Vincent van Gogh

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear

Baby Gonzo as Van Gogh...

...in The Night Café

Vincent van Dough

Kids' Favorite Songs

Cookie Monster at New York City's Museum of Modern Art with the real Starry Night in 2015.

Sesame Street Episode 4911

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist. Some of his paintings are now among the world's best known, most popular and expensive works of art. Van Gogh's history of mental illness contributed to the legend of cutting off his ear, which is attributed to everything from a fight, to an act of love. Most historians believe that he lost his lobe in a seizure.

References

• Baby Gonzo plays Van Gogh in the Muppet Babies episode "The Muppet Museum of Art". He panics when he takes his head bandage off to discover that he's lost an ear, until he remembers he never had any ears. Baby Piggy meets him in The Night Café by the real Van Gogh.

• Later in the episode, during the "Art Is in Your Heart" montage, Baby Kermit, Baby Scooter, and Baby Fozzie can be seen playing leapfrog in the 1888 painting Farmhouse in Provence. An altered and smiling Baby Marcelle Roulin is also briefly seen in the montage.

• Two of Van Gogh's paintings are featured in the Muppet Art: 1999 Calendar: Bedroom in Arles with Animal and Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear with Fozzie Bear.

• In the Museum of Monster Art coloring book, the Twiddlebugs are shown with his painting Vase with Fourteen Sunflowers, and Grover is seen sleeping under Vase with Irises.

• The Elmo's World episode "Sky" features a copy of the artist's Starry Night in Dorothy's fish bowl.

• One of Van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings appears on Kermit's wall in the Elmo's World episode "Frogs".

• On The Muppet Show, a Muppet News Flash reports that Dr. Bunsen Honeypig was sued by the wife of Vincent van Gogh Pig for converting his ear into a silk purse in episode 224.

• In The Muppet Show episode 109, Gonzo asks of Kermit's attention, to which he replies he can "lend [him his] ear for a moment." Gonzo takes it literally and asks what he would do with his ear. Kermit responds, "Van Gogh impressions."

• Danny DeVito played Vincent Van Grouch, the curator of the Museum of Trash on Sesame Street. (First: Episode 2156)

• As a reference within a reference, Joe Mathieu spoofed Norman Rockwell's Triple Self Portrait with Grover taking the place of the famed painter. Taking the place of the Van Gogh self portrait Rockwell included on the easel, is an Anything Muppet Vincent van Gogh self portrait.

• Vincent van Monster, a monster painter and a member of the Monster Hall of Fame, appears in Monsters, Monsters! (and reprinted in the On My Way with Sesame Street volume "In the City").

• The Van Gogh painting First Steps, after Millet was used during "Mothers and Children" in Don't Eat the Pictures. It was later used in an animated segment on Sesame Street. (First: Episode 3492)

• In Kids' Favorite Songs, Telly sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". The background behind him is based on Starry Night.

• In the song "Let's Talk About Me" from The Muppets, Tex Richman sings that he uses more "green" than Van Gogh.

• In December 2011, Sesame Workshop partnered with the Amsterdam-based Vincent van Gogh Museum to recreate a version of Bedroom in Arles featuring Elmo, Bert, Ernie, Ieniemienie, Tommie, Purk and Pino to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Sesamstraat. The special painting was unveiled by Sesamstraat actor Frank Groothof and was on display at the museum.

• The Cookie Thief features parody paintings by Vincent van Dough, including A Starry Cookie Night, Cookie Flowers, The Cookie Eaters and Self Portrait.

• Josh Gad portrays a painter named "Vincent van Stop" in Sesame Street Episode 4520.

• Cookie Monster admires Van Go-Get-Cookie's Cookie Night at the Museum of Monster Art in the 2015 storybook All Aboard!

• In a 2012 Loaded interview, Gonzo claims that when van Gogh cut his own ear off, it was an act of artist genius that nobody "got". He says he'd do the same if he had ears of his own.

• Sesame Street’s Facebook page posted a parody of Bert as one of Van Gogh's self portraits on January 3, 2017.

• Summer Penguin admires Sunflowers (F456) in the 2018 Muppet Babies episode "You Ought to Be in Pictures".

• A monkey steals Baby Fozzie's lunchbox and hides in Bedroom in Arles in the 2018 Muppet Babies episode "You Ought to Be in Pictures".

• Starry Night is again parodied with "starry teeth" hanging in The Tooth Fairy's castle in the 2018 Muppet Babies episode "Tooth and Consequences."

• In Episode 4911 of Sesame Street, a Honker checks out a biography of van Gogh from the Sesame Street Library. The front cover features one of his self portraits, while the back cover shows an image of Starry Night.

Gallery

First Steps, after Millet in Don't Eat the Pictures

Farmhouse in Provence from Muppet Babies

Joseph Roulin, Three-Quarter-Length from Muppet Babies

The Grounds of the Asylum from Muppet Babies

Baby Marcelle Roulin from Muppet Babies

Bedroom in Arles from Muppet Art: 1999 Calendar

Vase with Fourteen Sunflowers from Museum of Monster Art

Vase with Irises from Museum of Monster Art

a Van Gogh's self-portrait in "Right in the Middle of My Face"

Starry Night with Dorothy

Sunflowers in Kermit's apartment

a green Anything Muppet as one of Van Gogh's self portraits

Vincent van Monster's self portrait

Bedroom in Arles for Sesamstraat’s 35th anniversary

A Starry Cookie Night
from The Cookie Thief

Cookie Flowers
from The Cookie Thief

The Cookie Eaters
from The Cookie Thief

Self Portrait
from The Cookie Thief

Cookie Night
from All Aboard!

Posted by Sesame Street's Facebook page on Jan 3, 2017

"You Ought to Be in Pictures"

"You Ought to Be in Pictures"

"Tooth and Consequences"