I painted this painting after Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows, in Auvers-sur-Oise, the town where he died and is buried. It was one of his last paintings.
On my final day there, I wanted to get a symbolic picture of my painting on his grave. The day was very dreary, but I thought I would try to get what I could of the picture. Van Gogh’s grave was a several mile walk from my horse stable domicile.
Midway on the journey, even before reaching Église Notre-Dame d’Auvers, the sky got very dark and the wind began blowing fiercely (like the strong mistral winds in Arles that Van Gogh so detested). Next, strikes of lightning flashed across the sky followed by very loud cracks of thunder. The painting was not completely dry and I tried to protect it as best I could, while fighting it from flapping in the wind and rain. I contemplated retreating to the horse stable because it was getting suspiciously eerie – I wondered if I was getting some sign not to go ahead with my plan.
After a brief pause, and a squinted look upward at an even darker sky, I decided to persevere anyway. Continuing my questionable trek to the cemetery, as it appeared on the horizon, the thunder and lightning dwindled. The winds calmed and the sun began shooting beams of golden rays thru the clouds. By the time I got to Van Gogh’s grave, the sun was fully shining and it was a beautiful day!!! I took this as my sign that it was ok…Merci beaucoup Vincent! Et évidemment L’Omnipotent!
It’s an incredible feeling to lay down by side Van Gogh’s tomb and look up at the Starry Night…