Vincent Van Gough is arguably the most well known artist on the planet, crossing divides in class and culture. You do not have to be an art snob or from the middle or upper classes to have heard of Vincent. He appeals to us because not only was he extremely talented and different in his approach to his art but he was a lost soul. Vincent needed to be accepted, loved and informed of how talented he was. Unfortunately he never received the positive attention he so craved from anybody that mattered and this led to his meteoric downward spiral and eventual death.

As well as being a creative genius who was slowly self-destructing, Vincent was a man who was painfully aware of the poverty that surrounded him where ever he traveled and at one point seriously thought of becoming a missionary. He wanted to help the poor and make their existence at least tolerable.

Could you imagine a man of this intensity, passion and creativity with digital technology at his fingertips? The haunting images of the poor and the harrowing portrayal of his life in his darker moments would have been captured for eternity.

Vincent would have gloried in the fact that the common man could afford to capture moments or events in their lives and talk about the images over a drink.

The fact that these images could be printed on canvas would have made him chuckle. Or would it have made him mad? Vincent worked for days and weeks to make sure his colours were as near as possible to the image he was portraying. How would he feel about a process that takes minutes to go from image to canvas? Alas we will never know.

One thing that is certain Vincent would have attempted to stamp his mark all over the digital world. What a rollercoaster ride that would have been.

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