SKU:
Ríos de aire
Ríos de aire
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About
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✱ Available on June 1, 2026 ✱ (The exclusivity period for the commissioning consortium expires at this time.) Vincent van Gogh’s often-told history includes his “unsuccessfulness” as a painter in his lifetime, how he cut off his ear, and his struggle with mental illness. But what is not often discussed is his beautiful approach to the world and to others; he loved deeply, he was generous to those in need, and sought beauty wherever he looked. Yes, he had major battles with his mental illness (and what many doctors believe was temporal lobe epilepsy), but most importantly: Vincent taught us to see the beauty of the world in a new way. Walt Whitman, though living and creating an ocean away, shared many similarities with Vincent (and in his letters, Vincent wrote about reading and admiring Whitman). They were both largely self-taught and well-read, they sought jobs where they could help others, and saw the world in a way many people did not — a unique insight that shone through in their art. I imagine that Vincent was deeply inspired by Whitman’s words, and I feel this is evident in the scenes that Vincent captured in his paintings. In “Vincent’s Sky,” I attempt to capture Vincent’s emotional state surrounding three of his paintings, influenced by the words of Whitman. I used a musical cryptogram, assigning pitches to letters, to spell words that would inform the musical content. For example, “VINCENT” is spelled with the notes A, B, G, C, E, G, F.
 I. Olive Trees This painting pulsates with yellow rays emanating from the sun over a field of olive trees. Vincent associated yellow with happiness, and Whitman’s text for this movement celebrates color and light.  While this movement opens with a soaring admiration for the beauty of the earth, Vincent’s thoughts are soon overtaken by hallucinations, ghostly voices, and chaos. The dark, stormy sky and presence of crows (a symbol of death) foreshadow difficulties ahead. Vincent wrote in his letters about having hallucinations of the Horla during his psychotic episodes. The Horla, a story written by Guy de Maupassant in 1886, depicts the possession of the main character by a supernatural being after he waved to a “superb three-mast ship,” and how this being gradually takes over his mind.  III. The Starry Night Vincent’s most iconic painting of the night sky is adapted from the view from his bedroom window at the Saint-Paul Asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence where he admitted himself after a severe mental health crisis. Vincent’s fight against the “silent shadows” of his inner world come to life in the beauty of this night scene, in which the sky swirls with color and the stars shimmer with light. Whitman’s words bring us the hopeful twinkling of the stars in the face of life’s darkness. Suggested Programming: A Silence Haunts Me Vincent's Sky Full Resolution Images of the Paintings: |
| Instrumentation |
Players are one-on-a-part: Flute 1, 2, & 3 (Fl. 1 doubles piccolo) Oboe 1 & 2 Bassoon 1 & 2 Bb Clarinet 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Bass Clarinet Alto Saxophone 1 & 2 Tenor Saxophone Baritone Saxophone Bb Trumpet 1, 2, & 3 F Horn 1, 2, 3, 4 Trombone 1 & 2 Bass Trombone Euphonium Tuba Double Bass SATB Choir Harp (optional) Piano Percussion (7 Players): Timpani, Crotales, Gloskenspiel, Vibraphone, Marimba, Triangle (3 small), Mark Tree, Clash Cymbals, Suspended Cymbals (small and reg.), Tam-Tam, Low Tom, Bass Drum (concert and marching/kick drum). |
| Duration | 16:00 |
| Year Completed | 2025 |
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Consortium:
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| Text |
Vincent's Sky Adapted from letters of Vincent van Gogh and poetry of Walt Whitman. (Whitman texts in regular font, van Gogh in italics.) I. Olive Trees Shine! Shot gold, maroon and violet, dazzling silver, emerald, fawn, Prepare my lengthening shadows,
The whole of nature is so indescribably beautiful. My life is under attack at the very root. Il me semble absurde que les hommes veuillent paraitre autre chose que ce qu’ils sont. Un soleil dans la tete et un orage dans le coeur. Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running,
I hear you whispering there, O stars of heaven. Up through the darkness, the ravening clouds shall not long be victorious. The stars are immortal, they shall shine out again. They will endure. And over all, the sky—the sky! far out of reach, breaking out, the eternal stars. My lengthening shadows…my starry nights. |
| Donations | A portion of the proceeds from this work will be donated to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. |
