Something I read here made me understand a bit about why I am so attracted to Van Gogh’s paintings. He taught himself to paint and draw before learning from anybody else, because he didn’t want to lose his passion and individual style. For me Van Gogh has really achieved that balance between creativity and abstraction on the one hand, and not being so abstract as to be completely random splodges on a canvas on the other hand. Something about his stuff is just plain awesome.