Blue & Yellow

I needed some space today. And some fresh air. Knowing full well that I wasn’t going to be afforded either at work, I decided to drive into town early…but take one hell of a detour. I stopped a couple of times, hopped out of my car and took a picture or two. I stopped by the ‘great’ Cathedral…still under construction…looking more and more like an ugly albatross of 80’s excess…complete with cracked concrete and empty interior but for a pulpit and about 100 disposable wood chairs, you know the ones…the ones your teacher got to sit on during assembly’s when you were on the gym floor? Pathetic. The place broke ground in 1985 and the only thing they seemed to have added to it since its initial construction is 3 gold domes. Big deal. Now the whole area around it is being suburbanized…and soon the natural vistas it once enjoyed will be replaced by rows and rows of townhouses and Honda’s in driveways. Inspiring! I remember being told when I was a kid that a Cathedral takes anywhere between 100-200 years to fully complete. I guess I never actually believed that to be the case…but as it stands now, its only function is as a place for generous contributions and basket donations to be swallowed whole…arm and all. I guess I won’t see it finished in my lifetime. Yawn…

I was particularly struck today with the colour yellow…and its prevalence everywhere at this time of year. Fields of gold…withering corn fields…the 1000 different shades the sun turns over the course of a day…week…month…plants and trees beginning their winter slumber, turning yellow before they go brown and bare…those shiny domes on the top of the Cathedral towers.

So it was a pleasant and perhaps fateful surprise that upon walking into a Chapters, I stumbled upon this book…



I think it was because of my being so tuned into the colour today that I spotted the cover out of the hundreds staring back at me. That…or cosmic intervention. The fact I vaguely recognized the painting on the front as being one by Vincent van Gogh made it doubly interesting. Here’s what made me part with $30 to take it home with me…

“From October to December of 1888, Paul Gauguin shared a yellow house in the south of France with Vincent van Gogh. Never before or since have two such towering artists occupied so small a space. They were the Odd Couple of art history – one calm, the other volatile – and the denouement of their living arrangement was explosive. Two months after Gauguin arrived in Provence, van Gogh suffered a psychological crisis that culminated in his cutting off part of an ear. He was institutionalized for most of the rest of his life and never saw Gauguin again.

During the brief, exhilarating period they worked together in Arles, these not-yet-famous artists created a stream of masterpieces within the shared studio – including Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, which decorated Gauguin’s bedroom wall.

Making use of new evidence and Van Gogh’s voluminous correspondence, Martin Gayford describes not only how these two hallowed artists painted and exchanged ideas, but also the texture of their everyday lives. He tells us what they cooked and how they budgeted their meager finances and entertained themselves, and he movingly relates their inner fears and dreams. Gayford also makes a persuasive analysis of Van Gogh’s mental illness – the probable bipolar affliction that led him to commit suicide at the age of thirty-seven. ‘The Yellow House’ is a singular biographical work, as dramatic and vibrant as the artists’ pictures.”

After reading a paragraph that I randomly flipped to…I knew. The fact that I love Van Gogh’s work, and can deeply relate to his struggle…while also sharing the same birthday (I love that sort of stuff…and he’s the only talented person I know who shares my b-day)…you can see why I am excited to read this book. Sometimes it’s as if things really do happen for a reason.

If the book is 1/10th as good as I think it will be, then I most certainly know of at least one person who I will strongly recommend it to. But considering the great company I find myself around these days, I’m sure you might all enjoy picking up this little gem.
So now I’m sitting in my typing chair, getting ready to settle down to a quiet night of reading and sleep. Thanks to my drive, and an uneventful day at work, I’m not feeling nearly as blue as I have been the past few days…right now, at this moment, it’s all yellow.