Gogh has left a deep impression in many of our hearts. But one can't help but to wonder how different his life would have been if he had been accepted for who he was and friends around him showed a bit more care and concern. Would he had produced even greater masterpieces? Would he had lived longer and simply be happier? Or perhaps he would have taken a completely different route in life and gave up on art to focus on being a missionary.

The circumstances we face shape and mould our being. But won't you make the choice to be the someone who encourages, and simply brings the best out of people around you?

Starry starry night,

Paint your palette blue and grey...

Look out for a summer's day, with eyes that know that darkness in my sould...

Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and daffodils...

Catch the breeze and the winter chill, in colours on the snowy linen land...

And now I understand, what you tried to say to me...

How you suffered for your sanity,

How you tried to set them free.

They did not listen, they did not know how...

Perhaps they'll listen now...

Starry starry night,

Flaming flo'rs that brightly blaze...

Swirling clouds in velvet haze reflect in Vincent's eyes of China blue...

Colours changing hue,

Morning field of amber grain,

Weathered faces lined in pain,

Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand...

For they could not love you,

But still your love was true...

And when no hope was left in sight on that starry starry night,

You took your life as lovers often do;

But I could have told you

Vincent,

This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

Starry starry night,

frameless heads on nameless walls...

With eyes that watch the world and can't forget...

Like the stranger that you've met,

The ragged men and ragged clothes,

The silver thorn of bloddy rose,

Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

And now I think I know, what you tried to say to me...

How you suffered for your sanity,

How you tried to set them free.

They would not listen they're not listening still,

Perhaps they never will...