Aesop Rock - On Failure lyrics

Ian Matthias Bavitz [Bazooka Tooth]

[Aesop Rock - On Failure lyrics]

I was thinking about Van Gogh recently
I was never really a huge
Fan of his paintings but, I wouldn't say I
Actively disliked them either
It's just never been my thing
I found myself thinking about a
Specific Van Gogh painting
Which I've since learned is
Called "Landscape with Snow"
I looked it up to see if it still looked
As I remembered and it pretty much did

But this time, I decided I liked it
Oh, my God i can't explain why

This all led me to Van Gogh's Wikipedia page
I wanted to find out if history
Considered him primarily a
Landscape, portrait, or still-life painter
He did them all
I browsed the page and didn't
Really find my answer
But, I did come across the following sentence

"Van Gogh was unsuccessful during
His lifetime and
Was considered a madman and a failure"

Damn damn i mean
I kinda knew that much about him
Wild life, wasn't famous until after he died
Etc but even considering all that
I kept going back to that sentence

Van Gogh started painting at 27
And only worked for about 9
Years before committing suicide
And while that's not that long
He did make around 900
Paintings and 1000 drawings

I guess I say all that to say this
As a guy who recently decided he
Somewhat likes a single painting
By Vincent Van Gogh for reasons
I can't quite describe
It does make me sad to see
A man with mental health issues
And a passion for art summed up
As an "unsuccessful madman failure"
Even if he was in
Fact financially unsuccessful
And kind of a madman

A failure? I dunno
I kinda like that "Landscape with Snow"
And I'm glad he painted it

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