Professor Butter Beard and Vincent’s “Thatched Cottages in Cordeville”
“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.”
― Vincent Van Gogh, in a letter to his brother Theo, 1890.
The clouds announced the drama of the weekend. They flew across the sky as they entered the stage on Friday afternoon. Smokey swirls of white and grey. Spinning circles within circles within circles. The Greek chorus winds howled so loudly that Nellie began to howl back at them as if she spoke their language and acknowledged their frantic energy. And overnight, the skies burst into torrential rain that has lasted now for almost 48 hours. I recognize that force – it is an internal one that I share with Vincent.
incent van Gogh arrived in the artists’ village of Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris, on May 20th, 1890. Having spent a year at an asylum in the south of France, he wrote that he hoped that being back in society and in a more northerly region would help him cope more effectively with his mental suffering.
“Here we’re far enough from Paris for it to be the real countryside,” he wrote to his brother Theo on May 25th. “That in an almost lush countryside, just at this moment of the development of a new society in the old one, has nothing disagreeable about it; there’s a lot of well-being in the air. I see, or think I see, a calm there á la Puvis de Chavannes, no factories, but beautiful greenery in abundance and in good order.”
For the next few months, Vincent painted an overwhelming body of work including landscapes and portraits of the “large village” of about two thousand inhabitants, stretching for eight to ten kilometers between the river Oise and “a long rocky ridge eaten away by quarries.” Again to Theo he wrote, “here two intertwined worlds coexist, with modern villas in close proximity to the old, thatched cottages that are falling into ruin.”
As he strolled through the village, he passed numerous motifs that he would soon immortalize: the town hall and church, the Château de Léry, sprawling villas and aging cottages, scattered farms and finally the cultivated summer fields between rue Boucher and the hamlet of Les Vessenots. All of them captured in a thought’s swirl – just as Vincent saw them with his soul.
We have 19th century photographs of the village of Auvers-sur-Oise that show elements very similar to the actual structures that Vincent painted. Yet the artist subtlety altered a motif here and there, adding additional crooked gables or dark shadow-filled windows, but always accented with a spiraling energy of light and clouds.
These new surroundings offered the artist inspiration, yet within little more than two months he decided to end his own life. Vincent van Gogh died on July 29th. The following day, he was accompanied to his final resting place in Auvers cemetery by his brother Theo, Dr. Paul Ferdinand Gachet and a handful of friends and acquaintances. In just a few short months, Vincent had thrown himself into his art, treating it as a “lifeline,” and gifting us with a swirling glimpse inside his extraordinary mind and its visions.
Ophelia’s (perfectly named) howling winds and torrential rain continue to ferociously knock at my kitchen windows and oddly lull Nellie into a snoring doggie dreamland. I watch the frantic swirls of storm clouds while clutching my second mug of steaming coffee and I am inspired to bake. Well, actually, what doesn’t inspire me to bake? But this time, I re-interpreted the wild energy into whirls of cream cheese clouds capping small cakes packed with organic carrots, toasted coconut, dried pears and autumnal warming spices. Here’s to you, Vincent – from one carrot-top to another. Profitez des tourbillons capturés!
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Two Dozen Cupcakes – inspired by Zoe Francois and Vincent
Cakes:
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups dark brown sugar
Zest of one orange
1 ¾ cup canola oil
6 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla paste
6 medium carrots, grated
2 cups sweetened coconut flakes, toasted
1 ½ cups dried fruit cut into a small dice. (I prefer dried pears)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 lb cream cheese, chilled
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla paste
Juice of one lemon
4-5 cups confectioners’ sugar
1) Heat your oven to 350 degrees and line your muffins tins with cupcake papers.
2) Prep your additions: Toast your coconut either in the oven or on the stovetop (stirring often!). Grate your carrots. Cut your chosen fruit into a small dice (unless you choose raisins or currents).
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, and spices. Set aside.
4) In a large bowl, first whisk together the granulated and brown sugar to break up any brown sugar lumps. Grate the orange over the sugars and then whisk to combine. Make a well in the middle and then whisk in your oil, eggs and vanilla paste.
5) Fold your dry ingredients into the wet and then fold in your coconut, carrots and dried fruit.
6) Portion your cupcakes into the prepared muffin tins and bake one tin at a time for 25-30 minutes until the top is mounded and solid to the touch. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
7) In a standing mixer with the paddle, mix the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Add in the room temperature butter and mix until smooth. Add in the vanilla paste and the juice of one lemon. Mix to combine. Add the confectioners’ sugar all at one. Pulse your mixer a few times and then mix on low until fully combined and smooth. If the filling is too soft, chill it for 15-20 minutes before piping onto your fully cooled cupcakes.
