A Van Gogh Dinner Party

Having dinner with Van Gogh is a dream of mine. He is one of the most influential artists of all time, and a favorite artist of mine. He possessed so much genius, so much creativity, and although he left the world too soon, he gave the world a beautiful gift in every single one of his paintings. I was at an art museum once, looking at a self portrait by Van Gogh, and I was struck by the reality that Van Gogh had stood in front of that painting, where I was standing now. His hands touched the space in front of me and created the work of art which was now inches in front of my face. It was almost difficult to fully acknowledge and to really take in. But it got me thinking about how much I would have loved to know him in real life. What would such a genius be like on an average day? These curiosities only heightened when I looked at the painting of his bedroom a few minutes later. It was such an ordinary space, yet painted with such emotion and story.

There’s a question that seems to come up somewhat often in life, particularly in ice-breaker situations: If you could have dinner with any person, living or dead, who would it be? My answer is Vincent Van Gogh.

And that is the inspiration for this dinner party, a party that pays homage to the brilliant artist. And he would, hopefully, be in attendance.

Here’s a little guide to how this dream dinner party would look:

The setting

Ideally, I would love to hop into Van Gogh’s cafe terrace painting and hold the dinner party there. But I think I’ll have to settle for something a little bit more realistic. If we can’t actually go into a Van Gogh painting, I’m gonna do my best to make it look like we did. There would be decorations of vibrant yellows and blues, with a plethora of sunflowers in vases on the table. And of course, there would be paintings on the wall. Outside the window, there would be a beautiful garden with orchids and irises and more sunflowers. As the evening went on, I would only hope that it was a clear and cloudless night, so as the sun set, we would all be able to enjoy the starry night.

The guests

First on my list would of course be Vincent Van Gogh himself. And if he wanted to bring his paint brushes along, that would be more than welcome. In fact, all guests would be encouraged to bring a sketchbook and a few paint brushes. After all, you never know when in inspiration will strike, and there’s a good chance it will strike at a Van Gogh dinner party. I would also invite every person who was a subject of a Van Gogh painting. I would love to ask them all what it was like to be painted by the incredible artist.

The food

The cuisine would be simple. A few of Van Gogh’s paintings feature fruits and vegetables and other foods on a table, but nothing too fancy. So, this would be a simple dinner party, with less focus on the food and more on the atmosphere and the guests. The guests would be able to enjoy fresh bread, apples, oranges, fish, and perhaps a little bit of wine while they painted and socialized.

And I hope that Vincent would be there, ready to talk about his creative process and his inspirations, because the world has so much to learn.

This is my dream dinner party.