I am no art fan, but I had heard of Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890). Shortly after moving to Amsterdam, I found out that Van Gogh was in fact Dutch and that the Van Gogh museum was only 5 minutes cycling distance from where we lived. Naturally, I was excited with the prospect of becoming more knowledgeable about the fellow and his artwork. However, my expectations must have been set a bit too high… As I was leaving the museum, I could not help but think that I had paid too much entrance fee (€14) for a guy who was overrated because of a bunch of farm pictures he had painted. He was little known and little appreciated for his art during his short life span of 37 years. It was after his death that he became famous largely due to his sister-in-law’s continuous efforts to promote his work. At that time, I thought she had done an outstanding marketing job and made a nice living out of it…

When I saw the ad for ‘Dossier Van Gogh: gek of geniaal (=mad or genius)?’ exhibition at Dolhuys museum, I could not help but feel a pang of sympathy for Van Gogh… Even long after his death, people are still debating whether his paintings were the fruits of a sick mind or a genius. More than 150 psychiatrists have tried to pinpoint the cause of his mental ailments and have come up with some 30 different diagnoses… What difference does it make? Who cares?

Creativity requires some ‘craziness’.

Most of us live by gender norms, cultural norms, social norms, family norms, and other you-name-it norms. Most of the time we adopt these norms automatically—without even giving them a second thought, because they help us function smoothly in dealing with others. We all have this urge to want to ‘fit in’ and the norms we live by define what is ‘normal’. What is our first reaction when we meet someone who is not ‘normal’? We label them as crazy or ingenius or we simply can’t believe our eyes…

• “Wow! That’s totally crazy!”
• “That’s awesome! She must be a real genius!”
• “That’s insane! Why would anyone do that sort of thing?”
• “I can’t believe it!”

Isn’t it then ‘normal’ that we develop a tendency to label those who live outside the norms as ‘insane’?

(Here is some crazy behavior: In Turkey, it is customary for men to kiss each other on the cheek upon seeing each other—twice!—and sometimes with an accompanying hearty hug. I still get amused by the disbelieving look on the face of a ‘civilized’ western guy when caught off guard with this custom—which is totally ‘normal’ given Turkish cultural norms of course…)

“There is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line,” says Oscar Levant (1906 – 1972). Is there really a fine line between genius and insanity? Or are genius and insanity the two ends of a spectrum? What does the spectrum look like? A line with two opposite ends or a circle with no end?

Artists are creative folks. Their courage to live outside the norms enables them to create some awesome stuff. They keep at it in the face of financial difficulty, disapproval from others, living as an outcast. I find it remarkable and praiseworthy. If anything, we all need to be a bit crazier in order to turn on the light of creativity in our lives…

Creativity has no place to blossom in a norm-defined life.

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Johanna Gesina van Gogh – Bonger (1862 – 1925)

I owe an apology to this lady, who was Van Gogh’s sister-in-law. I was too quick to label her as just-a-smart-marketer of Van Gogh’s work after his death. My perception of her at the museum does great injustice to her life and personality. She had been married to Van Gogh’s brother Theo for only 1.5 years before Theo died. I read the memoir that her son (Van Gogh’s nephew) wrote for her and I was quite touched by her story.

Here is an excerpt from a letter she wrote to a friend taken from the memoir:

“The letters have taken a large place in my life already, since the beginning of Theo’s illness. The first lonely evening which I spent in our home after my return I took the package of letters. I knew that in them I should find him again. Evening after evening that was my consolation after the miserable days. It was not Vincent whom I was seeking but Theo. I drank in every word, I absorbed every detail. I not only read the letters with my heart, but with my whole soul. And so it has remained all the time. I have read them, and reread them, until I saw the figure of Vincent clearly before me. Imagine for one moment my ex-perience, when I came back to Holland – realizing the greatness and the nobility of that lonely artist’s life. Imagine my disappointment at the indifference which people showed, when it concerned Vincent and his work…. Sometimes it made me very sad. I remember how last year, on the day of Vincent’s death, I went out late in the evening. The wind blew, it rained, and it was pitch-dark. Everywhere in the houses I saw light and people gathered around the table. And I felt so forlorn that for the first time I understood what Vincent must have felt in those times, when every body turned away from him, when he felt “as if there were no place for him on earth…” I wished that I could make you feel the influence Vincent had on my life. It was he who helped me to accommodate my life in such a way that I can be at peace with myself. Serenity – this was the favorite word of both of them, the something they considered the highest. Serenity – I have found it. Since that winter, when I was alone, I have not been unhappy – “sorrowful yet always rejoicing,” that was one of his expressions, which I have come to understand now.”

Johanna made a great contribution to history by relentlessly promoting Van Gogh’s work. She was anything but ‘just-a-smart-marketer’.

More than that, she was an admirable mother.

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• Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam
• Exhibition ‘Dossier Van Gogh: gek of geniaal?’ at Dolhuys museum Haarlem
• Vincent van Gogh
• Oscar Levant
• Memoir of Johanna Gesina van Gogh – Bonger

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