Art Masterpiece Program

I am going for training to be a Art Masterpiece guide. What that will enable me to do is go into my daughter's class every other week with a famous piece of artwork to present to the class for discussion. I remember being in Elementary school, 5th grade to be exact, and a volunteer Mom came in and talked with us through a program similar to this. That was my first exposure to famous paintings and I've never forgotten it. This has re-kindled a forgotten passion in me. I love art and I love learning more about the Artists that made them famous. I am having so much fun with this! I took Art History in College and really loved it. I still have my books and my children have looked through them numerous times. My daughter really likes "Van Gogh's Starry Night" which I have pictured above, pictured to the right is a photo of Vincent Van Gogh. Through my brushing up on my Van Gogh knowledge I learned he actually initially sketched Starry Night while in an asylum. I think the fact that he'd cut off his ear is pretty commonly known, however I'd thought he'd cut his entire ear off, it was only his lobe, FYI. He did this following a argument with his friend, fellow painter Gauguin. Going back to his youth he had been sent away to boarding school at about age 11 and was distressed by the separation from his family. Van Gogh aspired to be a Minister and also translated the Bible into English, French and German. He also did missionary work. Upon pursuing his studies to become a Minister, he failed and ventured down several different avenues. He lived a sorted life, had a lot of ups and downs to put it politely. As a side note, he was named Vincent after his grandfather but also following the stillborn death of a brother, a year prior also named Vincent. Some think that may have had an impact on him. He eventually attended the Royal Academy of Art, was rejected by a cousin whom he wanted to marry, lived with a prostitute whom eventually went back to her trade. He contracted some sexually transmitted diseases, and did quite a bit of painting the last decade of his life. I can see he put a lot of his feelings into his paintings. I feel he must have been a passionate painter. Starry Night is one example of that. He had been quoted as saying He wanted to be an artist while in God's service "to try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads to God; one man wrote or told it in a book; another in a picture." Sadly he took his own life but his works have lived on.