In April, I traveled to Amsterdam for a week (I know, my life is so hard), where I spent an afternoon in the Van Gogh Museum. The collection inspired me not only with its images—sunflowers, wheat fields, self-portraits, cypress—but with stories surrounding Vincent van Gogh’s life and career. The more time I spent wandering the museum, in fact, the more I came to believe that the way Van Gogh lived, painted, and struggled may hold some lessons for the writers among us. I’ve outlined ten of those lessons below:
1. In art and in life, pursue what makes you feel most alive. As I learned at the museum, Van Gogh once said, “It is only in front of the easel while painting I feel a little of life.” While I don’t want to minimize the mental illness Van Gogh suffered, I do think it’s telling that it was his art that offered him a refuge and, perhaps, made him feel most like himself.
2. Put yourself in the way of inspiration and intellectual rigor. In 1886, Van Gogh moved to Paris, drawn to the possibilities of meeting other artists and learning more about his craft. It was in Paris where he met and was exposed to the art of Paul Gauguin, Paul Signac, Georges Seurat, and others, and his time in Paris undoubtedly influenced his work.
3. And yet also know when to retreat into solitude. After two years, Van Gogh left Paris and moved to Arles in the south of France. His time there is considered his most fruitful period, his breakthrough. It is where he painted Sunflowers, Café Terrace at Night, and other masterpieces.
4. Find and embrace the support you need. Without the emotional and financial support of his art dealer brother, Theo, Van Gogh surely could not have dedicated his life to painting. While most of us don’t have a benefactor like Theo, many of us do have someone—a friend, a family member, a spouse—who stands ready to offer an encouraging word or to simply listen when our struggles feel too heavy to bear. That’s a gift.
5. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge your best work. When Van Gogh painted The Bedroom, he recognized it for what it was: one of his stronger artistic creations. “When I saw my canvases again after my illness, what seemed to me the best was the bedroom,” he wrote. That kind of confidence is necessary in a field where self-doubt and uncertainty so often reign.
6. Follow your obsessions and celebrate your specific point of view. When Van Gogh began painting sunflowers, he knew he was onto something special. In fact, he apparently declared himself “painter of sunflowers” after he began focusing on the flower as his subject. Others agreed; Gauguin noted that he thought the sunflowers were “completely Vincent”—and he even painted Van Gogh painting sunflowers.
7. Keep working even in the absence of external praise. Van Gogh’s work was largely unappreciated during his time. Critic Albert Aurier offered the first official recognition of Van Gogh’s art in 1890, and in fact called Van Gogh a “great and desperate genius.” Otherwise, however, Van Gogh mostly worked without formal recognition. It was only after his death and the death of Theo that his sister-in-law, Johanna Gezina van Gogh-Bonger (Jo), worked to promote Van Gogh’s art.
8. Make things for the people you love. I overheard a docent explain that Almond Blossom is one of the most popular paintings in the museum. Van Gogh painted Almond Blossom for the occasion of his nephew’s birth, who was his namesake. The painting was of great sentimental value to Theo and Jo.
9. Find solace in the work, even in sorrowful subject matter. Again, Van Gogh’s mental illness and struggles are not something I wish to downplay. The wheat fields he painted toward the end of his life capture the deep sense of sadness and loneliness he was experiencing—and yet he also suggested that painting such sorrowful subjects may have helped him.
10. Take your art to the place you feel most deeply driven to go. While living in the Yellow House in Arles, Van Gogh noted that whenever he felt a need for religion, he was driven to “go outside at night to paint the stars.” Perhaps this impulse is what gave the world The Starry Night.