Ordinarily, painting or drawing on walls, buildings, sidewalks, cars, trees, street signs, or just about anything else that isn’t a canvas or obvious art project would be considered inappropriate. Children are taught from the time they are young that they should color in their coloring books, draw on their paper, and paint on a canvas. But what about when an artist uses a larger “canvas” such as public property that doesn’t belong to them? Obviously scrawled obscenities or gang insignia would be recognized as inappropriate, but what about when the finished drawing is actually esthetically pleasing?

The truth is, there are thousands of exquisitely done pieces of art on building walls, buses, sidewalks, and trash dumpsters in cities all over America. But the artists will never be paid or even positively recognized for their creativity, in fact, if recognized at all they will likely go to jail. Graffiti is graffiti, whether it is an amateur rendition of stick figures playing baseball or a Van Gogh quality still-life painting…it doesn’t belong on property that does not belong to the artist.

Unfortunately, the question of “art or graffiti” becomes difficult to answer when one allows the quality of the piece to be considered. People are permitted to decorate their own property with art all they want, but not someone else’s, and certainly not property that is considered public domain. “Art or graffiti” is not a question answered by “quality” but by “ownership”. If it’s not yours, don’t decorate it.

Most people have seen these paintings more than once, or at least seen representations of them. They might not be sure who painted them but they know that the paintings are popular and that they have a lot of beauty and creativity. Van Gogh also painted Irises, and The Potato Eaters, two paintings that you don’t see represented as much in textbooks and other media. Van Gogh was born in the Netherlands to a family that was involved with the art world, so it seemed only natural that he would be involved with it, as well.

He went to school for theology but failed miserably and hated what he was doing. Eventually, however, he committed himself to his art, which was his true calling, but struggled with depression and mental illness, even being institutionalized for a period of time. Eventually, Van Gogh took his own life.

Starry Night
Sunflowers
Irises
The Potato Eaters