Quote of the day by ‘Starry Night’ painter Vincent van Gogh on his birth anniversary: ‘There is nothing more truly artistic than…’

Vincent van Gogh’s art is instantly recognizable for its swirling skies, blazing yellows, and urgent brushstrokes. Yet beneath the color and movement lies a quieter, deeper pursuit: an attempt to understand and love people. Before fully committing to painting, Van Gogh tried to become a preacher and worked among poor mining communities in Belgium, sharing their hardship. That early calling, to serve, to empathize, never left him. It simply found a new language on canvas.

Born in 1853 in Zundert, the Netherlands, into a religious family, Van Gogh’s father was a pastor. Before becoming an artist, he worked as an art dealer, a teacher, and a missionary among coal miners in Belgium. He began painting seriously in his late twenties, first producing dark, earthy works like The Potato Eaters.

Seeking light and color, he moved to Arles in southern France in 1888, where his style transformed into bold brushstrokes and vivid yellows and blues. There he invited Paul Gauguin to join him, but their volatile friendship ended after a breakdown during which Van Gogh famously injured his ear.


Struggling with mental illness, he later admitted himself to the asylum at Saint-Rémy, where he painted Starry Night. Supported emotionally and financially by his brother Theo, Van Gogh created over 2,000 artworks in a decade. He died in 1890 at 37, largely unrecognized, but is now a central figure of Post-Impressionism.

Quote of the day

“There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”

Meaning of Van Gogh’s quote

Van Gogh reframes art as an act of empathy. Technique, style, and beauty matter, but they are secondary to the artist’s capacity to care. To “love people” is to observe them without judgment, to notice their struggles, dignity, and quiet humanity. For Van Gogh, this love was the foundation of authenticity.

This idea is visible in The Potato Eaters, where peasants sit under dim light sharing a simple meal. There is no glamour, only respect. He painted laborers, farmers, postmen, and villagers with the same intensity that others reserved for royalty. Loving people meant seeing worth where society often did not.

The quote also speaks beyond painting. Any creative act, writing, music, film, design, gains depth when rooted in human understanding. Art that connects endures because it arises from compassion, not display.

More memorable quotes by Van Gogh

• “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
  
• “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
  
• “I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.”
  
• “Normality is a paved road: it’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.”
  
• “The way to know life is to love many things.”