Volume V- Issue 11,  December 2006
Published by Llumina Press

Llumina Press

Contact Person: Robyn Benson

Address: 7915 W. McNab Rd.; Tamarac, FL 33321

Telephone:  (866) 229-9244          Fax:  (954) 726-0902
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Van Gogh’s Madness Revealed

Fort Lauderdale, Date 2006: Madness is not an unusual result of living. Whatever the manifestation, whatever the reasoning behind it, reports are rife throughout history about such extremists. Rarely, however, are they lauded and admired. No one can doubt that Vincent Van Gogh was mad; one does not normally cut off  one’s ear as a lighthearted prank, but his insanity impelled him to create some of the most magnificent art our world has ever known. In his book, Night Café, Martin Foster shares his account of compelling possibilities for Van Gogh’s lunacy.

The Night Café is located in the town of Arle, France.  In 1888, Vincent Van Gogh moved to Arle from Paris to paint the beautiful landscape.  Some of his well-known works from Arle were Sunflowers and Trees in Bloom.  One night, he decided to paint the inside of an Arle café and called the work The Night Café.  The book Night Café is a fact-based fiction about what happened to him while painting his famous work.  Night Café is filled with illusions and trips into Van Gogh’s unfortunate mental state at that time of his life. 

Some people have blamed his bizarre behavior on his consumption of both artist paint and absinthe. A better explanation may be in an excerpt from Van Gogh himself in a letter to his brother Theo on September 9, 1888: “In my picture of the Night Café, I have tried to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad or commit a crime.  So I have tried to express the Powers of darkness.”

Soon after, the artist went mad, cutting his off his ear for a local prostitute.  Perhaps his ruin was the prompting of the devil.

About the Author:

Martin P. Foster has written four plays. His latest is a comedy, "Hook or Crook," about an amateur playwright who tries, with his girlfriend Peaches, to convince Neil Simon to re-write one of his so-so plays into a Broadway Hit.

A native Philadelphian, Mr. Foster graduated from Drexel University.  He is married to a beautiful girl from Georgia (his Southern Peach) and resides in Huntsville, Alabama.