Artist biographies have long been a point of interest for me. As a child, I would always choose an artist for biography fairs and nonfiction book reports, and in my own free time I would seek out ways to learn more about what was behind the music I played and paintings I saw. Even going to museums and reading the info tag next to works was fascinating, especially when a wing is big enough that you can start to compose a story and timeline from the works themselves. Recently, though, with various new art installations popularized by social media and people in my life having interest, I got a surge of motivation to learn more about them once again. What possessed me, I don’t know, but Vincent Van Gogh in particular seemed like the right choice to study. Maybe it was how wacky his life seemed in books I read as a child, or when one of my brother’s used him as a biography fair and I got new, even odder snippets of information (like putting candles on the rim of his straw hat to paint at night, although this detail is more legend than fact). Not to mention, with true crime channels focusing on the circumstances of his death, I wanted to know more.