when I went to the Met as a teen with my aunt- she was appalled that Van Gough "wasted.... (Reply #108)

In the discussion thread: “I have had a most rare vision”: Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night [View all]

Sat Feb 14, 2015, 11:06 AM

bettyellen (47,209 posts)

108. when I went to the Met as a teen with my aunt- she was appalled that Van Gough "wasted....

so much paint"- I think it was the vase of sunflowers. My aunt was just cringing and looking at it from the side to calculate how much paint he had actually "wasted". And then she actually took her fingernail to it- not kidding. I gasped! And both feared and hoped the guard would see and stop or even arrest her. LOL, she is a total sociopath, and in retrospect, I totally understand her aversion to Van Gough. She lives to disrespect and exploit others, has no interest in anyone else's interior life.

Thanks for another wonderful thread! You PM me if you'd like to catch a show in NYC some time. I would love that.

This is the DU member formerly known as bettyellen.

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129 replies	Author	Time	Post
“I have had a most rare vision”: Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night [View all]	CTyankee	Feb 2015	OP
With credit to the Bard of Avon . . .	enlightenment	Feb 2015	#1
Oh, so you know the play?	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#2
Without googling, indeed.	enlightenment	Feb 2015	#3
so I guess you know the poet from Amherst...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#5
Okay - I'm guessing here.	enlightenment	Feb 2015	#14
Indeedy so! I love her!	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#15
Yay!	enlightenment	Feb 2015	#24
Yeah, Dickinson is odd. But if any American poet would get this painting, it would	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#28
Poetry suggestions?	F4lconF16	Feb 2015	#109
I like Wallace Stevens, altho he can be a bit difficult. Yeats is fine, too.	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#111
If you're just	enlightenment	Feb 2015	#112
I think the quote is from William Shakespeare.	stage left	Feb 2015	#4
Great play. Glad you like the painting.	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#6
Many of the mentally ill are exceptionally intelligent and talented.	stage left	Feb 2015	#54
but they often should not be in managerial positions...hell on earth depending on	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#57
Yes	stage left	Feb 2015	#68
I secured another job and left, not knowing that that manager had bipolar disorder.	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#70
It really depends on the person	AndreaCG	Feb 2015	#102
It does depend on the person.	stage left	Feb 2015	#106
I'm always gobsmacked by the chaotic order of Van Gogh.	blogslut	Feb 2015	#7
You are so right. He had so much to say...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#29
Just spent a month with Vincent via the Naifeh/White Smith bio	BeyondGeography	Feb 2015	#8
Thanks. I got that book from the library. Geez, 900 pages, really?	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#22
Hey, you started it	BeyondGeography	Feb 2015	#56
good for you for getting so far into the bio. I didn't have the courage...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#59
Since you cited Schama, he and the Beeb did this masterful documentary on Van Gogh	BeyondGeography	Feb 2015	#69
***	Warren DeMontague	Feb 2015	#9
I sure don't need to say how I feel about "Starry Night"!	nirvana555	Feb 2015	#96
N/T	skamaria	Feb 2015	#113
A repost	packman	Feb 2015	#10
very cool - thanks !	Laura PourMeADrink	Feb 2015	#31
OMG it's beautiful - I love it.	IcyPeas	Feb 2015	#73
Let's not forget that he also helped The Doctor capture the Krafayis	progressoid	Feb 2015	#11
Oh, c'mon progressoid. Now you're just...	pinboy3niner	Feb 2015	#97
I don't think The Doctor is a fan of ....	progressoid	Feb 2015	#98
Now that's surreal, lol!	pinboy3niner	Feb 2015	#101
....who?	Warren DeMontague	Feb 2015	#99
First base	pinboy3niner	Feb 2015	#100
Those last lines from THAT play,	pangaia	Feb 2015	#12
OH YANK!!!	elleng	Feb 2015	#13
SO glad you liked it!	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#17
Oh, I'm glad you like it ellen! I'm so happy to post it...it's been a pleasure...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#23
Great work as usual,	elleng	Feb 2015	#25
thank you ellen! I love doing these, tho...it's my fun...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#53
The unexpected math behind Van Gogh's "Starry Night"	RufusTFirefly	Feb 2015	#16
wonderful! What a great explanation of the artist's disability/ability!	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#18
Vincent van Gogh and Turbulence	mckara	Feb 2015	#19
What genius he had and such pain. Brother Theo declined after Vincent's death. Both died	appalachiablue	Feb 2015	#20
his biographers believe that both (and their sister wilhemina) also sufferd from it.	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#35
You have me singing this	malaise	Feb 2015	#21
One of my favorite of favorites.	Richard D	Feb 2015	#26
"tears of joy" yes! That happened to me once...a van gogh wheat field with crows...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#33
I had that beauty overload happen after a tour through the Frank Lloyd Wright house	BlancheSplanchnik	Feb 2015	#104
This message was self-deleted by its author	Bosonic	Feb 2015	#27
i may be wrong here. not sure if i learned this is art school, or just	mopinko	Feb 2015	#30
i'm a bit obsessed with his palette knife in the second night sky. He must have been	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#38
hue variation.	mopinko	Feb 2015	#40
hmm. I think it makes some sense...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#42
Thanks CTY. I have always been obsessed with him. As for light - I did	Laura PourMeADrink	Feb 2015	#32
well, all artists are interested in capturing the light. But they just strive to do it in	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#34
Yes...not what I was referring to - I look it up. :>)	Laura PourMeADrink	Feb 2015	#80
chiaroscuro.	mopinko	Feb 2015	#41
It is hard for me to see chiarascuro in this work. Because chiarascuro depened on	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#44
meant it as a reference	mopinko	Feb 2015	#46
no, light and shadow were always important but I see how gaslight can influence that.	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#50
wow never knew you	Laura PourMeADrink	Feb 2015	#122
sorry to sound so snippy...I am far from expert and am an amateur in art history	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#123
Someone made this video years ago	Generic Other	Feb 2015	#36
that is lovely. thank you...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#37
It's actually just called astigmatism.	alphafemale	Feb 2015	#39
In 125 Years, Millions Of People Have Looked At This Painting. No One Really Saw It Until Now.	Omaha Steve	Feb 2015	#43
Interesting! Thank you Omaha Steve!	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#47
Check out his book of letters to his brother. Definately not a "mad" anything. Brilliant writer too.	harun	Feb 2015	#67
He was an excellent writer. Really expressive of himself, his life and his art...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#81
Such beauty.	Delphinus	Feb 2015	#45
Nice to see you visit here. I do art stuff here at DU every couple of weeks or so...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#48
I thought Benedict Cumberbatch's - Van Gogh: Painted With Words was very good, and	ND-Dem	Feb 2015	#49
Thank you for this!	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#51
I'm so grateful, appreciative, loving - for THEO n/t	UTUSN	Feb 2015	#52
and poor Theo had his own psychological problems...he lived only some six months	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#55
"accident"?!1 Really?!1 n/t	UTUSN	Feb 2015	#60
It is now thought that the problem with the gun was an accident.....really...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#62
The sad thing is	edhopper	Feb 2015	#58
Terrible luck, that...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#61
I think he was too alone	edhopper	Feb 2015	#82
I wonder, tho, if he didn't want to be alone...people with bipolar disorder often cannot	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#84
All true.	edhopper	Feb 2015	#87
I do think some of his visions were as a result of his disordered mind, tho.	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#88
That's true	edhopper	Feb 2015	#90
I had a friend wonder	awoke_in_2003	Feb 2016	#125
Pictures of Vincent's masterpieces don't due them justice	workinclasszero	Feb 2015	#63
so true. I used to carry a little magnifying glass into museums but I was stopped so	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#65
Yes they have to be seen	workinclasszero	Feb 2015	#71
when I went to the Met as a teen with my aunt- she was appalled that Van Gough "wasted....	bettyellen	Feb 2015	#108
Thanks, I would love that!	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#110
Cool...drinks around Grand Central? I would say Raines Library is the place!	bettyellen	Feb 2015	#118
OK, great! I will research what's going on where artwise in NYC in the meantime.	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#119
We can hope! Gosh it has been years...	bettyellen	Feb 2015	#121
One of my all time life favorite experiences...	3catwoman3	Feb 2015	#64
Yes! That was the place of my meltdown...I started crying in front of one of his	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#66
I totally get the same feelings seeing his works	workinclasszero	Feb 2015	#74
I think in my case it was because I had been to Delft and other towns where the great	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#76
Wow I wish I could go to that museum	workinclasszero	Feb 2015	#72
I've been going to museums in Europe now for almost a decade just to see the	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#75
I'm glad that some folks get to see the creative work of humanity	workinclasszero	Feb 2015	#77
I always say that art always saves you.	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#79
When I was a child every public school	workinclasszero	Feb 2015	#83
god, yes...how can we get art into the lives of deprived children?	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#85
I went there too! They are so different in the flesh...	sibelian	Feb 2015	#107
I read the book Lust for Life....	IcyPeas	Feb 2015	#78
I must read that book...thanks for mentioning it to me...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#86
Huge celebration of Vincent Van Gogh in 2015	workinclasszero	Feb 2015	#89
Bookmarked for FOREVER	Mira	Feb 2015	#91
Another gorgeous essay. I have loved Van Gogh from the first...	Hekate	Feb 2015	#92
Thanks for the sweet complment! I love doing the research and always have a pile of	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#105
There's an App for that....	Turbineguy	Feb 2015	#93
Thank you for that!	Hekate	Feb 2015	#94
thank you for this.	Tuesday Afternoon	Feb 2015	#95
My own personal Van Gogh epiphany came with the Church at Auvers	RufusTFirefly	Feb 2015	#103
The Musee D'Orsay is a blessing...	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#120
WUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNderful!!!	calimary	Feb 2015	#114
art is my therapy too.	CTyankee	Feb 2015	#116
Hah! I know how that is!	calimary	Feb 2015	#117
No photograph can ever do Van Gogh's work justice.	MohRokTah	Feb 2015	#115
Somewhat off-track but still interesting. Van Gogh understood the human optic system.	erronis	Sep 2015	#124
Puck. :>)	pangaia	Feb 2016	#126
I was hoping to get to MoMA last April but illness of my art buddy and my own health issues	CTyankee	Feb 2016	#127
You know, I just rrealized this mpost was from last year.	pangaia	Feb 2016	#128
getting there, but slowly and with setbacks. I have to talk to my neuro doc about	CTyankee	Feb 2016	#129

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