*Listen to this song as you read*

Vincent Van Gogh is my favourite artist. I grew up with having a couple of pieces in my home. It’s just something that’s so blissful about this piece that I can’t quite put my finger on. I’m not one of those people who will use all huge and descriptive words like the artsy-fartsy people talking about  *read in British accent* “Oh look how the brush strokes are so flowy, and the colours represent and deep and inner powerful presence that is laid out on different layers on the canvas….” BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! Let me be real and tell it like it is; the reason why I love this piece of art right here so much is simply because it’s perfect. When I was a kid, I never really saw the stars much because when you live in the city, the lights that shone in your room were the street lamps (and that’s still pretty relevant today), and people look into the sky and just lose themselves into space.

My stars were city lights. The logo on the local hospital a few kilometeres away, the cars that illuminated the busy streets, the signs at the next door convenience store, and the airplanes in the sky (that were NOT shooting stars, Hayley Williams. NO!). There are many inspirations that come from artwork; I went to the museum a lot and I was always exposed to classical music, so the passion built from there. I’m a simple human being, and the dreams I want were formulated from the streets.

In this piece, the stars are high, bright, and the flame burns hotter than the sun that gives us light everyday. The stars are seemingly dancing in the sky and the world as we look up are its audience. That’s how I look at it.

I remember an episode of Boy Meets World when Corey & Topanga were having personality clashes and dealing with a break up (because of the snow bunny Lauren), and she brought him to this piece in an art gallery. Corey was being immature about it at first reaction, but then after Topanga gave him a piece of her mind, Corey was indubitably forced to learn that this painting was more than just paint on a canvas, his answer would require him to do some self-reflection and have to really show how much he cared for the one he loved.

That popular culture reference behind this painting pretty much solidified my everlasting love of it, just because of what it really represents: the theme of romance. I’m not a romantic guy, but artwork is just so powerful that it can more ways than one, consume the emotions of the person witnessing it at hand. It speaks volumes to one that can really look and appreciate what has been captured by the late great Vincent Van Gogh.

That’s My Word & It STiXX