Van Gogh … beauty that breaks your heart.
Vincent painting images that he had to view through the bars of the asylum. Vincent eating his paints.Writing all those hundreds of letters to his brother Theo, writing “First I dream my paintings then I paint my dream.” The ear thing. Named after his stillborn brother, he was dead at 37. All those masterpieces, painted in only 10 years.
The sunflower series, painted to decorate the room he made for Gaugain while waiting for Gaugain to visit him in Arles. Loving the prostitutes, sharing his food with them. Kicked out of the ministry because he refused to live in the parsonage, opting instead to reside with the coal miners he was sent to assist. Crows. Wheat fields. Self-portraits. He didn’t romanticize being poor, he wanted to earn a living from his art, that sometimes gets lost in the mythos. He lived his life in frequent despair, yet inspires hope in so many artists, and encourages them to follow their passions. He’s the punch line — no matter how messed up your life might seem, you aren’t as crazed as Van Gogh; no matter how much you are sacrificing on behalf of your art, it’s not as much as Vincent. The moral of the Van Gogh story? Imagine, dream, persevere, work harder than you thought you could work, and, in the end, paint your own sky.
“Visions of Johanna”
Bob Dylan
Blonde On Blonde
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“Our Swords”
Band of Horses
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Deluxe Edition]
-3-
“My Blue Heaven”
Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra
Swingsation: Jimmie Lunceford
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“It’s Oh So Quiet”
Björk
Post
-5-
“A Letter to Elise”
The Cure
Paris (Live)
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“Vincent Van Gogh”
Jonathan Richman
Not So Much to Be Loved As to Love
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“Bridges and Balloons”
Joanna Newsom
The Milk-Eyed Mender
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“Flowers in December”
Mazzy Star
Among My Swan
-9-
“Rebel Rebel”
David Bowie
Diamond Dogs
-10-
“Polish Girl”
Neon Indian
Era Extraña
-11-
“Sunflowers”
Sam Behymer
Heartmouth
-12-
“Misgiving”
Tullycraft
Every Scene Needs a Center
-13-
“Stay Alive”
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
10 responses
An italian song about vincent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JBvHm7kdpA
It’s GaugUin, btw 😉
Beautiful mix. There’s also a great Deb Talan (from The Weepies) song I can only find through this link right now: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/34359
Portland Oregon’s are museum has a Van Gogh of an ox cart that was discovered not all that long ago on some ranch in Oregon. I adore his work, view him as a soul mate of sorts, have been to the museum in Amsterdam, but this one moved to the top of my favorites list.
scene.http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16792247
Oh, and fabulous mix, as always!
y’all, are so full of the information — i love it, thank you. sil — GORGEOUS piece and thanks for catching my error. sarah — thanks for the link — i bought the song from iTunes just now — her voice is so fetching. paula — thanks for the kind words and for the info — i adore that story. i’m something of a van gogh freak…..thanks for feeding that.
Anna, you can’t be more of a Van Gogh freak that I am. Thanks for this great playlist again. Makes hump day worth humping!
great mixtape, anna. it’s making sunday afternoon sweeter,
This is like getting a mix tape under your pillow from the coolest girl you ever slept with. xA
What a lovely tribute. I love how Van G’s visions, his vibrations, inspire this music mix as if seeing and hearing can somehow become one.
thanks jessica, james and robert — i love that you all are regular readers of the column and am so grateful for the kind words. glad you are liking the mixes. @alice — what a GREAT comment. thanks! next week: “chilly scenes of winter.” xo
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