Big news: Free tickets are now available starting January 7 at 9:30 a.m. (CST) for the next live taping of The Object podcast. It's our Valentine's show on February 7 at 2 p.m. with special guest musician jeremy messersmith in the historic Pillsbury Auditorium at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. 

The Object LOVE! Don't Go Breaking My Art! will include fun quizzes and prizes, music, curator conversation, and of course storytelling, all about the comedy and tragedy of the heart in love. It's an irreverent romp with Orpheus and Eurydice, Eros and Psyche, and other classical couples whose stories have long captured our imagination in art. Go to the Tickets page at artsmia.org and reserve your seats today!

Now on with the show: On January 7, 1889, Vincent van Gogh wrote his family a New Year's letter. He had just been through one of the worst crises of his young life, which would become as much a part of his legend as his art. But Van Gogh was always able to see the silver lining—until he couldn't. A reflection on the hopes we pin to the start of the calendar, and the grace of letting go.

You can see one of the many paintings of olive trees that he made as the year unfolded in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.