Vincent van Gogh and Doctor Who

One of my favourite artists is Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890). Not only did he paint an amazing "Starry Night over the Rhone" and a ridiculously beautiful ("Almond Blossom" also known as) "Blossoming Almond Tree", he also painted many other stunning works that I love. I'm a big fan of colour in life, in nature and in art, which is why I prefer Vincent van Gogh's more colourful and colour-filled works to the darker ones. The darker paintings are often detailed, intricate and very beautiful indeed (just look at "The Potato Eaters"), yet they don't speak to me the same way the more colourful scenes do. However... “If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” I certainly believe that to be true, in real life and in Vincent's paintings too!

“Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, 'What do I care if there is a summer; its warmth is no help to me now.' Yes, evil often seems to surpass good. But then, in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must still have hope.”

Starry Night over the Rhone (Source: Wikipedia)

“I don't know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.”

Some other Vincent van Gogh favourites:
The Sower    (I love the colours... And that amazing sun!)
The Starry Night    (Probably Vincent van Gogh's most famous work)
Church at Auvers    (A beautiful building)
Bedroom at Arles    (There's something about this room...)
The Mulberry Tree    (Gorgeous colours)
Cafe Terrace at Night    (Again, the sky and those wonderful colours!)
Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen    (I just love this scene)

The Doctor: “Between you and me, in a hundred words, where do you think Van Gogh rates in the history of art?”

Curator: “Well... um... big question, but, to me Van Gogh is the finest painter of them all. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved, his command of colour most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world, no one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again. To my mind, that strange, wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world's greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived.”

 ~ From Vincent and the Doctor, a Doctor Who episode

The Mulberry Tree (Source: Wikipedia)