Welcome -- Bienvenue!

Welcome to my blog, where I'll be posting and sharing my thoughts on art, travel, popular culture, and of course, Vincent van Gogh. Why "Van Gogh's Chair"? For Van Gogh, chairs symbolized friendship and community. When he furnished his yellow house in Arles in summer 1888, among the things he bought were twelve rustic chairs for the colony of artists he hoped to create (only one of those artists ever came--Paul Gauguin--but that's another story!). In his paintings, empty chairs suggest the need for companionship and understanding ("Night Cafe on the Place Lamartine," "Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles"), and in the famous "Van Gogh's Chair"(National Gallery, London), the presence of the artist himself.

So pull up your own chair. Settle in with your cup of coffee, your pipe if you smoke one (Vincent certainly did), or even a glass of absinthe (It's legal again in the US). And join the conversation.