VAN GOGH'S dream

Vincent romanced yellow. The grey patches of his life met an overpowering force within him, which we observe as the 'madness' of a fiery spectrum of yellow. Van Gogh studied the French countryside with an utmost sincerity, expressing every tone of summer; he painted the colours of a European season that is in stark contrast to the winter that precedes it, not unlike our Spring.
Perhaps the colour of “Wheatfield with Crows”, arguably the last of Van Gogh's masterful creations, had been taken from the colours of our predominant Spring -- Boshonto. The vivacity is as if emanating off the same moistened brush from an identical palette, yet the context so boldly dissimilar, as unalike as the candid, yellow marigold in Spring of Dhaka and the summer hues of the French Wheatfield, bursting out in the open under the fiery sun, with crows flying overhead.
Falgun in urban Bengal soothes the senses after a chilly winter. Irrespective of the fact that winter plays a cameo in the local scene, Falgun still heralds the arrival of Spring. The bedazzled cuckoo, the songster for the season, coos in search of its mate. At Charukala's Bakultala thousands throng the premises dressed in a riot of colours, calmly ranging with in a wide spectrum of yellow and orange.
And it is perhaps this unique expression of colour that makes coming of the Spring so special amongst Bangladeshis. Out in the open, nature takes a routine turn, even evergreens shine in a vivacious green. The Spring blossoms in their splendid outburst of hues bring a notion of a cheerful time, after the glum of winter.
Would Falgun be his dream? We can never know. The closest we can get to Vincent colouring Falgun is to stand away for a while, observe and see for ourselves, the colours of the season.