The Van Gogh Doctrine

The lesson Van Gogh would teach us is that the artist is someone for whom much in life is negotiable (hence the stereotype of the artist as libertine); what is not negotiable, however, is the artist's vision. She must paint what she sees.

Post-Kant, this conviction is rooted in the belief that truth resides, if anywhere, in that personal vision--and that personal vision made articulate.

The artist understands intuitively that there is an audience to be addressed; the more visionary an artist, the more actively she must create an audience for her work. The relation is one of call and response.

In canvas after canvas, Van Gogh (the former evangelist) called out to the world--to those whom he knew or instinctively believed must exist in the world. As his work matured, each new canvas contained the call. And little by little, the audience (not knowing itself, initially, to be such) heard something and, hearing something, was drawn out.