On Failure Songtext
von Aesop Rock

I was thinking about Van Gogh recently
I was never really a huge fan of his paintings
But I wouldn′t say I actively disliked them either
It's just never been my thing
I found myself thinking about a specific Van Gogh painting
Which I′ve since learned is called "Landscape with Snow"
I looked it up to see if it still looked as I remembered
And it pretty much did
But this time, I decided I liked it (oh, my gosh)
I can't explain why (you need to leave)

This all led me to Van Gogh's Wikipedia page
I wanted to find out if history considered him
Primarily a landscape, portrait, or still-life painter
He did them all
I browsed the page and didn′t really find my answer
But I did come across the following sentence
"Van Gogh was unsuccessful during his lifetime
And was considered a madman and a failure" (damn)
Damn


I mean, I kinda knew that much about him
Wild life, wasn′t famous until after he died, etc
But even considering all that, I kept going back to that sentence
Van Gogh started painting at 27
And only worked for about 9 years before committing suicide
And while that's not that long
He did make around 900 paintings and 1000 drawings
I guess I say all that to say this
As a guy who recently decided
He somewhat likes a single painting by Vincent van Gogh

For reasons I can′t quite describe
It does make me sad to see a man with mental health issues
And a passion for art summed up as an "unsuccessful madman failure"
Even if he was in fact financially unsuccessful, and kind of a madman
A failure? I don't know
I kinda like that Landscape with Snow, and I′m glad he painted it

Understand what I'm saying?
I guess so, but
Understand what I′m saying?
I guess so, but