June 5th 2025 | DAF

I’m writing this on June 3rd, but if you are reading this on the day it comes out, it is my birthday. It’s hard for me to predict how this day is going, but I’ll manifest and tell you that today is the best day of my life and the best birthday ever. Probably untrue, and it is expectations like that that ruin my birthday year after year.

In searching for the perfect piece of art to discuss on this momentous day, I just started scrolling and clicking until ultimately I found this set of images. I first set out to search through art by color. I thought I would pick pink, but my eyes saw the word yellow, and I immediately opened the “yellow” page of Artsy. I scrolled a few times only to realize that none of the images were loading. I went back to the top of the page and skimmed the description of the collection of yellow artworks. It mentioned Vincent Van Gogh specifically in the first few lines, and I immediately knew that a Van Gogh would be the perfect piece to use for the joyous day that is June 5th. I had considered doing one of Van Gogh’s wheat paintings in my initially thinking, but ultimately let the Artsy spirt guide to me a work. And it led me right back to Van Gogh, but in a much different way. As soon as I clicked the link to Vincent Van Gogh’s page, a title immediately caught my eye. The images still didn’t load, but the title “LUST FOR LIFE” stood out to me. That is the energy I want to bring into my life. This next chapter of life is about having a lust for life. Then, when I opened the page, and the images finally loaded, I was surprised to see that this was not artwork by Van Gogh but rather photographs from the set of a movie made about Van Gogh’s life called “Lust for Life”. Suddenly the out of place title made a little more sense. Not what I expected, but I think these 12 images will be interesting to consider as I close out Q1 of life.

Image 1—Classic Vincent. And I appreciate the details that give the photo impressionistic painting qualities. The unevenly painted background seemingly painted with sweeping brushstrokes of a paintbrush overcoated with paint. The defined ridges of the inner brim of the hat and well groomed beard that again reference the visible brushstrokes through Van Gogh’s works.

Image 2—The makings of a self-portrait. A behind the scenes look at one of his most notable works. A self-portrait of himself depicted as he was, an artist. It is interesting to think about what he saw in the mirror and how he decided to reflect that through his work. He was working a delicate balance of depicting his literal appearance as well as his inner emotions and feelings that made up most of his identity and self.

Image 3—An artist on the clock. Vincent seen doing what Vincent does best. It is most likely more a product of the times and movie sets during this era, but the set design makes you feel as if the scene is taking place within a painting itself. The background feels slightly artificial as it is boasting with an abundance of color and pattern the way an artist might arrange a scene when trying to create an interesting composition. It is like art within art.

Image 4—Man with woman. I’ll be honest, I don’t really know what could be happening in this scene. At the risk of sounding silly, I had not considered that Van Gogh had any female relationships at this point in his life. When I think of Van Gogh, I think of him and his brother and his colleagues in this era of art. I knew his brother’s wife had a hand in getting his art more attention after his death, but that post-humorous connection is pretty much the only female companionship that comes to mind. Maybe this is the sister-in-law. I’m not sure, but it is interesting to consider all the people that might have impacted his art. I often view his art as imaginations straight from his mind, but a person can’t help but also be influenced by the people around them.

Image 5—A feast for the mind. This moment in particular looks stressful, but the scene as a whole is rather idyllic in my opinion. To be sitting at a table decked with a classic red and white checkered table cloth and delicious food and wine surrounded by beautiful art sounds like a lovely place to be. It feels like a place for creativity to thrive and come alive, but the emotions of the scene bring you back to reality.

Image 6—The wheat fields I call home. There are few things I love more than a painting of a wheat field and especially a wheat field painting by Van Gogh. These landscapes often utilize one of my favorite color combinations of yellow and blue. There is often a vast field filled with yellow brushstrokes representing wheat and sweeping blue strokes of paint for the sky, but the blue is also regularly used to help define the wheat and add depth and shadows to the crop. This image allows you to directly compare the inspiration to the product that Van Gogh is creating. You get to see what is really that beautiful and what is embellished by Van Gogh’s style. In the case of his wheat field pieces, they are typically pretty close matches. The impressionistic style adds some obvious differences and he might be a little more free with his use of other colors in creating definition and adding interest, but the yellow of the wheat and blue of the sky are really that vivid.

Image 7—Another woman. I am now realizing how little I know about Van Gogh’s life. I’m going to have to watch this film and take notes. I really relate to his despair-filled solemn stare while holding a drink though. I have probably hit that pose countless times in my life. On a good day (or as good as a day can be when a person is drinking out of despair), the hope restores towards the end of the first glass, but his pain seems to persist through the alcohol.

Image 8—Music in a room? This image has actually lost me. I’m now realizing how bizarre is was of me to attempt to analyze 12 film stills of a film I have not even seen. Nevertheless I’ll persist. Well, maybe I won’t persist through this photo in particular, but I will persist through the collection. I don’t have much to say about this other than I find some of the clothing choices shocking, and I love those piano accordion things.

Image 9—Now this is the Van Gogh I know. For me, this is how I picture my dear friend, Vincent Van Gogh. Afraid and in a psychotic state in the middle of European wheat field. The image finds Van Gogh broken away from any sort of peace he might find from painting and staring at something (possibly something he is imagining or maybe nothing at all) upwards outside the frame of the image. Art is a magical drug, but it can only sooth so much before the mind is desperate to break free again. The events that are taking place in the image are incredibly interesting, but the actual photography of this moment is really intriguing to me. Somehow, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the photo has developed with glares of blue hovering over the wheat field. It feels reminiscent of the blue shadows present in the wheat field paintings done by Van Gogh. 

Image 10—Wow, there are more women. I am actually at a loss as to what could possibly be occurring in this still. I might watch this film for the sole purpose of finding out who this woman is and why her and Vincent are posed like this. Especially when compared to the chaos seen in Image 9, there is a serenity to this photo (despite the actor's posing that is odd to me) that contrasts what we know about the tumultuous inner workings of Van Gogh's mind.

Image 11—We are almost done, and I am confused. If I wasn't looking at who I believe is Van Gogh, I would assume this was a scene of people finding out about Van Gogh's death. It is interesting to see Van Gogh in large groups like this when a lot of his art is created out of the feelings of isolation. The bead curtain off to the side furthers my confusion because bead curtains don't belong in this era in my mind. I can't wait to watch this film to understand this side of Van Gogh's life that I clearly no nothing about.  

Image 12—It ends in Holland. I see a windmill, and I am choosing to believe that means this scene must be happening in Holland. This brings to me back to my personal love of Van Gogh and my love for Amsterdam. Truly a magical time in my life where I was wandering the streets moving from art museum to art museum and popping into local antique stores and clothing stores. I can't believe Van Gogh ever left the Netherlands. For me, life seemed perfect there.

And what does this have to do with my birthday? First and mainly, writing this was fun for me. Also, I think there is a lot to learn from Van Gogh and art in general and looking at art, thinking about art, writing about art will only help you grow as a person, and in my case, I hope one day I’ll see a piece of art that causes me to have a breakthrough and the direction of my life will be revealed to me.

Happy Birthday to Me!