"They did not listen, they did not know how." Post #6

Don McLean, an American musician known generally for his 1971 hit, "American Pie," wrote another song (among others) that was released on the same album that was entitled, "Vincent." This piece centered on the pain and beauty of Van Gogh's tumultuous life and resulting work. Much of the song revolves around Van Gogh's use of color and imagery in his paintings. Take, for example, this verse:

Starry, starry night

Flaming flowers that brightly blaze

Swirling clouds in violet haze

Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue

Colors changing hue

Morning fields of amber grain

Weathered faces lined in pain

Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand

McLean's gentle, flowing melody and vivid description of Van Gogh's skill and ease with the brush create an image of a pained, deeply saddened man who saw such beauty in a world that offered little to him.

I have known this song for years, yet I never fully grasped the true innovation and artistry of Van Gogh's work until I read a quote from a letter to his brother Theo written on the first or second day of June, 1888, while residing in Saints-Mariés: 

"The Mediterranean has colours of mackerel, changeable I mean. You don't always know if it is green or violet, you can't even say it's blue, because the next moment the changing light has taken on a tinge of pink or grey." 

I recall reading this and suddenly understanding just what Vincent saw: not things, but colors. He would look at the sunset and see yellows, pinks, blues, and greens. He gazed over the earth and saw purples and oranges. He could translate emotion into color, and what makes his work so emotive is that fact itself - people see what they feel when they look at his paintings.

McLean takes a similar approach and turns the emotion of the artist's work into song; you can hear both his appreciation for Van Gogh's paintings and the images themselves speaking out to him when you listen to "Vincent," which I strongly suggest to anyone who may read this.