We return to Nuenen one last time. Specifically, we return to your father’s church.
I found this bench nearby filled with yellow flowers to be terribly symbolic. Apparently your father and your still-born older brother (also named Vincent and born exactly one year before you…) are buried nearby, but I did not notice their graves… Then, again, maybe they are at the bottom of this picture. Either way, I was too absorbed in Yellow.
Then I went around the back to get a closer shot of the bell tower…
And just as I took this photo, the church burst into song.
Apparently it was 6pm, and the hymn was Angelus. This I would not find out for months. At the time, I was chilled. At precisely that moment, the rain stopped, and I knew it was time to go.
On my way out, I ran into the street named for your lover there, Margot:
And right underneath that sign, these tender flowers…
She was delicate too, and folded under the pressure of both you and her parents pulling her in opposite directions. She tried to commit suicide by ingesting poison right before she saw you. Luckily, you saved her life.
As I finally began to walk away from that lovely town, I saw – you and her. Together.
At first, I could not figure out WHAT this was made of, but, upon further inspection, I realized this is a watermelon. The meme I found it on gave no credit to the creator, but after a little internet digging, I found him: Takashi Itoh. (Vincent was infatuated with Japanese art and artists, I can only imagine what honor, excitement, and bewilderment he would feel to look at this…)
For the sake of side-by-side comparison (it is on display at the Van Gogh Museum):
Clearly, this 33-year-old chef has found his calling! Click on the photo below to see more of his work featured in The Telegraph…
Some videos taken during my very wet walk through Nuenen, where Vincent lived for two years as a painter. Unedited, and full of the moment!
First, I set off in the rain, for my 5km walk:
Then, as I see the windmill and step in front of one of the signs/markers, it begins to speak to me. I realize after the fact that there’s a button to push to let you hear a related quote from one of Vincent’s letters, but I swear I didn’t push it this time. Must have a motion detector or something. I don’t know, but it creeped me out. Once I recovered, I started taking a video, because the quote was great and the actor actually quite good. Ah, Nuenen in the rain…
It starts raining even more, and I LOVE it!
Last, but certainly not least, I explore the strange alley behind Vincent’s house, and have a sudden revelation…!
"..art is something greater and higher than our own skill or knowledge or learning. [Art] is something which, though produced by human hands, is not wrought by hands alone, but wells up from a deeper source, from man's soul..."
Vincent van Gogh, letter from March 1884
Twelve years ago, like many others, I fell in love with Vincent van Gogh. I followed this love, never letting go, reading about him and visiting his paintings all I could, and I am still journeying - I hope you will join me, Reader. This path has led me to you and you to me, and both of us to beauty, to art, to life, to death and to something greater...
