torture
Geniuses why are we so fascinated by
them maybe because all of us are
secretly curious about how we can escape
the mundanity of our lives and be
special Fango was undeniably a special
artist despite the fact that he died
nearly 133 years ago the world is still
absolutely mesmerized by his work I do
not think for a second that living the
daily routine of a genius from the 19th
century will actually help me to
understand them if it were that easy
then perhaps the mystery of this man
wouldn't be so enduring and yet who we
are but I still think there is much that
can be learned from people like this who
have touched Humanity with their
work what is done in love is well done
and with that let's enter the life of
Vincent
[Music]
Veno I am headed to the Frenchtown Al
where Vincent lived for roughly 15
months before getting admitted into a
mental hospital after the locals signed
a petition to get him evicted he had the
nickname luru the redhead madman for his
increasingly erratic
Behavior arriving in Al I was taken by
the charm of this ancient Roman town my
first thought was it is going to be
difficult not to romanticize Van Go's
time here the artist moved South in
search of a different kind of light
something warmer and brighter than what
Paris could offer where where he had
previously lived particularly in Winter
arriving here I could immediately see
why yellow was such a prominent color in
his paintings visually allaha is a
little bit like being greeted with a
warm
hug I cannot believe that I am doing
this this is kind of crazy this is kind
of crazy let's get started shall we
here's what I was able to find on his
daily life although yet again in this
series on living like the Giants I have
to give credit to the wonderful book
daily ritual by Mason Curry for insights
into V Go's routine although this time
around there is only one single
paragraph on how V go lived his life
today again from 7:00 in the morning
until 6:00 in the evening I worked
without stirring except to take some
food a step or two away van go wrote in
an 1888 letter to his brother Theo
adding I have no thoughts of fatigue I
shall do another picture this very night
and I shall bring it off this seemed to
have been typical for the artist when in
the grip of creative inspiration V go
painted Non-Stop in a dumb Fury of work
barely pausing to eat and when his
friend and fellow painter Paul goang
came to visit a few months later vango's
habit scarcely
changed he wrote to Theo our days pass
working working all the time in the
evening we are deadbeat and we go off to
the cafe and after that early to bed
such is our life
[Music]
okay thank goodness Vango drank coffee I
don't know what I would do without it so
I don't have a whole lot of experience
painting outside and by that I mean zero
um if anything I'm more similar to goa's
kind of approach to painting which was
slower and methodical but I want to take
inspiration not so much imitate but
inspiration from V Go's very
enthusiastic fast-moving
approach I have this wonderful view of
the rooftops so I think I'm going to
start with that and see how that goes
Uncharted Territory this kind of fun
excuse to paint
more I am really trying to take this as
an opportunity to loosen up in terms of
my style then goes famous for applying
thick paint onto the canvas there's
actually a name for this it's called
impasto from the Italian word for paste
or mixture painting for me in many ways
is about capturing emotion so it's not
really that important for me to get get
all the details right so I'm trying to
embody that as I do this I've done a
first layer of
paint uh so I'm going to keep applying
over and over again to start to get some
of the details here I want to work on
the rooftops because I feel like the
rooftops the color of the rooftops is
very important feels like a particularly
Unique Look the south of France right
and I really want to capture the right
colors to represent that one of the most
incredible things about vingo is that he
didn't start painting until he was 27
years old which is literally older than
I am now as I'm making this also he
never received any formal training so I
am now going to get some
bread and maybe start another painting
bango's relationship with food was quite
complicated this his dinner tonight when
he was a preacher in Belgium prior to
his painting career he supposedly ate
mainly just dry bread some chestnuts and
some potatoes having had his Protestant
upbringing he equated virtue with
abstinence from luxury and he felt that
the working class was more honest he
kind of looked down upon High Society
I'm lucky to be in the country with
arguably the best bread in the world and
I mean that as no disrespect to the
Germans and austrians out there cheers
there are some contradictions here or
some difficult Nuance to navigate I
should say because it was his brother
who supported him through all of his
work he didn't earn his own bread if you
will you know van go is famous for
having only sold one painting while he
was alive and it was for 400 Franks the
equivalent of about $2,000 today it's
easy to romanticize his life but that's
really not a lot of money and the
painting that he sold was The Red
Vineyard one of his many works from his
time in Al it is 300 p.m. I think so
it's been like 8 hours wow time is
flying by though I'm really really
enjoying this I'm like getting into a
flow State my first painting is nearly
done I'm calling it
the rooftops of ARL that's the view this
is what I was painting pretty decent I'm
actually pretty happy with how this came
out all things considered despite only
working for 10 years from the age of 27
when he began until his death of 37 vano
produced more than 900 paintings and
many more drawings and sketches the math
on this is incredible he completed a new
piece of artwork almost every 36 hours
it was actually in a psychiatric
hospital where V go created some of his
most well-known works so I was walking
around Al yesterday and I came across
this red door and I was drawn to come
back here and I think I'm going to take
a nice photo of it and paint it this
feels bizarre to do or to say but it's
what I'm doing so I don't know there's
something really beautiful about this
door and this wall and this spot in a
sense what draws me to Van Go's work was
his unique way of seeing the world you
could see what other people quite
literally couldn't see and i' take that
as inspiration to look more closely at
the beauty of the world around me and
capture it and to share my own unique
way of seeing
things at night I'll be drinking absence
as this was supposedly van Go's prefer
to drink he was an excessive Drinker and
struggled to reduce his consumption this
is only the second time I've ever had
absent in my life
oh
my okay yeah that's strong absin was
actually banned in France in 1915 25
years after vango's passing when the
wormwood used to make it was thought to
cause hallucinations and Madness it was
only in 2011 nearly a century later that
the band was lifted in France which is
why I am able to drink it now
ah this morning light is
incredible
wow this morning I'm going to finish
what I could not finish yesterday
because the lighting changed too quickly
the struggles of painting outside and
I've got it pretty good I'm still
comfortable at home I don't know how he
did this out of nature that's that's
tough before we go any further I want to
thank the sponsor of this video which is
Audible and they've been longtime
sponsors of this channel I'm very
grateful to have their support it's
making this video possible which allows
me to go days on end doing nothing but
painting essentially and it also means
that I have a diet of potatoes and bread
just for educational purposes not out of
necessity Audible has an enormous
library of audiobooks and podcasts that
are my go-to I have over a 100 titles in
my own personal library books have a
life-changing quality to them right and
there are so many audio books that I've
listened to that have completely changed
my perspective on things many of you
asked me for book recommendations and so
I've actually gone ahead and made a
custom listening list of a few
audiobooks that I particularly enjoyed
listening to recently I picked them
around the theme of learning how to
operate in the 21st century it feels
like it has never been more important to
equi ourselves with the right Knowledge
and Skills like emotional intelligence
to navigate life each of these audio
books have had an impact on how I view
work rest and relationship sh in the
face of all the change happening around
us if you're interested I'll actually be
doing an Instagram live book club around
these titles in August so I'll leave a
link to my profile on Instagram down
below if you want to join for that I
think it'll be fun and you can join
Audible for a 30-day free trial using
the link in the description Audible for
me is so worth it it's not even funny
thank you audible for sponsoring this
video wo is not the V go we all know
today without the help of two other
important characters his brother Theo
and art dealer supported Vincent both
financially and emotionally Theo
crippled with grief died only 6 months
after Vincent passed which might hint at
the incredible connection the two
brothers had the other character can be
credited with fueling what has become an
enduring Legacy Joe or Joanna Theo's
wife Theo owned nearly the entire
collection of Vincent's work at the time
of his passing leaving them with Joe the
collection at the time was nearly
worthless it was she who worked
tirelessly to promote Vincent's work
through exhibitions and it was she who
published the letters sent between the
two brothers which is how I was even
able to know what his daily routine
looked like it was through her work that
the world could discover the incredible
story of this artist without her Vincent
might have forever been an obscure 19th
Century post-impressionist
painter so I'm struggling a little bit
to get into the flow of things today I
think I'm a little bit tired yesterday
the hours flew by I was able to get
fully focused and when you're working on
something like painting you don't even
think it's actually a lovely feeling but
there's an intensity to it between that
intensity and the absent I drank last
night which made me feel sleepy but
didn't contribute to a good night's
sleep today I'm dragging my feet a
little bit I am going to really try to
get into a flow here it seemed like van
go was all or nothing he didn't take
very many breaks which is not something
I'm used to but there's something to
that I think we all probably need breaks
but we live in a world where the
dominant culture is constant
interruptions there's constant switching
of focus and I have noticed that when I
get into the flow when working on a
painting if I'm really really focused
I'm able to make a lot of progress very
quickly and also I think the quality of
my work increases as well the brush
trucks are more confident and I know
where to layer it's kind of like I can't
do that if I'm doing things in short
distracted bursts you know it's funny
the world that we live in as compared to
the world that van go lived in has so
much more technology we have such easier
access to very powerful tools to make
and do things right I'm literally
holding a microphone that doubles as my
phone you know he didn't have the
distractions that we have perhaps it was
easier to get into a flow State because
there was less to distract yourself with
right what was he going to do listen to
a podcast play video games I don't think
so it's funny it makes me think the
tools at our disposal aren't worth
anything if we don't have the systems
and the right approach to to make the
best of them F go didn't need advanced
technology to be incredibly prolific and
to do incredible work makes you think
but 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'm not
saying that the rest counts for nothing
and leave everyone free to do as he sees
fit but I do say that this system seems
preferable to many others to me that's
from a letter written by Van go to Emil
Bernard from
Sometime Late September
1888 all right I think it's coming along
pretty well I think it's uh it's not
looking too bad this is the setup right
now wow I'm wiped that has been a lot of
painting these last few days it requires
a lot of concentration and effort and
I'm feeling fatigued dang part of my
fatigue I think aside from the intensity
of the work came from my poor and
limited diet I at first began with
nothing but bread but I eventually caved
and added potatoes that I cooked with
butter the difference having warm food
made if even just potatoes stunned me
what a luxury for me to never really
have to worry about these things I
actually got the inspiration to make
this video when visiting the Muse D in
Paris with my parents a few weeks
earlier and seeing the impact the
paintings had on us there was something
special about it look look at that one I
know the super famous one I want to get
to that I wanted to look at that and
then focus on that you're saving like
the part of the yeah yeah you know I
wonder how people would feel today if
they got the chance to meet go
apparently he had terrible hygiene he
had a lot of strange Behavior he was an
intense guy when he's painting I could
see the joy but I think so many people
respect what he does because he took no
shortcuts he really stood for something
he didn't let the fact that most people
didn't understand or appreciate his work
stop him from doing that work that's
incredible that's very courageous it's
like he breaks every rule yeah it's all
distorted
the perspective is all look the
paintings are not even hung properly no
it's like we all benefit from those that
really stand for something there's a
symbolic value to that if van go could
do it I can also be uncompromising in my
work I can also pour my soul into the
things that I do all right yet another
one it's coming along got a long way to
go but I like how it's taking shape this
is model out photo I took in ver I love
how dramatic it is you know this whole
experience
all of this that I've been doing for the
last few days has really made me
grateful for the life that I have
because I get to do this cool experiment
you I get to make some art I get to
learn a lot about a very special guy in
history but then I get to go back to my
life where I make things like this video
that people appreciate While I'm Alive
people like you watching this video
that's a real luxury that's a really
cool thing to be able to enjoy I'm
really lucky he didn't have that you
know he had a really supportive brother
he had a really supportive sister-in-law
he had some friends but beyond that
people didn't get what he did and I
guess in some ways you could say it's
sad because he didn't have that but in
some ways I find it beautiful because he
did it anyway good for him
[Music]