Vincent and the Doctor

People who know me know that I don’t know jack about art. I can do manga, when I’m bored or in my most artistic moments, but for the most part, going to the Kunsthaus here in Zürich just makes me feel uneducated.

I look at art, and I see what I see, I don’t see the different styles and patterns or the distinct signature works of who knows who. I see a mother and child, or pretty angles, or nice colours. And that might make me ignorant, but let me tell you something special.

My little sisters crayon drawings are ten times more wonderful and amazing and touching than any van Gogh.

So I don’t want to. I don’t want to analyse art,  I just want to enjoy it. I don’t want to spend my live surrounded by beautiful art.

But I have one exception. Van Gogh.

Of course, this leads back to Doctor Who.

Here’s the quote that I adored from Vincent:

Hold my hand, Doctor. Try to see what I see. We're so lucky we're still alive to see this beautiful world. Look at the sky. It's not dark and black and without character. The black is in fact deep blue. And over there! Lighter blue. [the starscape slowly transforms into "The Starry Night"] And blowing through the blueness and the blackness, the winds swirling through the air. And there shining, burning, bursting through, the stars! Can you see how they roll their light? Everywhere we look, complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes.

That is our universe, and van Gogh saw such beauty in it that I wish I could be there, with the Doctor and Amy and van Gogh, holding his hand and seeing his world.

Then this one:

[The Doctor has taken the Vincent forward in time to the van Gogh exhibition in Museé d'Orsay, 2010]

The Doctor: Dr Black? We met a few days ago; I asked you about The Church at Auvers.

Dr Black: Ah, yes; glad to be of help. You were nice about my tie.

The Doctor: And today is another cracker if I may say so. [steering Dr Black into Vincent's vicinity] But I just wondered between you and me in 100 words where do you think Van Gogh rates in the history of art?

Dr Black: Well... big question, but to me, van Gogh is the finest painter of them all; certainly the most popular great painter of all time: The most beloved; his most command of colour; the most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstacy and joy and magnificence of our world... no-one had ever done it before. Perhaps no-one ever will again. To my mind that strange wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world’s greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived.

[Vincent, already in shock, starts breaking down in tears]

Doctor: Vincent, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, is it too much?

Vincent: No, they are tears of joy! Thank you sir, thank you. [kisses Dr Black in gratitude] Sorry about the beard.

Heartbreaking that he died… but those words describe van Gogh completely… amazing!