Twylla Alexander
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Imagination

9/27/2022

4 Comments

 
Take a close look at these photos of the Place de l'Eglise (Church), Auvers-sur-Oise, France. What similarities and differences do you see? No, this is not a test.
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When Drew and I visited the church in July, we had not yet seen Vincent Van Gogh's painting of it in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. But we had seen a collection of similar churches in other French villages, constructed of local stone, primarily in the 12th century. While we admired the craftsmanship and appreciated the church's significance to the people throughout the centuries, there was little to set the church in Auvers apart from its contemporaries.

However, the church I saw a week later – through Van Gogh's eyes – was an entirely different story! It was alive with color and movement, as are so many of his paintings. The whole structure looked like it was getting ready to dance off its foundation and fly into glorious cobalt blueness. Who would have thought to cast the church in shades of violet, with streaks and flecks of dazzling orange atop its roof?

I wanted to peek in the windows, sit on the billowy grass, skip along one of the paths that  flowed  like rivers. I was inspired!

As a person who feels more comfortable coloring inside the lines, I was energized by Van Gogh's boldness. No one gave him permission to paint something different than what stood before him. He didn't watch a Youtube video about how to experiment with color, transform straight lines into waves, and put his soul into his art. 

He listened to – and trusted – his own imagination. 

Few approved, or even took notice, in Van Gogh's lifetime. But that wasn't the point.
It never is.
Imagination seeks expression, not approval.

Thank you, Vincent!
May we be so bold.

  
  

  
4 Comments
Sharon Young
9/27/2022 04:01:19 pm

Twyla, have you seen the digital exhibit yet of Beyond Van Gogh? I went to Anchorage to see it last month and it was so powerful it almost brought me to tears. It puts you INSIDE his mind! An amazing experience. If this painting makes you want to skip, the exhibit would make you want to fly!! Loved this blog. 😍

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Patrick Kane
9/28/2022 02:52:44 am

Hi Twylla,

Loved your commentary on this...particularly this sentence, " getting ready to dance off its foundation and fly into glorious cobalt blueness". What fun and imagination... I took my mother to a Beyond Van Gogh digital exhibit this summer.... what a treat it was but I think nothing compares to seeing Van Gogh paintings up close and personal. We are fortunate to have some here in the states at various museums that I have been to and I was fortunate to visit the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam many many years ago. Have you ever been? Hope you are well...Warm regards to Drew!

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Marion J Patterson link
9/28/2022 08:10:34 am

What grand images you used! Thank you. M~

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Rosemary
10/3/2022 09:40:38 pm

Dear Twylla. A wonderful description of the bland looking church building compared to Vincent’s glorious dancing portrayal. It makes me think that if you took all his landscapes compared to the actual scene, they all dance and come alive. Love Van Gogh paintings and have admired so many over and over and still do when in Europe.

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    ​After writing my books, Labyrinth Journeys ~ 50 States, 51 Stories and The Power of Bread, I knew I wasn't finished writing, or journeying. 
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    ~Twylla Alexander

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