Sitting on a bench in the park at Auvers-sur-Oise yesterday, I pondered the Face of the statue of Vincent van Gogh. Walking through Giverny this afternoon, there was a sense of how different were Vincent and Monet.

There is an episode of the Eleventh Doctor Who when the Doctor, with his companion Amy, encounter Vincent. In a moving moment, the Doctor transports Vincent to an art gallery in the 21st Century so that the troubled artist can eavesdrop on the words of art lovers who are enjoying the brilliance of …