The Van Gogh Effect
by Johanna Gatdula
The lightning games were on and Zeux, god of the Universe is intently engaged as he observed his creations compete in a physical competition they had engendered to keep themselves entertained. At the same time, he was blessing his last work of art for the day, another perfectly sculpted and balanced human that shall be ready and sent to the Earth first thing in the morning. He was in the middle of balancing his emotional and intelligence quotient when suddenly the game reaches its climax, as the star player is a second away from catching the lightning bat, prompting their win. Zeux, still in the midst of pouring the glossarium and agápi potions, was on the edge of his seat until a few seconds later he jumps for joy as he witness the player catch the winning bat. Unbeknownst to him, he poured the potions for longer than he intended to and usually does. As he watched the game close, he received an urgent notice from his right hand man, Yesu, requesting his presence in the main hall of the palace, thus he hastily poured a generous amount of the umění potion before he left his human absorb all of the potions overnight.
The next morning, the humans that he had created were deployed to the Earth. The last human of the batch that he created the night before turned out to be a little boy born to a middleclass couple in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. He was named Vincent. This little boy grew up quite normally but always seemed to be a peculiar one; other people including his parents appeared to have noticed little quirks here and there about the boy. Unfortunately, since his case is the only one among all of the people in town, others weren’t too pleased and accepting of the poor boy. Still, the boy carried on with his life and grew up.
At the age of fifteen, Vincent’s family experienced a life curveball as they struggled financially and he was forced to leave school and work instead. He stumbled upon his uncle’s art dealership and got a job there. This occurrence was a blessing in disguise to Vincent; in this phase of his life he discovered his incredible love for art and used it as way to express himself. Vincent had always known he was different and he had always been miserable because he felt like there was something wrong with him; the townspeople weren’t too fond of him, his parents couldn’t do anything about it and were mostly preoccupied. He had so much to say and so much to share yet he felt like he couldn’t because it wasn’t right… or at least that was what he was told. Him working for his uncle’s art dealership definitely showed him a path to pursue and embrace his uniqueness and even intensify it.
After a while, Vincent was transferred to London where he fell in love not only with the English culture but also one beautiful lassie. Unfortunately, when he proposed marriage to the lady, she rejected him. This event crushed Vincent and triggered a breakdown for him. Vincent was devastated, he was angry, he felt like his heart was being set on fire, the emotions that he was feeling were extreme, intense and frankly, unusual for other people. He had always been aware that he was anything but ordinary, thus growing up he had taught himself how to cope with his situation but this time it was too much, he couldn’t understand the hurt and anger that he felt anymore and in turn, he became a coltish, wary and bitter man. Nonetheless, he was every bit of creative as he was as a child and even more now.
He left England in haste a found the small but charming town of Arles in France. Though charmed by the city, there he was found and identified to be the odd and lonely man with a bad reputation, somehow the townspeople believed that he was the one bringing bad luck to their town thus, he is often accused whenever something bad occurs. Once again, he was an oddity amongst the sea of conformity, uniformity and mediocrity. Residing in a tiny but cozy chalet, he did nothing but paint, care for his sunflowers and stare at the sky all day, every single day.
At night, he would visit the church by the river and paint the night away as he stare at the beautiful night sky; he would often take a break and just appreciate the beautiful picture that the image before him portrayed. These evenings were very special to him, he always felt like the voice of the colors were much louder, clearer and calmer as it sings him a beautiful lullaby.
Recently, there was a gruesome murder of a young woman whose body was found in the fields just a few kilometers away from Vincent’s shack. Unsurprisingly, he was once again being blamed for the unfortunate event, although this time it’s not just about the alleged bad luck that he brings but he is actually being accused of killing the lass. The townspeople are now on the hunt for Vincent and he is extremely troubled about this occurrence, he has absolutely no idea what to do.
Meanwhile, while perusing the latest issue of “Human Fails”, Zeux received a report from Yesu about a problem regarding a certain Vincent van Gogh in the city of Arles, who is apparently a victim of misjudgment. The said man is an unusual one; all of the town’s people had labeled him crazy and considers him to be the one causing all of the suspicious bad luck that is happening in the town. They had blamed him for the death of the old man from the corner who serves the best soup in all of France because he died three days after he had placed his first order. Arles also faced a draught a few months ago, which was again brought upon Vincent’s shoulders because they believe that he had brought bad energy to the river where he often paints by and spends his evenings alone. Most recently though is the murder of a young woman who had been killed near the fields leading to the place where Vincent resides, and since the townspeople are already extremely miffed and suspicious of Vincent, they automatically believed that Vincent was the culprit and that his new scheme is to prey on young beautiful women.
Intrigued and bothered by the situation, Zeux tried to recall the time he created Vincent since there were obviously anomalies in the creation of his person. A wide-eyed Zeux suddenly is reminded of the night when the lightning games were going on. He suspects that he might have incorporated an abnormal and unbalanced amount of the glossarium, agápi and umění potions, respectively responsible for creativity, love and art. He could just imagine the beautiful mess that he created and the horror and rejection he faces considering how special he is amongst the pool of uniformly proportioned humans that he had always created.
Zeux had come to a decision, he will help poor Vincent recover from this incident and redeem himself as the person that he truly is, a brave, beautiful yet torn soul filled with so much love and passion. Zeux realized that lately he has being growing bored of the happenings in the Earth since there seems to be no variety and flavor to the characteristics of the human kind. People just mind themselves and the norm; frankly, Vincent truly is the sole embodiment of difference, he was a dot of rainbow in a sky of blue and grey. He believed that maybe, just maybe, Vincent would be the revolution of change, that after this mission, the people would realize and utilize their talent to the full of its potential.
Later that night, Zeux travelled to the planes of the Earth and landed in front of Vince’s door. He knocks a couple of times before a disheveled, tired and frowning man opens the door to check who was knocking. Vincent dreaded opening the door because he believed that it would be the townspeople interrogating again. Imagine his surprise when a tall man in a full-white well-tailored suit with a rich thick beard greeted him. Zeux greeted him hello and Vince asked what he needed but Zeux insisted that he let him in and he shall explain the situation, oddly enough Vincent barely hesitated to let the strange man in but he knew deep in his heart that this is definitely the start to a very long strange night.
The two sat face to face on the single couches available in Vincent’s receiving area. Zeux didn’t want to scare Vincent off since the man already seems shaken enough. He started off their conversation trying to ask Vincent how he’s been and weirdly Vincent didn’t hesitate in answering the old man’s friendly questions. After a couple of minutes, assuring that Vincent had calmed down a bit, Zeux began to try to introduce himself, he slowly explained who he was, what he does and how they are related to each other. Vincent, as expected, found it difficult to ingest all of the information that the man, Zeux, it took him couple of minutes to calm his wildly beating heart and his rattled mind. He didn’t want to believe what this man was trying to tell him yet he didn’t think that the said man was lying to him.
Zeux then began explaining to him about is own creation and how differently yet beautifully he was made in hopes of shedding some light over the mystery of Vincent’s persona and peculiarity that the man himself had questioned his whole life. He also told him the purpose of his unsolicited visit and that is to help Vincent overcome the struggles that he is currently faced with. Zeux could only imagine how overwhelmed Vincent must be thus he suggested that they retire for the night and begin on their mission first thing in the morning. But Vincent, being the curious and chary man that he is, stopped him and requested for him to do some sort of miracle just to settle the slight doubt that still settles in the back of his mind. With a confident snap of his fingers, Zeux made a gigantic lightning appear and burn a tree just in front of Vincent’s shack, which they witnessed, through the window. After that, Zeux swaggered his way to the bedroom, leaving a gaping Vincent alone in the receiving area. When Zeus entered Vincent’s bedroom, he was able to view and admire a lot of his artworks, he stared at each one of the in awe as he thinks to himself how beautiful this human truly was.
The next day, Zeux woke Vincent up early in the morning and dragged him to the busy market place, just beside the vineyard of where most of the community does their business. He commanded him to bring one of his blank canvases and some paint. A confused and rather annoyed Vincent had no other choice but to comply to his commands. As they reached the busiest part of the town, people started staring at them both in awe and horror as they witness Vincent, the crazy criminal accompanied by a glorious looking man who they cannot help but admire and bow down to. At this point, Zeux and Vincent stopped in the middle of the street as people of the town begin surrounding them. Vincent was mortified and was frozen on his spot as Zeux called out the attention of the people and astonishingly, they all quieted down, the power that this stranger held over him and the townspeople truly amazed him. When Zeux was sure that they had the attention of every single person in the crowd, he called out to Vincent. He asked Vincent to start painting, yes painting, in front of everyone; he asked to create an image of the beauty that he is able to find in the picture that is right in front of him. Although confused, Vincent obliged and grabbed a chair where he can place his canvas on, he looked up and saw the red vineyard, then he glances at Zeux, seeking for comfort and encouragement, which the latter gave through as small nod and smile, that was all he needed then he let his hands work its magic, he let his emotions run wild as he paints the beautiful image of Arles and its people, that for the first time since he came to the town, he was able to admire without being spat at and bothered.
The townspeople watched in awe as they witness this odd man work the paintbrush skillfully and produce beautiful colors that they could only imagine in their wildest dreams, they watched him, stared and admired him, not a single sound came out of them, just pure love and admiration towards the an they have always called mad, they watched him until he was finished. Vincent kept on painting, completely tuning out everything but the beauty and love that he sees and translates through his artwork. Eventually, he was done, when he looked up, he saw the faces of the people and saw the love, empathy and understanding he had always craved. Immediately, his eyes wander around frantically looking for Zeux who was suddenly missing. Suddenly he felt something tickle his palm, he opened it and found a small note that read, “You didn’t need me, all you needed was an opportunity to show your beauty. The world wasn’t ready for someone as beautiful as you Vincent, now they are. Carpe diem.” Vincent was in full-blown tears at this point, as every single person in the crowd comes up to him, hug and kiss him as they express their deepest apologies and proclamations of love.
Ever since that day, the people and the town underwent a lot of changes, suddenly, everyone was trying to pursue something out of the box and their comfort zone, they started seeking further knowledge, they started to learn and teach more and most importantly, they started to appreciate the variety of beauty the world that surrounds them offer. There were a lot of adjustments made to the structure and processes of the town. Everything became much brighter, happier, more spontaneous and full of love when the people decided they wanted to paint the colours of the rainbow across humanity. That is the van Gogh effect.
Notes:
This mythological narrative was inspired by the life of Vincent Van Gogh and the Doctor Who episode “Vincent and the Doctor”.
All images and GIFs used in this post are not owned by the writer.
References:
B. (n.d.). Vincent van Gogh Biography. Retrieved January 26, 2016, from http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695
The Belligerent Pacifist 
very good! 4.0 for this entry.
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