“Irises”

by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889, Dutch, Post-Impressionist painter

Departing out of Barcelona, the first stop on our [cancelled] Mediterranean cruise was the southern coast of France.  I will miss seeing the irises of France, but I am thoroughly enjoying the exquisite irises in own garden on my Minnesota Stay-cation, something I typically miss during our May travels!

One of the most revered artists of all time, van Gogh considered himself a failure personally and professionally.  He only sold one painting in his lifetime; today his paintings can be worth millions of dollars! (There is hope; at least maybe for the ancestors of us starving artists!) 

During the last year of his life he committed himself to a mental asylum near Saint-Remy, in the south of France, where he completed nearly 130 paintings, mostly of flowers in their garden.  Arriving in May 1888 when the irises were in full bloom, he focused on them.  This oil painting is one of his most famous. 

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