On Failure

I was thinking about Van Gogh recently

I was never really a huge fan of his paintings

But I wouldn't say I actively disliked them either

It's just never been my thing

I found myself thinking about a specific Van Gogh painting

Which I've since learned is called "Landscape with Snow"

I looked it up to see if it still looked as I remembered, and it pretty much did

But this time, I decided I liked it

I can't explain why

This all led me to Van Gogh's Wikipedia page

I wanted to find out if history considered him

Primarily a landscape, portrait, or still life painter

He did them all

I browsed the page and didn't really find my answer

But I did come across the following sentence

"Van Gogh was unsuccessful during his lifetime

And was considered a madman and a failure"

Damn, I mean, I kinda knew that much about him

Wild life, wasn't famous until after he died, etc

But even considering all that, I kept going back to that sentence

Van Gogh started painting at twenty-seven

And only worked for about nine years before committing suicide

And while that's not that long

He did make around nine-hundred paintings and a thousand drawings

I guess I say all that to say this

As a guy who recently decided

He somewhat likes a single painting by Vincent Van Gogh

For reasons I can't quite describe

It does make me sad to see a man with mental health issues

And a passion for art summed up as an "Unsuccessful madman failure"

Even if he was in fact financially unsuccessful and kind of a madman

A failure? I dunno

I kinda like that "Landscape with Snow," and I'm glad he painted it