Is Van Gogh A Loser?

In 2022, one of Van Gogh's drawings, Orchard with Cypresses, was sold at over 100 million US dollars. Any literate person in the world should have heard of Van Gogh, whose invaluable arts are sold at astronomical sums. Yet, I learned a few things about Van Gogh in his fictional biography - Lust For Life by Irving Stone. Since then, a question lingers in my mind, "Is Van Gogh a loser?"

Van Gogh never made any real money in his life. We are not talking about getting rich here. He was below the poverty threshold using today's standard. He had struggled since he left the art shop owned by his family. He relied on his brother, Theo's, monthly patronage to support his drawing, while Theo was only able to sell one of his drawings in his lifetime. Often, he only had black coffee and plain bread for meals, and hunger was a constant problem.

He had not had a loving relationship. Loving two women one-sidedly when he was young, he followed them to their homes when he was rejected and even harmed himself. He used the money provided by his brother to pay for hookers, and even promised to marry one of them. That did not happen finally because of, again, money problems.

He was locked in a mental asylum, cut off his ear and gave it as a gift to a hooker (another hooker, not the one he said he would marry), and ultimately killed himself.

"What a loser," was my first unfiltered thought after reading the book. Yet, I thought more deeply about Van Gogh's life, and there is something that touched me deeply. I reread the book and think about his life again. I changed my mind.

A lesser-known fact about Van Gogh was that he worked as a priest at an impoverished mine for two years. It is not possible to exaggerate the hardship he suffered during that period. He thought he was too comfortable compared to the miners, so he found the worst room in the mine to live in in the mine. He bought food and clothing with his minimal salary as a priest and shared that with the coal miners, which made him constantly hungry and sick. The Christ of the Coal Mine was what the miners called him. Only when he realised that religion would never help any of the miners and he could no longer believe what he was preaching, did he shift his energy to drawing.

He directed all his pain and suffering to his art. At first, he knew nothing about drawing. He worked tirelessly and learnt from different people who despised him. Constantly rejected and never being able to sell any painting, he questioned whether he was squandering his life. Still, he worked everyday and tried to describe nature in his painting by observing deeply and hard, so hard that he ultimately lost his mind. It was almost like he poured his life and energy into all the canvases. When he felt that there was no more for him to draw, he ended it with a pistol.

I know absolutely nothing about art. But looking at the copy of his drawing, they were completely different from other drawings of his time. Dare I say, as a complete outsider to art, there is life in it.

He could do without a wife, a home, and children; he could do without love and friendship and health; he could do without security, comfort, and food; he could even do without God. But he could not do without something which was greater than himself, which was his life—the power and ability to create. – Irving Stone

Van Gogh is completely listless and was an unaccepted black sheep in his family and the society. His life is a sad story, no doubt. No one wants to experience his hunger, constant rejection, and isolation and lack of love (except for his brother Theo, who gave him unconditional love and support).

But Van Gogh is not a loser. He committed his life to something bigger, much bigger, than living an everyday life that the society accepted, by living out Jesus Christ in the coal mine and creating art that will be remembered for generations.