THE MADNESS OF GENIUS

In honour of history's greatest artists, Montblanc takes craftsmanship to extremes and launches the Masters of Art series, with the first edition celebrating the mad genius of Vincent van Gogh

- KC YAP 

MANY OF THE GREATEST WORKS and discoveries in history have often come from mad geniuses and tortured artists, giving us good reason to believe that creativity goes hand in hand with mental illness. Notable examples include bean-averse math philosopher Pythagoras, reclusive obsessive-compulsive Nikolas Tesla, suicidal confessional poet Sylvia Plath, germaphobe aviator Howard Hughes, bipolar novelist Ernest Hemingway, and anxiety-ridden Expressionist painter Edvard Munch.

The most sensational of them all is perhaps the severely depressed poverty-stricken Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh who infamously cut off his own left ear following a fallout with fellow artist Paul Gaugin. Despite the mental torment that earned him the nickname "Le Fou Roux" (The Red-headed Madman) and drove him to suicide, Van Gogh is posthumously celebrated for paving the way for modern art, most notably with his bold use of colour and the impasto technique featuring broad, impassioned brushwork to create depth, emotion and movement.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Van Gogh Museum in 2023, the champion of writing instruments, the arts and culture Montblanc launched the Masters of Art series of highly crafted limited-edition designs featuring proportions based on the golden ratio – in honour of the immortal contribution of history’s greatest artists – with the first edition dedicated to Van Gogh. The Dutch painter is introduced into the collection through five limited-edition writing instruments, each inspired by a different period in his life, featuring elements of his most well-known works from that period. Montblanc cooperated with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to ensure that the Masters of Art Homage to Vincent van Gogh Limited Editions align with the museum’s insight into his work and life.