Van Gogh The Dog Painter Finds His Forever Home, And Possibly Studio
Image via Happily Furever After Rescue / Petfinder
Van Gogh the painting pooch will spend Christmas and the rest of his happy days in a warm home.
The North Carolina boxer pit bull terrier mix made headlines for not letting his ruff beginnings and missing ear weigh him down—he eventually learned to create art, with peanut butter as his art material and muse. Van Gogh was once a stray, but he was captured on the streets and forced into a dog fighting ring. It is believed that when he had no more give, his abductors tossed him out so another poor, unwilling victim could take his spot.
Van Gogh was discovered bleeding in a drain pipe by rescuers, who took him in. His left ear was so wounded, it had to be surgically removed.
Jacklyn Gartner, the founder of Happily Furever After Rescue in Bethel, Connecticut, spotted Van Gogh’s picture among photos of other shelter dogs, and she fell in love with his smile.
Gartner founded her foster program following the death of her late pit bull mix, Tyler. In his honor, the initiative takes care of rescued pooches that look like pit bulls.
Gartner had Van Gogh flown in by private plane from Carolina to Connecticut with the help of nonprofit Pilots N Paws. To her joy, Van Gogh was anything but a-woof. He greeted everyone by wagging his tail and rubbing up against them. Pit bulls are often misunderstood due to their fierce appearances, but Van Gogh is as lovable as they come—he continued to trust humans even when he had no reason to.
The seven-year-old adoptee lived with a foster family who promised to be his caregivers until he found a forever home. Four months later, there were still no takers, so Gartner dabbled with the idea of helping Van Gogh explore his artistic side. Besides, the pooch had “the name and the ear for it,” she tells the Washington Post.
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She concealed a canvas and paint in a plastic bag, which she topped with peanut butter so Van Gogh could be led by his nose and tongue. It turned out he was a natural—and he even painted his own interpretation of Starry Night.
Van Gogh is a speedy artist. Preparing his canvas takes longer than his exercising of his creative muscles.
His skill quickly exceeded him, and within a week he held his first art show, where it was hoped he’d also find a new family on top of contributing to charity. Alas, only two visitors showed up, though the silver lining was that he managed to sell a few artworks for US$40 a pop.
Luckily, Van Gogh the dog found fame more easily than his human counterpart. Thanks to a tide of media attention, he was getting commissions. An online auction saw him raise US$3,000 for the Happily Furever After Rescue.
This is Van Gogh. He used to be a bait dog, which is how he lost an ear and got his name. While looking for a forever...
Posted by We Rate Dogs on Monday, December 5, 2022
Van Gogh’s objective as an artist was finally met on the last day of the auction, when he was adopted by foster volunteer Jessica Starowitz.
When the pair met, “he loved her, and she loved him,” Gartner tells TODAY.com.
Van Gogh and Starowitz spend their time together taking morning walks, playing tug-of-war in the background, and huddling together in front of the television to watch Hallmark movies. It’s a life once inconceivable for the one-eared former stray.
Starowitz herself is a big fan of Vincent van Gogh’s work and displays several prints at home. For Mother’s Day, her sons gifted a a Starry Night LEGO set. But she stresses that Van Gogh the dog was not adopted for his lucrative skills.
That’s not to say Van Gogh has retired the paint brush. He’s still doing commissions and donating his work for goodwill.
Starowitz says her family will support the pit bull mix and his art until he decides this path is no longer for him. “Probably if we run out of peanut butter or liverwurst or snacks,” she teases.
[via Artnet News and TODAY.com, images via various sources]
