sun-scortched canvas

Pollard Willows With Setting Sun

just finished Irving Stone's Lust for Life
a sweeping, epic, semi-fictional bio of Van Gogh
he was semi-masochistic in his search for expression
always testing stretching his physical/mental limits

the whole book comes to a boiling point
when Van Gogh moves to the city of Arles
enticed by the profusion of sunlight there
his work improves as he exposes himself
to the unyielding heat and force of the sun
his brain fevered sees the world more clearly
Stone implicates the sun in Vincent's downfall
and also some of his most amazing artwork...

"the Arlesian sun smote Vincent between the eyes and broke him wide open, it was a whorling liquid ball of lemon yellow fire, shooting across a hard blue sky and filling the air with blinding light, the terrific heat and intense clarity created a new and unfamiliar world"