Later Than Life: Posthumous Pioneers

In his lifetime, Van Gogh created more than 2000 pieces of extraordinary artwork. Of those, he sold one. Hard to believe when you consider his instantly recognisable style evident in his most famous pieces, Starry Night and Sunflower; he truly is the sad, seminal example of a man for whom success camer later than life itself. Rich colours, thick brushstrokes and a dreamy element belie the years of poverty and mental illness Van Gogh endured, culminating in his suicide aged 37. One of Groucho Marx’s most famous quotes, “All geniuses die young” can sadly be applied here – there seems to be a recurring theme in brilliant youngsters for whom the intensity of their work and the amount of themselves they put into it becomes fatal in some way or another. Art critic Octave Mirbeau remarked that Van Gogh’s suicide was an "infinitely sadder loss for art ... even though the populace has not crowned to a magnificent funeral, and poor Vincent van Gogh, whose demise means the extinction of a beautiful flame of genius, has gone to his death as obscure and neglected as he lived.” It is heartbreaking to think that Van Gogh’s contemporaries considered him a madman and a failure when his stylistic appeal is so influential and enjoyable today.

Author of the Millennium series (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest), Larsson died a mere two years before his three novels were discovered and published, winning several international literary prizes and becoming record-breaking bestsellers. A passionate journalist and efficacious far-left political activist in Sweden, Larsson was an intensely private character – few people even knew he was writing novels, and it is thought that he had originally written the manuscripts simply for his own pleasure. Inspired entirely by real life events, characters and political concerns, the stories resonated so strongly with audiences that they were also adapted into Swedish and Hollywood films, with a Swedish TV mini series. At only 50 years old, Larsson died unexpectedly from a heart attack, leaving a fourth unfinished manuscript which was completed by David Lagercrantz and published in August last year. It is thought he intended to write a further six books before his tragic departure in 2004.

Contemporary arts writer Jonathan Jones once described William Blake as “far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced”. Blake was an English poet, painter, printmaker and notorious dreamer. Working creatively in both literature and art, Blake’s vision is virtually unparalleled; not only could he write beautiful poetry but he also illustrated many sophisticated works, including those by Chaucer, Dante and even the Book of Job. Blake was a romantic, and although often patronised for his idiosyncratic views and eccentric ideas, he is highly respected today for his unparalleled singularity that makes him difficult to classify; often referred to as ‘Pre-Romantic’ and maintaining a part in the Romantic movement, Rossetti (born the year after Blake’s death) called him a ‘glorious luminary’ as a result of his influence on art and literature and his irreplaceable, unsurpassable uniqueness. As with many posthumously success stories, Blake was undeniably ahead of his time, questioning the status quo through his work and commenting on the treatment of racial minorities, gender equality and the corruption of the Church, perhaps resulting in his isolation and dismissal at the time and his more appreciation today.

Although singer-songwriter Redding enjoyed some success during his lifetime, reaching a broad audience in America and Europe during several tours and recording a number of compilations and live albums, it was his posthumous 1967 song Sittin’ on The Dock of the Bay that gave him his most famous hit, topping the charts at number 3. Redding, known for his rhythm and blues and soul, had been inspired by The Beatles Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band album and wanted to expand his musical style; his wife Zelma and his label tried to prevent him from doing so but Redding followed his instincts, believing that it would be his best song yet. Just three days later, 26 year old Redding died in a terrible plane crash in Wisconsin, leaving behind Zelma and three children. The album Dock of The Bay was the first posthumous album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart, and the song went on to win two Grammy awards. The bittersweet irony in the song lyrics “I left my home in Georgia/Headed for the Frisco Bay/ ‘Cause I had nothin’ to live for/ It look like nothin’s gonna come my way” offer a melancholic glimpse into the humble character of a much loved singer. Oh, how wrong he was.

Heralded as the “father of science”, Galileo’s extraordinary contributions to scientific thinking were more than a little controversial, making him the subject of no small quantity of unbidden outrage among his contemporaries, particularly the Roman Inquisition. His championing of heliocentrism – the theory that the universe revolves around the sun, rather than the Earth (which in the 17 th century was the most commonly held belief) – was tantamount to thought crime. Galileo was subsequently sentenced to house arrest and threatened with torture; his views seen as contradicting Biblical scripture and threatening the doctrine of the Catholic Church. He was forced to step back from the dispute surrounding heliocentrism despite his ground breaking ideas, and remained for the rest of his life – nine years in total – behind closed doors. Today it is clear that he was a man ahead of his time, and we now know his theories to be correct, with scientists like Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein placing the development of modern science largely in Galileo’s hands.

It goes without saying that if someone’s name becomes an eponym for an entire aesthetic, theory or discovery, that person has probably done something rather well. Writer Franz Kafka, from whom the word Kafkaesque comes, evokes an entire style of literature, described as straddling “fantasy and reality, and a sense of striving even in the face of bleakness—hopelessly and full of hope” by writer Ben Marcus. Kafka’s is a sad story of a writer whose raw talent and wild imagination never lived to see its success. He died aged 40, writing a letter to his close friend Max Brod with the instructions; "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread". Thankfully for us, Brod ignored his request and published a collection of Kafka’s novels and works. During his lifetime, Kafka had several stories published in literary magazines, but without any public attention. He may have been completely unknown during is own life, but he did not consider fame important; had he known how well The Trial and The Metamorphosis¬ – would do and the critical acclaim they would receive in the future, he may have felt differently.