Vincent Who?

At dinner tonight Tyler excitedly told us about today’s art class. He told us all about an artist they learned about. According to Tyler, the artist is very famous, not alive (i.e. dead), lived far away in a different country, and made his paintings by using lines rather than solid colors. He told us about a painting of a bedroom and another of a tree (that “kind of looked like a castle”) with circle stars. We were really impressed by how much he remembered, but he couldn’t remember the artist’s name. Ron and I couldn’t figure out who he was talking about (those History of Art classes were years ago!). He kept scrunching up his forehead, trying to figure it out. Still frustrated, he finally said, “Well, I know his last name, I just can’t remember his first name!” Ron said, “Well, tell us his last name.” Tyler replied, “Van Gogh.” Ron and I both cracked up. I said, “Is his first name Vincent?” Tyler practically jumped out of his chair, “Yes! That’s it!” Still laughing, Ron tried to explain that this particular last name was all that was necessary. It really was very funny (probably more in a “you had to be there” sort of way). It seems unreal to me to be sitting at dinner discussing paintings by Van Gogh with my six year old son.