An episode from 7/27/22: Tonight, I read from Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith’s ⁠Van Gogh: The Life⁠, sharing the sections covering Van Gogh’s ⁠two Starry Night paintings⁠, and his ⁠many paintings of sunflowers⁠. Before these images became cultural touchstones, they were the product of a largely unknown artist working in the south of France in the late 1880s. Each of these paintings point to van Gogh’s desire for a romantic relationship, sympathetic friends, or to just simply belong. All of these hopes were doomed. Where van Gogh failed in human company, he only succeeded, at great cost to himself, with his art.Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us on Substack, where you can also get our newsletter and other extras. You can also support the podcast by ordering any of my books: Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone.Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to [email protected].

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