On Failure

Lyrics for On Failure

I was thinking about Van Gogh recently I was never really a huge fan of his paintings But I wouldn't say I actively disliked them either It's just never been my thing I found myself thinking about a specific Van Gogh painting Which I've since learned is called "Landscape with Snow" I looked it up to see if it still looked as I remembered And it pretty much did But this time, I decided I liked it (oh, my gosh) I can't explain why (you need to leave) This all led me to Van Gogh's Wikipedia page I wanted to find out if history considered him Primarily a landscape, portrait, or still-life painter He did them all I browsed the page and didn't really find my answer But I did come across the following sentence "Van Gogh was unsuccessful during his lifetime And was considered a madman and a failure" (damn) Damn I mean, I kinda knew that much about him Wild life, wasn't famous until after he died, etc But even considering all that, I kept going back to that sentence Van Gogh started painting at 27 And only worked for about 9 years before committing suicide And while that's not that long He did make around 900 paintings and 1000 drawings I guess I say all that to say this As a guy who recently decided He somewhat likes a single painting by Vincent van Gogh For reasons I can't quite describe It does make me sad to see a man with mental health issues And a passion for art summed up as an "unsuccessful madman failure" Even if he was in fact financially unsuccessful, and kind of a madman A failure? I don't know I kinda like that Landscape with Snow, and I'm glad he painted it Understand what I'm saying? I guess so, but Understand what I'm saying? I guess so, but