Last week I posted about Rachel Maddow’s coverage of The Great Oklahoma Picture Diss, when a mystery legislator (later revealed to be Lewis Moore of Arcadia) actually moved the picture of President Obama, so offensive is even his symbolic presence in the chamber to some of the conservatives playing at government there. She called them “paste-eaters” which I got a big kick out of, because I’m a bit of an eight-year-old myself sometimes.
And in my twisted mind, it made me think of The Potato Eaters, the Vincent van Gogh painting of Dutch peasants. I shared my mental image with someone with actual artistic talent, in this case, Mitch™* of the brilliant Phototune image blog, and this is the result.
click on image for larger version
Apologies to van Gogh, and to Dutch peasants, and potatoes, and paste. They all are blameless and generally wonderful to have around, unlike these cretins who shame all Oklahoma with their idiotic backwards-thinking antics.
* Manipulated images to cause havoc
Classic, she should use this in an episode. I sent it to 2 contacts I know there.
PEASANTS?? DO PEASANTS WEAR HOOP SKIRTS?? WELL DO THEY ?? HERE I WUZZ THINKING THEY’S DOOING PURDY GOOD. WELL CEPT 4 THERE POLITICS.
MITCH
PEASANTS?? DO PEASANTS WEAR HOOP SKIRTS?? WELL DO THEY ?? HERE I WUZZ THINKING THEY’S DOOING PURDY GOOD. WELL CEPT 4 THERE POLITICS.
MITCH
PS= THANX AGAIN.
SORRIE 4 THE CAPS. U SEE- KEYBOARD DRIVERS IS SPYWAREZ= SO I DALETED EM. BUT I STILL GOT COPY/PASTE.
PS= THANX AGAIN.
SORRIE 4 THE CAPS. U SEE- KEYBOARD DRIVERS IS SPYWAREZ= SO I DALETED EM. BUT I STILL GOT COPY/PASTE.
Yes, peasants. Not a hoop skirt in sight. When he painted people, van Gogh’s models were poor people (including himself), farmers, other laborers, prostitutes and, of course, his artist friends and doctors.
The name itself, The Potato Eaters, says it. In the middle ages, potatoes were considered lowly vegetables and rarely consumed by those with the means to buy something better; this cultural stigma was still somewhat lingering even in the mid 19th Century.
The artist intended to show that those who toiled in the dirt to grow potatoes and then ate them with the same hands, had dignity and nobility far beyond what they were afforded by society. He loved the poor and elevated them in his work. In the time it was made, this painting horrified the art world — or the small part of that world that saw it (Vincent tried to get it in the Salon). It is impossible to estimate the painting’s value now, because the Van Gogh museum will never sell it (it’s considered his first great work). But it’s millions for sure.
Yes, peasants. Not a hoop skirt in sight. When he painted people, van Gogh’s models were poor people (including himself), farmers, other laborers, prostitutes and, of course, his artist friends and doctors.
The name itself, The Potato Eaters, says it. In the middle ages, potatoes were considered lowly vegetables and rarely consumed by those with the means to buy something better; this cultural stigma was still somewhat lingering even in the mid 19th Century.
The artist intended to show that those who toiled in the dirt to grow potatoes and then ate them with the same hands, had dignity and nobility far beyond what they were afforded by society. He loved the poor and elevated them in his work. In the time it was made, this painting horrified the art world — or the small part of that world that saw it (Vincent tried to get it in the Salon). It is impossible to estimate the painting’s value now, because the Van Gogh museum will never sell it (it’s considered his first great work). But it’s millions for sure.