Ear Today, Gone Tomorrow: Van Gogh’s Guide to Artistic Failure

About this episode

This episode explores the complex relationship between artists and their recognition, focusing on the lives of Vincent Van Gogh, Artemisia Gentileschi, and George Sand.

If you’re an artist, when would you like recognition to strike? Do you want it to be in your lifetime, only to be forgotten decades after your death? Or do you want to remain undiscovered, with your story potentially echoing for centuries after you’ve been discovered posthumously? These are some of the thorny questions Dan and Elizabeth consider in this episode about artistic failure. Together, they trace the stories of artists whose lives don’t neatly match up with the reputations their works have gathered: French writer George Sand, and the painters Vincent Van Gogh, and Artemisia Gentileschi. Each artist presents a differing experience of the kaleidoscope that is artistic failure: Van Gogh and Gentileschi suffered great personal anguish yet have given the world canonical paintings, while Sand was one of the most popular novelists of the 19th century – only to be cast out of the canon in the next century. So what would you rather: Acclaim now, or acclaim posthumously? – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries…

People in this episode

Hosts: Dan, Elizabeth

Topics covered

• artistic failure
• recognition
• posthumous acclaim
• historical artists
• cultural reputation

Keywords

• artistic failure
• Van Gogh
• George Sand
• Artemisia Gentileschi
• posthumous recognition
• cultural history

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