Vincent

I grew up looking through my father’s eyes at

I grew up looking through my father’s eyes at Van Gogh and his Starry, Starry Night. He loved Don McClean’s song Vincent as well.  On my first visit to Amsterdam with Philip, we went to the Van Gogh museum because of my dad. There we fell in love with Vincent and each other.  Philip had such a wonder about him that trip. Whether it be Van Gogh’s wheat fields or his flowers, Philip was giddy with the experience, so many new things to explore that he had never considered before.

I went the Van Gogh immersive exhibit in Phoenix recently. The wall sized, 360°, moving paintings put to music were amazing. The paintings brought to life Van Gogh’s masterpieces. 

So, of course, I wanted to go to his museum in Amsterdam. I blew past the works that didn’t inspire me and went right for the ones that did.

His “View of the Sea” with the exquisite light on water; his “Reformed church in Nuenen” which he painted to honor his dad who was a Pastor there, with it’s dark, hallowed feel; his “Pink Peach Tree” with its lacy white flowers that make me feel as if I could step into it’s world; and “At Eternity’s Gate” of a worn out, anguished man ready to be done.

I love all these but my favorite, in house, is the “Almond Blossoms”.  The turquoise shading with delicate branches and blossoms fill me with proof that the world should go on if only for the beauty of these colors. I stand for a bit before it to let the colors sink into my own weary, sometimes sorrowful, soul.  It waters my dry places with it’s message of life.

AmsterdamAnne

November 18, 2021