Van Gogh

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elvishrunes

Can't Leave
Jun 19, 2017
387
752
The pipe shop owner was probably annoyed with Van Gough...

Oh Vincent you’re a nice guy, but must you constantly bring me one of your “worthless” paintings to pay for your debts? When are you ever just going to buy my tobacco? I can’t keep doing this forever...
 
The pipe shop owner was probably annoyed with Van Gough...

Oh Vincent you’re a nice guy, but must you constantly bring me one of your “worthless” paintings to pay for your debts? When are you ever just going to buy my tobacco? I can’t keep doing this forever...
"Hay look man... I can't pay the bills with a pretty picture. Ok, crap, here's some 1Q. Go have a starry night, SCRAM!!"
 
For impressionist fans, do yourself a favor and read Christopher Moore's "Sacre Bleu: A Comedy D'art".
Author spent about 2 years researching for the book. A great mix of period art history and outrageous humor.
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I love Christopher Moore’s work... except for Noir, but everything else is great.
 
I read Biff years ago and enjoyed it. I'd forgotten about Moore, so another perk from this thread. Just ordered Sacré Bleu and Fool.
I even like his humor and storytelling in his monsters and vampire stories. He really knows how to bend a mythology and make it funny and entertaining... and provoked thought.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun was a fav for me.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
45,258
119,302
Hey! You can dance if you want to...
The origin of that one makes it a very cool song. It was a slap in the face of the establishment for banning pogoing in clubs, the forerunner of slam dancing and mosh pits.

I've always loved this scene from Doctor Who when Van Gogh got to see the future appreciation of his work.

 
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jhowell

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 25, 2019
669
1,056
71
Phoenix, Arizona
That’s ok. The crap we listened to in the seventies was no better. Minnie Ripperton will make your eyes bleed, while Muskrat Love sounds like an enticement to bestiality. And let’s not even get started on the highly problematic Starland Vocal Band.
Muskrat Love is a terrible song. As a retired sound technician I still use it as the finest example what a close-in pre-amplified ribbon microphone can do to project intimacy... Toni sounds like she is sitting in your lap singing to you (just ignore the words...)
 
It’s a beautiful painting ?‍? an interesting piece of history.

It’s a Van Gogh and the tobacconist should have had a lot of reasons to preserve it as an heirloom.

Was it an investment opportunity lost? I don’t know, because the amount of debt is unclear. Let’s do some hypothetical math to analyze it.

It was gifted in 1885 and sold in 1996 at 552,000 pounds

Assuming a 8% rate of return, and 111 years, 107 pounds would be 552,000

It is unlikely Van Gogh’s tobacco debt would be 107 pounds, so the tobacconist would do well to hold on to the paining. However it is not an astronomical return, given the investment horizon is 111 years

Edit: I ran some more hypothetical scenarios. With a realistic debt of 5 pounds, it only represents 11 percent return. Good, but nothing unexpected
 

kgs

Might Stick Around
Feb 14, 2021
78
196
36
South Florida
"In order to do good work you have to eat well, be well housed, have a screw from time to time, smoke your pipe and drink your coffee in peace.“

I really like this quote. And, if it is true then it explains why my work is subpar these days.
 
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rodo

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 1, 2014
168
272
Central Arkansas
Wow, everyone is so generous with their VVG appreciation. I feel bad for the guy: he was a total failure in almost every aspect of his life, he was a failure in art during his lifetime, most likely he suffered from mental illness or some chronic condition (that led to things like his being hospitalized and cutting off his ear. Hard life. Also find his work wildly over-rated. It has become a tragic commonplace in the "Story of Art History" that if a previous period hated someone's work it was because they were too stupid (or insensitive, or aesthetically challenged) to recognize it. Really, all those people who saw VVG's work at the time were just so out of touch and didn't understand his genius? Or is it that his work, so woefully thought of at the time, fit in more when abstraction came into vogue? Or that it is always a great ego stroke when someone can say, "Well, NOW we know..."

And, yes, I think I did just coin the phrase, "aesthetically challenged."

Sorry, sorry: back to pipes.
 
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