Vincent van Gogh never fades away

His name is famous worldwide whether people are interested in art or not, and his influence is still spreading. This is Vincent Van Gogh, a man who dedicated his whole life to art. Get to know him more through his letters.

Listening to the old classic folk song “Starry starry night, paint your palette blue and gray…”, it is easier to think of van Gogh.

Most people simply regard Vincent as a crazy painter creating his works with gorgeous colours all the time.

Now here’s a chance to get much closer to this genius artist.

The exhibition entitled “The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters” opens at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, running from 23 January to 18 April this year.

The exhibition features about 40 original letters written by van Gogh, mostly to his brother Theo, as well as 60 paintings and drawings reflecting themes in the correspondence.

“What comes after the letters is that he is a very thoughtful, very reflective man. His letters are full of detailed information about how he thought about making his works of art,” said Ann Dumas, the curator of this exhibition.

Nienke Bakker, the organiser from Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the cooperative partner of this exhibition also expressed a similar idea: “we want to show how the artist thought about his own work, what we can learn from his letters about how he created his paintings and drawings and how he saw the role of the artist.”

Looking at Vincent’s letters being shown alongside the paintings, a carefully creative development of his works was displayed including flowing sketches.

“Van Gogh was a very intelligent, determined person who worked methodically and reflected on what he wanted to achieve,” said Nienke in Amsterdam.

“He structures every composition carefully and seriously before he starts, this attitude is the most important inspiration for me,” said Keiko Aida, a young Japanese visitor.

“Now most young artists have over emphasized a free style during the creation process, they’re so casual with it. I don’t think it works,” Keiko continued explaining.

Van Gogh had a great passion for painting. He was really delighted when he started teaching himself to draw as he stated in his letter: “a change has come about in my drawing…I’m no longer so powerless in the face of nature as I used to be.”

Just two days before he shot himself, van Gogh even told his brother about his full attention on his recent works rather than any depression in the letter.

“He’s always tireless when creating new art works, even until his death, this dedication spirit is really admirable, and it’s him who inspires me to paint sunflowers as there’s always a moving life in his works” said Richard Wright, a British visitor.

This is the real van Gogh, who led a brightly flaming life by putting every heartbeat in his works, and continues to bring in people infinite inspirations all the time.

The first anti-terrorism decade for the US

A 23-year-old Nigerian man called Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab intended to detonate a bomb on a flight heading to Detroit, US on Christmas day. Fortunately, it failed.

For the US, the first decade in 21^st century is an anti-terrorism decade.

Beginning with “911” in 2001, ending with “Christmas bomb” in 2009, the US devoted much to anti-terrorism during this period. However, does it work?

Saddam Hussein does not have weapons of mass destruction. Al-Qaeda is still free to do whatever they want. What is most disappointing is that more and more people are dying because of the war resulted from America’s anti-terrorism declaration.

War could bring in peace, but there’s a high price to pay for it, such as people were dead, and houses were destroyed.

Is it necessary for the US to start wars under an anti-terrorism declaration?

In other words, is the boundary between justice and evil clear enough for America to lead the war, even despite whether they are fully prepared?

In general, the first anti-terrorism decade is unsuccessful, so where would the anti-terrorism move led by the US head to next decade?